For this technique, you'll start by laying on your side and propping your feet up off the ground,
with one foot laid on top of the other. You'll then prop your upper body up using
your forearm with your elbow directly below your shoulder. Your body should be parallel
to the ground and your shoulders and hips should be vertically aligned with each other from there.
You'll let your body drop down as far as you can making a U shape with the middle of your body,
then contract your obliques and focus on using them and them alone to bring your body back up
until it's once again parallel with the ground. Then, if you contract them strongly enough you can
even push the middle of your body up slightly past parallel before dropping back down and repeating.
Now, I want to go over a couple really important form tips here and then we will dive into the
anatomy behind this technique to understand why it is so uniquely effective at hitting both
the external and internal obliques compared to the other oblique exercises out there.
Then I'll explain why it is the number one best bodyweightbody weight exercise for hypertrophic
gains of the obliques. First, form tip, you can use virtually anything to prop your feet up. You
can use a couch chair, a bench, a dog, anything as long as it will put your feet at about the
same height as the center of your chest and your head so that your whole body is parallel to the
ground at the beginning of the exercise. Second, you shouldn't have anything more than your ankles
resting on whatever is supporting your feet. If you were to support more of your legs on
that object, for example, if you were to have up closer to your knees supported, then your
lower body would not drop down low enough to get you that balanced u-shape and the exercise
would not be nearly as effective. I'll go over why that's the case in the anatomy section. Finally,
where most people go wrong with this exercise is, they do not keep their shoulders and hips
lined up with each other as they drop their body down and back up. Most people have a tendency as
they drop down to roll their shoulders back and, then especially, as they're bringing their body
back up, they'll roll their shoulders back. The reason that is detrimental to this exercise is,
if you are rolling backwards, then all of a sudden it's not the oblique muscles that are taking on
most of the load, it's your back muscles that are taking on the load. The reason why so many people
have a hard time not doing that is, that's really how our body functions on a day-to-day basis.
We're so used to extending our back in order to get up and straighten, we do it many times every
day. When you are dropping your body and you're stretching out those obliques, your body naturally
wants to use those powerful back muscles to go back to a neutral position to bring yourself back
up. Don't let it, if you keep your shoulders, your hips and your body perfectly in line as you drop
down in that u-shape and, especially as you flex back up, you are going to isolate those oblique
muscles more than you will with any other exercise out there. And you'll know if you're doing it
right because you'll feel it, you'll feel how much force you have to generate with your obliques.
You'll know if you're doing it wrong because you won't feel much in the obliques. You'll
feel it all in your back. If you have a hard time not using your back, then try exaggerating the
opposite direction. Try rolling your shoulders forward, as you bring your body back up and,
at least in that case, it'll be your abs that are taking off some load from the obliques instead of
your back. As always, to really be efficient in your exercise and effective, make sure
you're doing it right. It's imperative that you understand the anatomy behind the exercise. Let's
take a look at the anatomy of the Obliques. We have two oblique muscles, External and Internal.
They're called Obliques because they lie across the body at oblique angles. The External Oblique,
it originates on the lateral side of ribs 5 through 12. Then they come down at an angle
down and in and then, they insert all along what's called the Rectus Sheath which covers the Rectus
Abdominis or your abs. Then through that connects to what's called the Linea Alba, which is that
center line in the middle of your abs. Some of the lower fibers of the External Obliques also
go down and insert on what's called the Anterior Superior Iliac spine of the pelvis. Because they
are originating on the side of the chest and going down and in, they are going to pull the chest
and upper body down in. The Internal Oblique fibers lie underneath the External Oblique,
hence the word internal. Its fibers go almost directly opposite the External Oblique. They go
up and in, so they cross the external fibers essentially at an x. They originate along the
Iliac crest of the pelvis and along what's called the Inguinal ligament, which is what
creates that V shape down there. And then, travel up to also merge with that Rectus Sheath and
through it to the Linea Alba. Some of the fibers travel up to insert on the lower ribs. Now, a note
about the Internal Obliques. Some people think it's not super important to train them because
they are underneath the external, so you can't see them on the surface of the skin.
However, they are extremely important because they push up and give volume and definition to
the External Obliques on top, especially along the lower region of your core. Because the
Internal Obliques originate on the pelvis and then travel up and in, they are going to pull
up and in on the pelvis, on the hip. So, now that we know the anatomy, we can understand why this
new technique is so effective at hitting both the Internal and External Obliques.
