The 10 Best Oblique Exercises for Muscle Strength

When it comes to building a strong, ripped midsection, it’s easy to focus on the more visible six-pack abs while neglecting the crucial muscles on the sides of your torso.

We’re talking about your obliques, the muscles at the sides and front of your core that help you twist your torso, bend sideways, and support your abdomen.

This article reviews the 10 best oblique exercises that will not only carve out impressive side abs but also enhance your overall core strength and functional fitness.

Oblique Muscle Anatomy and Function

The oblique muscles are part of your abdominal wall, along with the transverse abdominis, rectus abdominis, and pyramidalis muscles. They consist of the internal and external obliques and are key to a strong and stable core, essential for everything from daily movements to athletic performance.

• Beneath them, the internal obliques run in the opposite direction, assisting in rotating your torso, bending it sideways, and compressing the abdomen.
• The external obliques lie on either side of your abdomen, diagonally from your lower ribs to your pelvis. They help you twist your torso and bend it sideways.

Together, they help rotate your spine, bend from side to side, stabilize your core, support your posture, and maintain internal abdominal pressure.

The 10 Best Oblique Exercises

These are our picks for the 10 best oblique exercises you can do for strength, function, and muscle hypertrophy.

1. Oblique Sit-Up

The oblique sit-up adds a literal twist to the traditional sit-up, turning this classic exercise for your six-pack muscles into an oblique blaster. They work not just the obliques but most of your core muscles, including the abdominal muscles and your hip flexors. Maintain proper form to prevent strain on the neck and back, and avoid pulling on your neck with your hands.

Do all reps for the right side before switching to the left side, or alternate between sides; it’s up to you.

How to do Oblique Sit-Up

1. Lie on your back, with your hands behind your head, and your legs bent to about 90 degrees. Use a weight or something to stick your feet under, so they don’t lift from the ground.
2. Lift your upper body diagonally by contracting your obliques and bending forward, until your right elbow touches your left leg, or vice versa.
3. Return to the starting position.
4. Repeat the movement for your desired number of repetitions.

2. Farmer Carry

The farmer’s walk is primarily known for its brute simplicity: you pick up a pair of heavy weights and walk. This exercise targets your grip strength, shoulders, glutes, traps, upper back, and core, and yes, it works the obliques, too.

You can make the farmer’s walk target your obliques more effectively by:

• Walk with a regular farmer’s walk setup, but add some sidesteps or lateral movements. Zigging and zagging will get your obliques firing as they help stabilize your body during the sideways motion.
• Carry a heavier weight in one hand than the other, or carry it in one hand only. The uneven load forces your obliques to work harder to keep you upright and balanced.

How to Performed a Farmer Carry

1. Stand between two objects with handles. 
2. Ideally, you have access to an actual set of farmer carry bars. If not, kettlebells work great, but dumbbells or even a trap bar would work well too.
3. Bend to grab them and position your body as if you’re going to do a trap bar deadlift.
4. Stand up with the implements while keeping good form.
5. You can also place the implements on a raised surface to mitigate the need to bend.
6. While maintaining an erect spine, walk in a controlled manner.
7. As you walk in a straight line, be sure to keep your head up and shoulders pulled back. If your head goes down, your shoulders and back will follow.
8. Carry for the prescribed time or distance.

3. Ball Slams

Ball slams are not just a fun way to pretend you’re smashing something annoying from your day; they’re also fantastic for building strength and power. Plus, they get your heart rate up in no time.

The ball slam is a full-body exercise that primarily targets your core, shoulders, triceps, back, and even your legs when you squat down to pick up the ball. It’s an excellent exercise for building a stronger core, as your abs and obliques are involved throughout the entire dynamic movement.

How to Performed Ball Slams

1. Stand with your feet about shoulder-width apart, your knees and hips slightly bent, holding the ball in both hands at chest height. Engage your core, and keep a good posture.
2. Extend your knees and drive your hips forward while simultaneously lifting the ball. Aim for being as tall as possible, the ball overhead, arms up, hips slightly forward, and on your toes from the force of your drive.
3. Use your core and arms to slam the medicine ball straight down between your feet with as much force as possible. Press your hips back and bend your knees to further power the slam. Exhale as you slam the ball down.
4. Squat down to pick up the ball from the floor, then immediately move into the next slam by repeating the movement. Repeat for reps or time.

4. Oblique Crunch

The oblique crunch is a variant of the traditional crunch that shifts the focus away from the rectus abdominis muscle and zeroes in on the obliques. Side crunches are crunches done on your side. Instead of coming forward, your body will move up laterally with your elbow moving toward your head.

You can do all reps for one side at once or alternate between your right and left sides. Hold a weight plate, a dumbbell, or a heavy book to your chest for added challenge if you can do more reps than your workout calls for.

