Two Favorite Side Body Strengtheners

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Do you have a hard time finding ways to STRENGTHEN your side body?

Our “side body” musculature is mainly made up of our internal and external oblique muscles, which are part of our abdominal muscle group.

When we laterally flex (side bend) our spine against resistance, we use these side body muscles. (We also target our obliques when we rotate our spine against resistance! But in this blog post, we’ll be focusing on lateral flexion oblique strengthening movements.)

Here are two of our favorite Strength for Yoga side body strengtheners. You might notice that they look quite different from one another – but their strengthening effects are similar!

Standing Dynamic Side Bend:

This exercise strengthens the obliques (side waist muscles) through a full range of motion.

The obliques strengthened here are the ones on the opposite side from the arm holding the weight.

As we lower the weight, the opposite side's obliques contract as they lengthen to slow down the movement. As we lift the weight, those same obliques are contracting as they shorten.

Side Plank Dips:

This bodyweight exercise is oriented differently to gravity from the standing side bends, but guess what! It's targeting the same area of the body through a full range of motion: the obliques.

The obliques strengthened in these dips are the ones on the underside of the body (closest to the floor).

As we dip our hips toward the floor, our obliques contract as they lengthen to slow down the movement. And as we lift our hips back up, those same obliques contract as they shorten.

Two different side body strengtheners with similar strengthening effects:

One of our Strength for Yoga Remote Group Training members was recently having a tough time with the side plank dip exercise, so she asked us if we could suggest an alternate exercise for her.

Thanks to our understanding of how loads are applied to the body, we were able to recommend the dynamic standing side bend. And to our and our member's delight, it worked like a charm!

Want to strengthen your side body – and your entire 360° core – with us?

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