Oblique exercises are an important part of your core workout because they help strengthen the muscles on the sides of your body and make your waist slimmer. These exercises do not only build strong abs but also support your whole core, which improves your balance and lowers the risk of injury. Whether you are just starting out or already exercise regularly, using the right tools and methods can help you do oblique exercises better. In this blog, we will talk about some useful products that can make your oblique workouts easier and more effective, along with their benefits and real user experiences.
Product Highlights
Each product is designed to target oblique muscles effectively, offering features like adjustability, portability, and support to help improve your core strength and workout results.
| Image | Product | Features | Price |
Our Pick
1  | Oblique Ab Stimulator | Adjustable angle settings | |
2  | LifePro Roman Chair Hyperextension Bench | Portable wireless design | |
3  | TRX Suspension Training System | Padded support cushions | |
4  | Adjustable Sit-Up Bench with Oblique Targeting | Lightweight durable straps |
Oblique Ab Stimulator
The Oblique Ab Stimulator is a compact, portable device designed to tone and strengthen your oblique muscles through electrical muscle stimulation (EMS). Its convenience allows you to wear it during daily activities like working at your desk, watching TV, or resting, making it an excellent option for beginners or those recovering from injuries who want to maintain muscle activation without strenuous exercise. While it won’t replace traditional workouts, it’s a helpful supplement to enhance muscle endurance and promote definition in the oblique area with minimal effort.
LifePro Roman Chair Hyperextension Bench
This bench is specifically engineered for effective back and oblique strengthening exercises. Its sturdy, adjustable design ensures stability and safety during intense workouts, making it a perfect addition to any home gym setup. The Roman Chair facilitates targeted core work by enabling exercises such as side bends and hyperextensions that deeply engage the lower back and obliques. This helps improve posture, reduce the risk of injury, and build a strong foundation for overall core stability.
TRX Suspension Training System
The TRX Suspension Trainer offers a dynamic, full-body workout experience by using bodyweight resistance and instability to engage core muscles, including the obliques, on every movement. Its versatility supports a wide range of exercises, from oblique-focused side planks to rotational moves, promoting functional strength and flexibility. Ideal for fitness enthusiasts seeking to enhance core control, balance, and overall athletic performance, the TRX system can be easily set up indoors or outdoors, making it convenient for workouts anywhere.
Adjustable Sit-Up Bench with Oblique Targeting
Designed with multiple incline settings, the adjustable sit-up bench allows you to progressively increase workout intensity for your obliques and core. Its ergonomic structure provides firm support while isolating the oblique muscles during crunches and side bends. The bench’s durability makes it suitable for frequent, high-rep sessions, helping users build visible muscle definition and strength beyond what floor exercises alone can achieve. This makes it an essential tool for those focused on sculpting their waistline and enhancing core endurance.
12 Powerful Oblique Exercises to Build Stronger Abs
Oblique exercises are a great way to build a strong core that supports your spine and helps you stay balanced. From my own experience, these moves make everyday activities like twisting, bending, and lifting feel easier. They also shape your waist by working the side muscles of your stomach.
This part of core training is often ignored, but it plays a big role in how well your body moves. Adding oblique exercises to your workouts can make you stronger in real life, not just in the gym, and help your body stay ready for anything that comes your way.
Side Plank Hold
The side plank is a simple yet effective move that I always include in my workouts. Holding this position engages the obliques and deep core muscles, which strengthens your core and improves both balance and stability. One of the best parts is that you can do it without any equipment, making it easy to practice anywhere. This exercise also helps to build endurance, allowing your core to stay strong for longer periods during any activity.
How It Works
The side plank hold activates the deep core muscles, especially the obliques, by forcing the body to maintain a stable position against gravity. This constant muscle engagement improves spinal stability and overall balance, which is important for athletic performance and helping to prevent injuries. By forcing your core to stay strong during this exercise, it can enhance your strength and endurance in many everyday and athletic movements.
Why You Should Do It
The side plank hold is a highly effective exercise that targets multiple muscle groups simultaneously, making it a valuable addition to any fitness routine. It strengthens the core, which supports good posture and core stability. This move requires no equipment, so it’s easy to do anywhere. Besides building endurance, it also plays a big role in injury prevention by stabilizing muscles that protect your body during daily activities and workouts. Overall, it increases strength and balance in a simple, focused way.
Twisting Sit-Up
The twisting sit-up is a powerful variation of the traditional sit-up that activates the side abdominal muscles while you twist your torso. This exercise helps in building rotational strength and enhances overall core function. By combining movement and strength, it improves your mobility and contributes to a more defined waistline. From my experience, adding twisting sit-ups can really boost your core’s ability to handle real-life movements that require turning and bending.
