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Your Obliques: They are the parentheses that frame your 6-pack, but they serve a much more important role than just acting as a frame. Your external obliques (those you can outwardly see) help with spinal stabilization, trunk rotation and other movements of the torso, posture, and they can help protect your spine from injury and that’s exactly why you should consider adding the jackknife exercise to your workout.Let’s not forget to mention that strong obliques create an aesthetic core and waistline. That’s why it’s important for you to focus on strengthening your obliques via core training. Try incorporating the side jackknife exercise into your next abs day! It directly targets and tightens those parentheses.
How To Do The Jackknife Exercise:
- Lie on your left side on a mat.
- Keep your right leg stacked on top of your left one.
- Brace your torso with your left arm by placing your elbow on the mat at a 90 degree angle. Place your right behind your head so that your hand touches your head and your arm is bent.
- Bring your torso up toward your right leg. Your torso and right leg will simultaneously lift toward each other as you crunch your obliques.
- Pause and squeeze your obliques and then return to starting position.
- Continue for the desired number of repetitions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvPRtBts_tM
Trainer Tips:
As you become stronger and begin to master this exercise, challenge yourself by slowing both the movement upward into the crunch and the pause at the top of the motion. This will make the exercise more difficult and keep your obliques under tension for a longer period of time. To make it harder, strap some ankle weights on to make this exercise even more challenging.
Sample Exercise Plan:
Add this abdominal routine to the end of any (or all) of your workouts!
- Side Jackknife 3 sets of 10 on each side
- Walking Planks 3 sets of 20
- Backwards plank hover 3 set of 10
- Stability ball crunch 3 sets of 12-15
- Inch Worms 3 sets of 10-12
