Oblique Exercises: The 8 That Actually Work, and How to Do Them

Most oblique training in gyms is the same two exercises done badly: Russian twists with the hands swinging while the ribcage stays still, and side bends with a 10kg dumbbell in the hope of carving a waist. Neither does much. The obliques respond to the same things every other muscle does, which is load, tension and a range of motion that actually reaches them.

There's also a useful shortcut here, because the obliques have been studied with surface EMG more thoroughly than almost any other muscle group. We know roughly which exercises light them up and which ones barely register, so the list below is ordered by that evidence rather than by what looks impressive.

What the obliques do

Two layers per side. The external obliques form the outer sheet, fibres angling down and forwards like hands in your pockets, and they rotate your trunk towards the opposite side. Underneath, the internal obliques run the other way and rotate you towards the same side. They work in diagonal pairs, so your right external oblique and left internal oblique fire together when you swing a bat, throw or punch.

The bigger part of their job is stopping movement rather than creating it. They resist your torso bending sideways under a heavy suitcase, they resist rotation when one arm presses and the other doesn't, and they keep your ribcage stacked over your pelvis under a loaded barbell. That's why anti-rotation exercises appear so high on the list.

1. Side plank

The best return on effort of anything here, and it needs nothing but floor. In EMG testing of isometric lateral trunk tasks, the lateral plank produced internal oblique activation at 107 percent of maximal voluntary contraction and external oblique at 72 percent, while side-lying hip abduction managed only 48 and 20 percent (Surface Electromyography of the Internal and External Oblique Muscles). Those are enormous numbers for a bodyweight hold.

Lie on your side, forearm under your shoulder, feet stacked or staggered. Lift your hips until your body forms a straight line from ankle to ear, then hold without letting the top hip roll forwards. Thirty seconds a side is a decent target; if you can hold two minutes, add load in a rucksack rather than more time. Full details in our side plank guide.

2. Pallof press

Anti-rotation in its purest form. Stand side-on to a cable machine or a resistance band anchored at chest height, hold the handle at your sternum with both hands, then press it straight out in front of you. The cable is trying to rotate you towards the anchor. Your obliques stop it happening.

Three sets of 10 slow presses per side, holding the extended position for two seconds. The weight should be light enough that you don't twist and heavy enough that not twisting takes effort. See the Pallof press guide for setup detail.

3. Hanging knee raise with rotation

Hang from a bar, knees together, and draw them up towards one shoulder rather than straight up. EMG work on abdominal exercises found the highest external oblique activity in hanging and roll-out style movements, including the hanging knee-up with straps (Electromyographic analysis of traditional and nontraditional abdominal exercises).

The mistake is swinging. If your body is moving back and forth like a pendulum, momentum is doing the work. Pause at the bottom of every rep to kill the swing. Our hanging leg raise guide covers the progression from bent knees to straight legs.

4. Ab wheel rollout

Straight-ahead rollouts hammer the whole abdominal wall, obliques included, because the further you extend the more your trunk resists collapsing into extension. Roll out at a slight angle to one side and the oblique demand climbs further.

Start from your knees on a mat, roll out only as far as you can go without your lower back sagging, and build range gradually over weeks. Anyone who lets their hips drop is training their lumbar spine, not their abs. See our ab wheel rollout guide, and the best ab rollers if you need one.

5. Suitcase carry

Pick up one heavy dumbbell or kettlebell, stand tall, and walk. The load tries to bend you sideways and your obliques on the opposite side refuse. It is dull to write about and it works better than most of what's on Instagram.

Go heavy: half your bodyweight in one hand for 30 metres is a reasonable target for a trained lifter. Don't lean away from the weight to counterbalance, which is the universal error. Related work in our farmers carry guide.

6. Cable wood chop

The rotational strength exercise, and a far better use of your time than Russian twists. Set a cable high, grab the handle with both hands and pull it down and across your body to the opposite hip, pivoting your back foot as you go. Reverse the setup for the low-to-high version.

Rotate from your ribs and hips rather than yanking with your arms. Eight to twelve reps a side, controlled on the way back. A resistance band anchored to a door frame does the same job at home, and our resistance bands guide covers the anchors worth having.

7. Bicycle crunch

The one classic ab exercise that survives scrutiny, mainly because the rotation is loaded at the same time as the flexion. Lie on your back, hands lightly behind your head, and bring one elbow towards the opposite knee while the other leg extends.

Slow it right down. Most people do 40 fast reps and feel their hip flexors; 15 slow ones with a pause at each rotation feels entirely different. Detail in the bicycle crunch guide.

8. Landmine rotation

Load one end of a barbell into a landmine attachment or a corner, hold the other end at chest height with both hands and sweep it in an arc from hip to hip. It trains rotation under real load, which almost nothing else on this list does.

Keep your arms fairly straight and let your feet pivot rather than grinding your knees. This is an advanced movement, so start with the empty bar. Our landmine press guide covers the same setup.

What to skip

Weighted side bends. They train lateral flexion under load, which is a real function, but the loading is awkward and the myth attached to them (that they whittle the waist) is backwards. If anything, thickening the obliques widens it slightly.

Endless Russian twists. Not useless, just usually done at a speed where nothing rotates. If you keep them, hold a medicine ball at your chest, turn your ribcage rather than your arms, and cut the reps in half. See the Russian twist guide for the version that works.

Vibration belts and ab stimulators. No.

Programming it

Two sessions a week, four exercises each, is plenty. A reasonable pairing is one anti-rotation movement (Pallof press or a carry), one anti-lateral-flexion hold (side plank), one rotation exercise (wood chop or landmine) and one flexion exercise (hanging knee raise or ab wheel). Three sets each, at the end of a session so you aren't fatigued for the compound work.

A systematic review of core muscle activity across fitness exercises makes the same point that most experienced coaches do: no single exercise covers all six core muscles well, so variety across the week beats hunting for one perfect movement (Core Muscle Activity During Physical Fitness Exercises). Layer in the fact that heavy squats, deadlifts and overhead pressing already tax the obliques hard, and you can see why a 45 minute dedicated ab session is usually wasted time.

Recommended reads

• Side Plank
• Pallof Press
• Lower Ab Exercises
• Best Ab Roller UK
• Workout and exercise guides