How It Works
The twisting sit-up works by adding a twist to the traditional sit-up, which forces the oblique muscles and side abs to work harder. This rotation of the torso involves spinal movement, improving spinal mobility and strength. By rotating during the exercise, it builds your ability to perform everyday daily movements that require twisting and turning. This not only enhances core power but also supports better overall function.
Why You Should Do It
Combining the sit-up with a twist helps to develop rotational power, which is crucial for many everyday activities, sports, and lifting tasks. This exercise strengthens your core and improves posture, while also reducing the risk of lower back injuries. Adding twisting sit-ups to your routine helps build a stronger, more resilient midsection that better supports your body in various movements.
Russian Twist (Bodyweight or Weighted)
The Russian twist is a fantastic exercise for building rotational movements and targeting the obliques. Whether you do it with just your bodyweight or by adding weight for extra resistance, it improves control of the entire midsection. This move mimics the side to side twisting of the torso you use in many daily activities and sports, making it an important exercise. It also increases muscle tone, helping you sculpt a stronger and more stable core while enhancing your ability to move with precision.
How It Works
In the Russian twist, sitting with your feet elevated and torso slightly leaning off the ground creates resistance that intensely targets the obliques. The side to side twisting motion, especially when adding weight, increases the challenge by forcing your core muscles to work harder. This movement requires control and balance to maintain a controlled twist, improving your overall core strength and stability.
Why You Should Do It
The Russian twist is an excellent and versatile exercise that builds endurance and strength in the entire core. It helps improve functional movements by enhancing torso rotation, which is key for many sports and daily tasks. Regular practice sculpts a toned midsection and boosts athletic performance, making it a valuable addition to any workout routine with multiple benefits for your body.
Woodchop Movement
The woodchop movement, often performed using a cable or weight, mimics a natural, diagonal twisting motion that engages the obliques and develops powerful rotational strength. This exercise targets functional movement patterns used in many athletic and everyday activities, making it highly effective. Including the woodchop in your routine improves your ability to perform dynamic twists with strength and control.
How It Works
The woodchop uses a cable or weight to create a strong chopping motion that moves diagonally across the body. This motion targets the obliques and helps develop power for rotational movements. It simulates motions common in many sports and daily life, training your core to perform dynamic twists with strength and precision.
Why You Should Do It
The woodchop strengthens your core by training it for dynamic, functional motion that closely resembles real-life activities. It increases rotational power and stability, which helps improve athletic skills and coordination. By mimicking common twisting and lifting actions, this exercise also reduces the injury risk, making it a smart addition to any workout focused on practical strength.
Hanging Side Knee Raise
The hanging side knee raise is an advanced move that involves hanging from a bar and raising your knees sideways. This exercise is excellent for effectively targeting the side abs and lower abs while also improving core control. In addition, it improves your grip strength and contributes to your overall core development.
How It Works
This hanging exercise requires you to hold onto a bar while bringing your knees up toward one side. This motion activates the lower abs and side abs intensely. It is a challenging move that demands strong grip and upper body strength to maintain the hanging position while working your core effectively.
Why You Should Do It
This exercise combines upper body endurance with powerful core activation, helping to build overall strength. It improves grip and control, which supports better posture. By targeting muscles used in dynamic, twisting, and lifting movements, it prepares your body for real-world challenges.
Standing Oblique Crunch
The standing oblique crunch is a simple, no-equipment exercise that activates the obliques by bringing the elbow toward the same-side knee. It’s a great and effective move for beginners who want to tone their sides without using the floor exercises or machines. This exercise fits easily into any routine and helps strengthen your core on the go.
How It Works
While standing tall, you contract your obliques by bringing the elbow to the same-side knee. This controlled movement helps engage the side abdominal muscles effectively without needing any equipment. Focusing on form ensures the muscles work properly for the best results.
Why You Should Do It
This simple, effective exercise is perfect for beginners or anyone without access to equipment. The move strengthens your core, improves balance, and helps tone the waistline. It also supports better everyday mobility, making it a practical choice for overall fitness.
Side Plank Reach Under
The side plank reach under is a side plank variation that adds a twisting motion by reaching your arm under the torso. This dynamic movement intensifies core engagement and challenges the obliques in new ways. It also boosts shoulder stability while enhancing your overall strength and balance. From my experience, this move takes the classic side plank to a more advanced level, improving both control and power.
How It Works
The side plank reach under involves rotating your arm under the torso, which increases core activation by engaging multiple abdominal layers. This added rotational movement makes the exercise more challenging, improving both stability and strength in the core and shoulders.
Why You Should Do It
The side plank reach under increases core activation by engaging multiple abdominal layers through its rotating motion of the arm under the torso. This added rotational movement makes the exercise more challenging, which helps improve both stability and strength. Incorporating this variation into your routine boosts your core power and balance effectively.
