Twist For Visible Obliques That Will Turn Heads

One of the biggest mistakes that I often see in the gym on a daily basis is the idea that people think you can crunch your obliques to make them slimmer and lose your love handles. To be 100% honest, crunching your obliques will add mass to your obliques and make you look wider rather than slimmer. If you want to get the V-tap obliques you need to twist. The standing oblique twist is a great exercise that will allow you to get the motion that is needed to burn away fat from the sides of your torso. Keep in mind that control is everything and you want to move the weight from one side to the next in a concentrated movement that will allow you to force your obliques to pull the weight around to the other side.

Focus: Your obliques are made up of two muscles, the inner and outer obliques which run in opposite directions of each other and are responsible for the rotation of the spine (torso). They work like a pulley and one will pull in one direction, the other will pull in the opposite direction. You need both sides of your obliques (Left and Right) to work for you to change directions during this movement. If you pay attention to your body you'll notice that it's the opposite oblique that is pulling the weight across in the movement and not the one near the weight.

The Set Up: Place a barbell in the corner of the room and attach weight to the opposite end nearest the hand position. If you are starting out, it's not a bad idea to do this exercise multiple times with no weight so that you can get the proper movement down.

The Motion: You will grab the bar with two hands in front of the body with your arms fully extended. In a controlled fashion, rotate the bar to one side of the body and pause for a 2 count. The pause will stop the momentum and allow your obliques to do the work. After the pause, focus on your opposite oblique to pull the bar across your body to the other side keeping your arms extended in front of you. Pause and repeat.

Rep Range: This exercise you want to achieve higher reps in the 20-30 range. This will allow you to tone the muscle as well as work away fat that has collected on the side of your torso. If it's difficult at first don't give up, your body will be focused to adapt to the stresses places upon it, this is a good thing meaning it'll have to tone the muscle and lose the fat so that it will have better mobility in the movement.