Purpose Of Oblique Crunches
As you would expect by the name, the purpose of the oblique crunch is to strengthen, and develop the obliques.
Equipment Needed To Perform Oblique Crunches
Oblique crunches are one of the most versatile movements there is, as all that is required to perform them is a floor/flat surface.
Difficulty Of Oblique Crunches
On a scale of 1 to 5, oblique crunches would rank between a 2, or a 3. They’re definitely more challenging than traditional crunches, as more work is required to remain stable due to the nature of the exercise which has you lying on your side.
How To Do Oblique Crunches
The oblique crunch begins with one lying on their side (whichever side they prefer), hips and knees bent to roughly 45 degrees, legs resting on the floor, and back flat on the floor with the hands beside the head.
The movement begins with attempting to shorten the distance between your sternum and your hip (the hip closest to the ceiling).
Contract the muscles on the side of the midsection which is facing the ceiling until you can no longer elevate your torso any further off the floor. At the end of the range, contract your muscles as hard as you can before slowly lowering to the start position.
The range of motion for this exercise is very minimal, so don’t worry if you don’t feel like you’re going far enough, as there’s not far to go in the first place – just focus on the quality of the contraction.
Key Points When Performing Oblique Crunches
- Lie on your side, knees and hips bent to roughly 45 degrees, hands at side of head with back flat on the floor
- Contract your midsection to draw your sternum towards your top side hip
- Squeeze the midsection muscles hard at the top before slowly lowering back to the starting position
How Many Reps When Performing Oblique Crunches
The muscles of the midsection are generally not muscles you want to train “heavy,” as the risk of injury far outweighs any potential reward that would accompany doing so.
Therefore, the ideal amount of reps would be anywhere between 12-20.
The midsection, probably more so than any of the more popular muscles people wish to train when they go to the gym, requires a great deal of concentration to to ensure adequate stimulation of the involved muscles, so the weight must be light enough to facilitate that, but still heavy enough to require a strong contraction to take place to actually overcome the resistance of your torso in the first place.
Common Mistakes When Performing Oblique Crunches
Some of the more common mistakes when performing oblique crunches are:
- Swinging your body up – what happens for those who do not have the strength to actually crunch their midsection muscles hard against the resistance of their torso is they will try to “lunge” forward with their upper body towards their hip, just to get their torso off the floor. All this does is create the illusion that you did a rep, when really, if the purpose of the rep is to stimulate the muscles, you’ve not done that because of HOW you did the rep.
- Locking the hands behind the head – this is in line with point number 1, in that if one does not have the strength to perform the movement properly, they will use their arms to pull their head off the floor to create the illusion that they have performed a rep. This also defeats the purpose of doing this exercise.
- Performing the reps to fast – you want to perform this exercise in a slow controlled fashion to fully engage the abs
Modifications To Oblique Crunches
Due to the nature of the oblique crunch, with lying on your side and all, there’s no real modification that can be made to this exercise, and it still be worthwhile.
When To Do Oblique Crunches
Depending on your goals, oblique crunches can be performed anywhere during a training session designed to stimulate the midsection.
If the obliques are a priority for you, then this exercise can be prioritized and performed first, but if they’re not a priority yet you still wish to stimulate them directly, than this exercise can be performed later on in a session.
Alternatives To Oblique Crunches
There are a few popular alternatives to the oblique crunch that can be used to stimulate the same regions effectively.
You could do either a side crunch, or an oblique cable crunch – in this case the most practical would be the side crunch, since it doesn’t require any additional equipment, and can be done with nothing more than a floor/flat surface.
Oblique Crunches vs. Side Crunches
These exercise are very similar in both how they are performed, as well as the musculature targeted by performing them.
The only real difference is how the body is positioned – with the oblique crunch you are positioned on your side, and thus will perform all of your reps for one side of the trunk before flipping over to repeat for the other side, while the side crunch allows and encourages you to alternate reps for each side of the trunk.
It’s not that one variation is better than the other, but rather that your specific goal should determine which one to include into your workout.
If you’re looking for something that targets more of the abs as well, then the side crunch would be ideal, but if the goal is strictly obliques at the expense of the abs, then the oblique crunch would be the preferred movement.