Contents
Exercises to mark the oblique abs
Fitness
Having oblique abs in shape will help us perform better in every sport we do.
The abdominal area is, par excellence, the part of our body that worries us the most. That of not showing a belly but a “chocolate bar” helps us to a great extent to be comfortable with ourselves, which is why it is usually what we work the most when we go to the gym. But not doing sit-ups is enough to make them mark us… Apparently, we must also know how to differentiate which are those oblique abs that also contribute to having a flat stomach.
The so-called oblique muscles are, as Rubén Río (@rubenrrsalud) tells us, personal trainer and director of RRSalud, muscles that are found “on the sides of the trunk” and are made up of the internal oblique muscle and the external oblique muscle and are involved in lateral flexion and lateral flexion. trunk rotation: «When both sides are contracted simultaneously, the obliques work in synergy with the rectus abdominis to flex the trunk. For example, on a forced exhalation. ‘
For the fitness expert, beyond the search for a good slim and well-worked figure, what is really necessary is to emphasize the importance of having some oblique in good shape “it will help us to perform better in every sport we do”.
What to know about oblique abs
However, working this part of our trunk is not an easy task … According to the professional trainer, before train the obliques It should be known that as with any other muscle, if they are trained hard, they hypertrophy. That is, they gain size. «If you intend to train them hard (as if there were no tomorrow) looking for a waist reduction, be very careful because maybe you get the opposite result“, alert. Your obliques will become very strong and voluminous, moving away from that narrow waist that you were looking for by training them with such intensity.
«It is important to remember that create a caloric deficit in our diet will be what helps us lose fat. And, as “collateral damage,” our waistline will shrink. However, training them is necessary for injury prevention. Having a well-worked central zone will be key to having a healthy back.
Drill
For Rubén Río it is important to emphasize, first of all, that first you have to make sure that our state of health is adequate for exercise, that’s why he always recommends “getting a medical check-up before starting a training program.”
Press pallof. The trainer explains that to do this exercise we will stand and grab a rubber band previously tied / hooked to a fixed point (a column of a rack, or a gym machine), The we will hold with both hands and we will bring our arms to the front. «Maintaining this fixed position we will begin to move away laterally, looking for a point where the tension tries to rotate us towards the anchor point, and we will remain fixed avoiding that rotation, “he says. In fact, this exercise is considered one of the best anti-rotation exercises. We will maintain the position for about 30 seconds and then we will repeat the same with the other side. Performing about 4-5 series per side.
Side plate. Many people perform this exercise by standing up all the way and keeping all body weight on two points: elbow and feet. “In my case, I like to recommend the following form of execution because it is easier for most of the people and it makes it enormously easier not to seek compensation for lack of strength,” he says.
For the exercise we will lie sideways on the ground, we will place knee over knee and then we will stretch the upper leg so that the foot makes contact with the ground. «At that moment we will lift the hips, leaving the weight of the body in 3 supports. Elbow, knee and foot. In this way we will activate the oblique area well without creating tension towards the shoulder due to decompensation and / or poor body control ”, he says. We will maintain the static position for about 30 seconds and then we will repeat the same with the other side. Performing about 4-5 series per side.
Single Dumbbell Farmer’s Walk. It consists of holding a somewhat heavy dumbbell with one hand and trying to walk straight from point A to point B. And go back and forth while keeping the middle zone active. Rubén Río says that by carrying that weight on one side, our body will be forced to activate the oblique on the opposite side well as a counterweight, in order to compensate for this imbalance and keep ourselves upright throughout the execution of the exercise.
«We will carry out 4 series, covering, for example, a distance of 10 meters (with its going and its return). If it is too short or too long, shorten or increase the distance. The weight we use will be decisive in the difficulty of the exercise, “he says.