How to Performed Oblique Crunch

1. Lie on your back on a comfortable, flat surface like a yoga mat.
2. Bend your knees and plant your feet flat on the ground, hip-width apart, with your hands at the sides of your head.
3. Curl your upper body up by lifting your head, neck, and shoulder blades off the ground. At the same time, twist your torso so that your right elbow moves diagonally toward your left knee.
4. Pause at the top of the movement when your right elbow points toward your left knee, ensuring you feel the contraction in your right oblique muscles.
5. Lower back down to the starting position without fully relaxing onto the floor, maintaining tension in your core muscles.
6. Repeat the movement on the opposite side. This time, curl up and twist your torso so your left elbow moves toward your right knee.

5. High to Low Wood Chop

The high to low wood chop is one of the best exercises for your “side abs” and an excellent addition to your oblique workout. It’s a dynamic exercise that combines rotation and flexing, working in line with the muscle fibers of your obliques, and it’s perfect for pretending you’re a lumberjack swinging an axe, minus the actual trees.

The movement also mimics everyday activities, helping with tasks involving rotational movements like bending and twisting. You can do wood chops with a band like in the GIF above or use a cable machine with suitable resistance.

How to Performed Low Wood Chop

1. Fasten an elastic band high up. Grip the band with both hands, step away, and stand sideways to the band’s anchor point.
2. With almost straight arms, make a sweeping, chopping-like movement diagonally downward.
3. Return to the starting position in a controlled manner.
4. Repeat the movement for your desired number of repetitions.
5. Switch sides and repeat for the opposite side.

6. Lying Windshield Wiper

The lying windshield wiper is one of the best oblique exercises that not enough people include in their fitness routine. Instead of actual windshield wipers squeaking across your windshield, it’s your legs sweeping over your mat, cleaning out those love handles.

The rotational movement forces your obliques to work overtime to control and stabilize your legs as they sweep from side to side. Keep your shoulders planted to maximize the rotation in your torso and the load on your obliques.

How to performed Lying Windshield Wipers

1. Lie on your back, with your arms out to your sides and your legs straight up in the air.
2. Slowly lower your legs down to one side.
3. Reverse the motion, and lower your legs down to your other side.
4. Repeat the movement for your desired number of repetitions.

7. Lying Windshield Wiper with Bent Knees

The bent-knee windshield wiper is the beginner version of the straight-legged windshield wiper, working the same muscles and building a strong core focusing on the obliques.

Doing the exercise with straight legs can wipe out even the mightiest of abdominals, but keeping your knees bent at a 90-degree angle reduces the lever length and eases the load on your core.

How to Performed Windshield wiper with Bent knees

1. Lie on your back, with your arms out to your sides and your legs straight up in the air.
2. Bend your knees to 90 degrees.
3. Slowly lower your legs down to one side.
4. Reverse the motion, and lower your legs down to your other side.
5. Repeat the movement for your desired number of repetitions.

8. Horizontal Wood Chop

The horizontal wood chop is similar to the high-to-low wood chopper but without the flexing movement. It is a great exercise to chop into your core training, making sure your oblique muscles are not only visible but functional. Plus, it’s fun pretending you’re chopping wood—just way cooler and without the splinters.

When you perform the movement, be sure to keep the arms straight out in front of the body. Some trainees will accidentally pull with the arms to move the weight, so let the obliques rotate the torso to move the weight.

How to Performed Horizontal Wood Chops

1. Fasten a resistance band at shoulder height. Grip the band with both hands, step away, and stand sideways to the band’s anchor point.
2. With almost straight arms, make a sweeping, horizontal movement to your other side.
3. Return to the starting position in a controlled manner.
4. Repeat the movement for your desired number of repetitions.
5. Switch sides and repeat in the opposite direction.

9. Side Plank 

The side plank is a bodyweight exercise that strengthens and stabilizes your core, particularly your obliques. Like the regular plank, one of the main benefits of the side plank is that you can do it anywhere—no equipment needed.

Keep your body in a straight line like a good plank of wood without letting your hips sag towards the floor. Imagine trying your best not to crush something valuable below you to increase muscle activation.

How to performed Side Plank

1. Stand on your side, leaning against one elbow.
2. Place the foot of the top leg in front of the other foot.
3. Brace your core, and try to form and hold a straight line from your head to your feet.
4. Hold the position for as long as you can.

10. Russian Twist

Russian twists are great at training the rotational function of the obliques, assuming you’re rotating the toro. The number one error occurs when people perform Russian twists to train the obliques and concentrate too much on touching each side with their hand rather than twisting their torso. In other words, they are focusing too much on the wrong variable.

While you should feel either side of the ground, you do so by rotating your entire torso, not simply reaching with your hands. If you get that right, you then have yourself a great exercise.

How to Performed Russian Twists:

1. Sit down on the ground with your knees flexed in front of you.
2. Bring your torso up so that you are at about a 45-degree angle.
3. Place your arms out in front of your body.
4. Now rotate your torso to one side. To do so correctly, think about rotating your shoulders to face to the side. Touch the ground and then turn the other way so that your shoulders face the other direction. 
5. Continue going back and forth.

Final Words

So, you’ve made it through the list of the top 10 oblique exercises. Thank you for reading! Not only are your obliques about to become the envy of everyone at the gym, but you’re also on your way to a stronger, more stable core.