Summer is almost here and it’s time to work out your abs muscles! Put on your workout outfit and tone your core and oblique muscles with our incredible exercises. Having a killer core doesn’t mean only having a flat stomach. It means having strong obliques too. Strong obliques will improve your posture, make your waist look slimmer and make your clothes fit better.
How it works:
Perform these 7 exercises through your workout.
1. Side plank with hip dips
This move targets the obliques, abs and back muscles. It’s a great multi-muscle core strength and stability exercise.
Lay on one side, propped on your elbow. Keep your body in a straight line and your feet stacked on top of one another. Your hips should be lifted. Start lowering down until your hips barely touch the ground. Lift back up. Do 12 repetitions.
2. Break-dancer
This exercise targets the obliques, and it is a combination of cardio.
Start on all fours. Your knees should be underneath your hips and your wrists underneath your shoulders. Engage your abs, exhale and lift your knees to a hover off the mat. Kick your right leg under your body and across to your left leg. Rotate your hips to the left and drop your left heel the mat. Reach your left arm up at the same time. Return to starting position and hover. Do as many reps as you can in 30 seconds. Repeat on the other side.
3. Elevated Mountain Climbers
This move targets the obliques and abdominal muscles and it increases pelvic mobility and cardiovascular strength.
Find an incline and position your hands on it slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. Pull your right leg towards your chest. Alternate the position of your legs by pushing your hips while pulling your rear leg forward under your chest and extending the forwards leg back. Do 2 sets of 30 reps.
4. Supine Obliques
This move strengthens the obliques by keeping them fully activated, while also keeping the lower back protected.
Lie on your back. Extend your arms straight up over your head. Lift your legs into tabletop position with knee bent at 90 degree angle. Keep your core engaged all the time. Tilt your kneed left and lower your feet until your toes tap the floor. Lift your legs back and repeat the same on the other side. Do 3 sets of 15 reps.
5. Oblique side sit ups
This move targets your obliques and strengthens the abdominal muscles.
Kneel, while sitting on the side. Grab a dumbbell and hold it tightly at your chest. Squeeze your glutes to raise up to the kneeling position, engage your core and keep the weight at your chest. Repeat the same on the opposite side. Do as many reps as you can for 1 minute. Do 3 sets.
6. Toe-heel reaches with weights
This is tough move to strengthen and shape your obliques.
Stand straight with your feet slightly wider than hip distance. Grab a 10 Lb weight in each hand and reach your left arm to left toe and then your right arm to your right toe. Reach the left arm along the back of your leg towards your left heel followed by the right arm to right heel. Do not bend too much. Do this move slow for 30 seconds and then fast for 30 seconds.
7. Plank hip twists
This full-body exercise specifically focuses on the obliques.
Hold a plank position with your legs squeezed together. Twist your hips up and over midline, alternating right to left. Do 4 sets of 10 reps.