With other oblique exercises, you are usually only focusing on one or the other. For example,
if you are doing standing oblique crunches, then you are bringing the chest cavity down but
you're not bringing the pelvis up. So, you are focusing almost exclusively on the External
Obliques. You still will get activation in the Internal Obliques, but if you were to look at the
region-specific hypertrophy, it would be weighed heavily towards the External Obliques. In other
oblique exercises, such as the hanging oblique crunch, you are bringing the hips up. So, you are
focusing primarily on the Internal Obliques, but you're not on the External Obliques. They
are mostly stationary but, with this u technique, you are bending in the middle. On the way down,
you're putting eccentric tension on the External Oblique by stretching out your chest and bringing
it away from its insertion point. You're putting eccentric tension on the Internal Obliques by
stretching out your hip and then, on the way back up, that eccentric tension turns into concentric
tension and contractions. Your External Obliques have to work really hard to bring your chest
down and in. The Internal Obliques have to work really hard to bring your hip back up and in. Now,
this isn't the only exercise that you'll want to use to develop your Obliques because, for one,
it does not address the rotational aspect of the Obliques, which is essential to work. However,
it is an excellent technique to include in your routine because, for one, as we went over it hits
both simultaneously, two, it probably is the best at completely isolating the Obliques from
the other ab and back muscles. Three, you don't need any weight or equipment to do it other than
something to prop your feet up on, which you can find literally anywhere. Four, and probably the
most important for many of you is that, not only is it a body weight exercise, but it is
the best body weight exercise for hypertrophic gains of the Obliques. Now, why is that? First,
it's important to understand that, in order to stimulate protein synthesis and actually
achieve increase in size of the muscle fibers, you have to place high loads or heavy weight
on the muscle fibers. Now, Muscular Hypertrophy is a very complex and nuanced subject with a
lot of variables at play and I will be doing comprehensive videos on it in the future. However,
for now, to understand our use case here, just know that at a very high level high weight
high load, with low reps has been shown to be optimal for Muscular Hypertrophy or increase in
size of the muscle fibers. Whereas, high number of reps with lower weight has been shown to be
optimal for increased strength and endurance of the muscle fibers, but not size. Now,
there is one important exception to that rule and it's called "Blood Flow Resistance training",
but I will also be going over that in-depth in a future video pretty soon here. That aside, this
high load principle is often a problem for people who want to build muscle, but they don't have
any equipment, heavy weights or maybe you're on vacation or there's a global pandemic or for some
reason you don't have access to weights, but you still want to build muscle with other body weight
oblique exercises. You will generally be laying on the ground and using your Obliques. Either lift
your legs up off the ground or lift your head and shoulders up off the ground or some exercises will
do both. Regardless the vast majority of the load is being supported by the ground and, often it is
not just the Obliques on one side working but it is both Obliques and the Abs that are spreading
out distributing the load. Not only is the load itself already lesser, because you're only
trying to lift legs or shoulders off the ground, but it's being distributed as a rule of thumb.
If you can do more than 15 reps of an exercise without hitting failure, then it is not heavy
enough to stimulate protein synthesis and to lead to Hypertrophy and all those other oblique
bodyweight exercises. Anyone in shape will be able to do more than 15. Increasing strength and
endurance, but not size and you may not think that is an issue because most people aren't looking for
massive Obliques, but they are essential. If you want to have a complete core, they frame your abs
and they really complete the look. Not to mention being extremely important functionally. So,
anybody who really is serious about fitness, they will want to develop their Obliques and build
them. All those other bodyweight exercises, they won't. Now, let's contrast those to
the U technique because your feet are propped up at the same level as the center of your chest and,
your head, your entire body from your shoulders down the load, is being placed directly and solely
on two muscles. The Internal and External Oblique on the side. That's on the bottom,
your whole body except for shoulders and up being placed directly on those. Trust me, this exercise
is hard and, if you're doing it right, then even for people who are skinny and not carrying a lot
of extra weight through their body, it will be more than enough load to trigger Hypertrophy
in the Obliques. Now, if you're really serious about developing your core, then you'll want to
register for one of my full online absent obliques programs. I'm creating two different versions, one
is geared more towards Hypertrophy the other towards toning and strengthening both developed
with the latest in exercise science. Just click the link in the video description to add your
name to the waitlist to the program of your choice and you'll get fifty percent off the program when
it is released in its beta version. If you have any specific content requests, i'd love to hear
them. You can put them in the comment section below and I will also leave a feedback form in
the video description if you want to put your content request directly onto my to-do list
and be notified when the content you requested is available. Mahalo my friends, until next time!