General Description: Your oblique abdominals are those muscles you see along the side of your torso and they are actually what we call the "love handles.
" Now you know why we aim to tone out the obliques and get rid of those pesky love handles, so lets get into how we actually strengthen our obliques with this exercise.
Basically this is a side bend while lying on the opposite side of your body, but if you want to make this an intense workout, you have to lift your legs up at the same time.
This exercise is designed to give you strong oblique abdominals or better known as your "love handles.
" By doing this exercise you develop stronger oblique abdominals, which is the abdominal group that tones out those love handles.
This exercise even works part of your upper abs, which are the six pack abs area that most people are after.
Oblique V-Ups are great because it blasts your oblique abdominals, while giving you an extra toning and strengthening in your core and six pack abs.
Do this exercise to blast those obliques and get maximum results.
The basic goal of this exercise is being able to touch your thigh with the elbow of the arm that is behind your head.
Very difficult to do in the beginning, although you can bend your knees in order to build up strength when you first start doing this exercise.
Directions: 1.
Begin the exercise by lying on either side of your body with all of your weight on the pivot point of your hips.
2.
Place your legs straight together out in front of you and use them to form a 45 degree angle with your body.
3.
Whichever side your lying on (let's say you're on your right), then that arm (the right arm), will be lying comfortably on the ground alongside you.
4.
Now the opposite arm should be behind your head and bent at the elbow.
5.
Next you want to use your abdominal strength to lift your legs up together (keeping them touching close together) and touch the elbow of the side you're not lying on.
Basically you scrunch your waist by lifting your legs up together and touching your elbow that's behind your head.
6.
Remember to keep all of your weight on your pivot point, which should be your hip, and use that pivot point to scrunch your legs to your elbows.
7.
For easier terms, you could say that this is a kind of "side crunch" that works your obliques.
8.
So you want to do 4-5 sets of 5 on each side, or 25 reps.
on each individual side.
So altogether you should do 50 reps.
Variation: So there is actually a variation to this exercise if you are really trying to work hard to strengthen and tone those obliques fast.
I will admit that I struggled with this variation, and I still do, so if you haven't yet tried the normal version of oblique V-ups, then I highly recommend you try that first.
But, if you have all the desire in the world to get fast results and you know for a fact that you want to work extremely hard, then lets get started with this powerful variation.
Basically you are still performing the normal "side crunch" but you are going to get those legs up off the ground as well.
I know it probably doesn't sound hard, but I'll be the first to tell you that you'll feel extreme tightening and strengthening in your abdominals core.