Spiderman Plank
The Spiderman plank starts in a classic plank position and dynamically combines static core holding with movement by having you draw one knee toward the elbow. This action activates the obliques and challenges your entire core. From my experience, it’s great for improving strength, stability, and coordination, making it a powerful exercise for overall core development.
How It Works
Starting in a plank position, you bring one knee toward the same-side elbow, activating the obliques while maintaining core stability. This dynamic movement challenges your balance and strength, engaging the entire core throughout the exercise.
Why You Should Do It
This exercise mixes a static plank hold with motion, making the obliques work harder. It improves core endurance, coordination, and overall stability. By training your body in this way, it helps boost athletic performance and supports everyday activities that require both balance and strength.
Lying Leg Throwdowns (Partner or Solo)
The lying leg throwdowns are a core stability exercise performed on your back that builds control by resisting downward leg pressure. This move engages the obliques and targets rotational and lowering motions to strengthen your midsection. Practicing this exercise can help in reducing the risk of injury by improving your ability to control your legs and core during dynamic movements.
How It Works
While lying on your back, you resist as your legs are pushed or lowered toward the floor. This action engages the obliques and requires control to prevent your lower back from arching, making the core work hard to stabilize throughout the movement.
Why You Should Do It
This move strengthens core control and enhances stability during rotational and lowering motions. It is essential for safe, functional movement, helping with injury prevention in both daily activities and sports. Including it in your routine supports a stronger, more resilient core.
Walking Lunge with a Twist
The walking lunge with a twist adds torso rotation to the classic walking lunge, engaging the obliques alongside leg muscles. This functional movement improves coordination, balance, and core strength by simulating real-life actions that require power and stability. From personal experience, this exercise feels highly effective for building strength that transfers well to everyday tasks.
How It Works
As you step forward into a lunge, you twist your torso toward the front leg, engaging the obliques. This movement improves rotational strength while simultaneously activating the leg muscles, creating a powerful full-body exercise.
Why You Should Do It
This exercise combines lower body strength with core rotation, supporting better functional movement, balance, and coordination. It mimics real-life actions like turning and stepping, making it excellent for enhancing your overall athleticism.
Medicine Ball Side Toss
The medicine ball side toss is an explosive move that involves tossing a medicine ball sideways against a wall. This exercise develops rotational power and strengthens the obliques, closely mimicking athletic and real-world movements. It trains your body for quick, powerful torso rotation, making it an excellent addition to any core workout.
How It Works
While standing sideways to a wall, you explosively toss a medicine ball against it, using your obliques and rotational muscles in the hips and torso to generate maximum power. This movement trains coordinated, powerful twisting essential for athletic performance.
Why You Should Do It
This exercise develops rotational power and core strength by simulating athletic, real-world movements. It improves your ability to generate force quickly, making it highly useful for sports and other demanding physical tasks.
Suitcase Carry
The suitcase carry involves carrying a heavy weight on one side, which forces the obliques to resist lateral bending. This builds core stability, improves posture, and strengthens your grip. It is a practical, full-body strength and balance exercise that translates well into everyday activities.
How It Works
You hold a heavy weight in one hand and walk upright, resisting the natural tendency of your body to tilt toward the weight. This action engages the obliques and the entire core as you maintain your balance throughout the movement.
Why You Should Do It
This functional move builds impressive core stability and strengthens your grip while improving posture. It trains your body to resist lateral forces, which is critical for everyday tasks and injury prevention.
Features & Benefits
TRX Suspension Training System
The TRX system is highly portable and adjustable, letting you anchor it indoors or outdoors. It enhances oblique exercises by adding instability, forcing your core to engage constantly. Movements like side planks and suspended crunches activate deep abdominal muscles, improving core control, posture, and balance—perfect for real-life movement and athletic performance.
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Ab Stimulator Belt Passive Muscle Engagement
This tool uses electrical muscle stimulation (EMS) to contract your obliques passively. It’s ultra-portable and convenient for use while sitting, working, or relaxing. Though not a replacement for physical workouts, it boosts muscle endurance and definition, especially for busy users looking to supplement their active routine without extra time in the gym.
Roman Chair Hyperextension Bench
The Roman chair offers adjustability and strong support, allowing full-range oblique and back exercises. Lateral extensions on this bench deeply engage side core muscles and strengthen the lower back. It’s ideal for injury prevention, improving spinal alignment, and building true core strength that supports functional movement and daily stability.
Adjustable Sit-Up Bench
This bench features multiple incline settings, adding intensity to classic oblique crunches. Its sturdy design supports high-rep training without wobbling, and the adjustability lets you scale your workouts as you get stronger. The increased resistance helps develop visible oblique definition and builds strength faster than floor exercises alone.
Customer Reviews
“One tool, endless options.”
Many customers are impressed by the TRX Suspension Training System for its versatility and ability to work the entire core, especially the obliques. Whether they’re doing side planks, rotations, or pikes, users find the TRX helpful in hitting muscles that standard floor exercises often miss. Some reviewers even mention that they’ve replaced multiple gym machines with this one tool thanks to its effectiveness and space-saving design. It’s a favorite among those who like variety in their workouts.
“Set it and forget it.”
The Oblique Ab Stimulator is praised for its simplicity and ease of use. Reviewers love that they can strap it on and get an abdominal workout while sitting at their desk, watching TV, or doing household chores. Many mention they started feeling tingling and tightening in the side abs within a few sessions. It’s especially popular among busy users who don’t always have time for long workouts but still want to keep their core activated throughout the day.
“Back pain relief and strong obliques.”
The Roman Chair Hyperextension Bench receives high marks from users looking to strengthen their core and lower back. Several buyers say they purchased it to help with posture and chronic lower back pain, and within a few weeks, they felt noticeable improvements. Others mention better oblique control and stronger side core muscles after including side bends and twists in their routines. The solid build and comfortable padding are also noted in many reviews, making it a reliable addition to any home gym.
“Rock-solid and reliable.”
For those wanting a classic tool to target the obliques, the Adjustable Sit-Up Bench stands out. Customers frequently highlight its durability and adjustability for different incline levels, allowing for beginner to advanced core work. Many reviewers say it’s their go-to for oblique crunches and side sit-ups. Over time, they’ve seen definition in their waistline and better control in twisting motions. Plus, the stable design helps them feel secure during even the most intense workouts.
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Where to Buy
If you’re serious about strengthening your obliques and building a well-defined core, having the right tools can make all the difference. Below are four top-rated fitness products available on Amazon that cater specifically to oblique training. Each tool has its own benefits based on workout style, space, and intensity preferences.
Oblique Ab Stimulator
An adjustable sit-up bench is ideal for adding variety and intensity to your oblique workouts. You can perform side sit-ups, decline Russian twists, and oblique crunches at different angles for better muscle engagement. This bench is sturdy, easy to fold, and perfect for home gyms.
Buy on Amazon
LifePro Roman Chair Hyperextension Bench
If you’re short on time or want to support your workout with passive muscle stimulation, the Oblique Ab Stimulator is an excellent choice. It uses electrical muscle stimulation (EMS) to target your side abs without heavy equipment. Great for beginners, travel use, or pairing with other light exercises.
Buy on Amazon
TRX Suspension Training System
This powerful piece of equipment allows for deeper core engagement. It’s perfect for hyperextensions, twisting oblique raises, and strengthening your lower back. If your focus is on a balanced, strong core with added stability, this tool is a must-have.
Buy on Amazon
Adjustable Sit-Up Bench with Oblique Targeting
TRX bands offer unmatched versatility. From standing oblique crunches to rotational planks, this system supports full-body workouts with a strong focus on your side abs and core. It’s portable, adjustable, and great for both home and outdoor training.
Buy on Amazon
FAQS
Do oblique workouts slim your waist?
Oblique workouts help strengthen and tone the muscles on the sides of your abdomen, which can improve the shape and definition of your waist. However, to actually slim your waistline, you need to reduce overall body fat through a combination of regular exercise and a healthy diet. Targeting just the obliques won’t remove fat in that area alone, but these exercises can help create a more sculpted look once fat loss occurs.
What is oblique in gym?
In the gym, obliques refer to the muscles located on the sides of your abdomen. These muscles help with movements such as twisting your torso, bending sideways, and stabilizing your core. Strengthening your obliques improves overall core stability and helps with better posture and balance during different exercises and daily activities.
How to get v line oblique?
Getting the V-line shape in your obliques involves both building muscle and reducing fat around your waist. Focus on exercises that specifically target the oblique muscles, such as side planks and twisting crunches, while also following a balanced diet and doing cardio to lower body fat. Consistency in training and nutrition is key to revealing those well-defined V-line oblique muscles.
Should I train obliques everyday?
Training your obliques every day is not recommended because muscles need time to recover and grow stronger. Overworking the same muscle group can lead to fatigue or injury. It’s better to train obliques two to three times per week, giving your muscles enough rest in between sessions to repair and become more effective.
Are obliques love handles?
Obliques are the muscles on the sides of your abdomen, while love handles refer to the layer of fat that covers those muscles. So, love handles are fat deposits around the waist area, not the muscles themselves. Strengthening your obliques can help tone the area, but reducing love handles requires overall fat loss through diet and exercise.
How to get V taper?
To achieve a V taper, you need to build the muscle in your shoulders and back while reducing fat around your waist. Exercises like pull-ups, lat pulldowns, and shoulder presses help widen the upper body, creating that V shape. Along with strength training, include cardio and a healthy diet to slim your waist and enhance the taper effect.
