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Chris Freytag demonstrating oblique burner exercise wearing a workout top and pants.
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Oblique burners are a standing core body exercise, focused on your obliques, that strengthen and stretches your abdominals. If you are looking to trim your waistline you should learn how to do oblique burners.

Many people are looking to do standing ab work. Maybe it is low back pain or knee pain that prevent you from getting up off the floor or maybe a growing pregnancy makes many moves awkward. Or perhaps you are just looking for a change!

No matter what the reason is, standing ab exercises are effective and oblique burners are one of them. Just check it out in one of our awesome workouts 6 Standing Ab Exercises For A Flat Stomach.

Like most moves, it is important to focus on range of motion during the oblique burner. The farther you tip to the side, the more you will feel this working. Make sure you also engage your lower abdominals as you are reaching to the side.

It might also be a good idea to do this one in with your back against a wall or in front of a mirror, turned to the side. You can watch and make sure you are moving completely sideways without sticking your hips back or bending forward in any way.

Try out the oblique burner in our workout 9 Oblique Exercises to Tone Your Abs.

How To Do Oblique Burners

Here are the steps to performing Oblique Burners:

1) Stand with feet a little wider than hip distance apart, knees bent and hands held behind the back of your head.

2) Bend to the right reaching right hand toward floor behind your leg. Keep spine long.

3) Return to center and repeat on the left side.

4) Continue switching for desired number of repetitions.

What Muscles Do Oblique Burners Work?

While oblique crunches involve lying on your side, an oblique burner is a standing core body exercise focused on your obliques, that strengthens and stretches your abdominals. If you are looking to shape and tone your waistline you should learn how to do oblique burners.

Benefits of Oblique Burners

There are many reasons you should incorporate oblique burners into your workouts. Here are just a few:

Stronger Core

Oblique burners are an amazing ab exercise that truly challenges your entire core but specifically targets those obliques. Why is this important? Your obliques tone and shape your waist but more importantly they are part of a system of muscles that keep your core strong all the way around.

Stronger Low Back

As mentioned above, the oblique burner focuses on your obliques, but the intense use of all abdominal muscles in this exercise also provides strength to those muscles that surround your lower back. This will help prevent low back injury and give you a stronger core and better posture.

Stretches Your Obliques

Oblique burners are a unique exercise that both strengthens and stretches your waistline out all at the same time. While your right side muscles contract to pull you to the right, your left side gets stretched out and visa versa! It is important to stretch your trunk and stay flexible to avoid compression.

How Many Calories Do Oblique Burners Burn?

People often ask how many calories they are burning in their workouts. Most exercises will generally burn about 100 calories for every 10 minutes you are working at high intensity.

Oblique Burner is a standing ab move that might not burn as many calories as running or swimming, but will give you the results you want in your core and burn calories all at the same time.

Other Exercises Similar to Oblique Burners

If you like oblique burners and the results you get from it, here are a few more exercises you might want to try.

  1. How To Do Oblique Crunch
  2. How To Do Side To Side Obliques
  3. How To Do Side Plank Lift and Lower

Incorporating Oblique Burners Into Your Workouts

Oblique burners are an amazing exercise on their own! However, you could also incorporate oblique burners into other workouts to add a core strength element or to mix-up your work. Here are some ideas to get you started.

Use Oblique Burners in a No-Lay-Down Ab Workout

Many people are looking to do ab work in which they don’t have to lay down. Maybe it is low back pain or knee pain that is the problem when you try to get up. Perhaps a growing pregnancy makes many moves awkward.

Or perhaps you are just looking for a change! No matter what the reason is, these ab exercises are effective and Oblique Burner is one of them.

Here are 5 great moves that will keep you off your back and in the game! Try each move and shape that waist!

Cross Chop – Use a medicine ball or dumbbell for this great move! 12 reps per side.

Oblique Burners – 15 reps per side

Side Plank Scoop – 10 per side. Put your bottom knee down to modify.

Oblique Crunch – 12 per side

Leg Loops – 16 total reps

Sculpt Your Obliques in a 5 Simple Moves Workout: Here’s a short, sweet and effective workout for your core that uses oblique burners. For the following workout, perform the exercise as instructed. If you still feel great at the end, try going through each move one more time!

Standing Oblique Burner – 15 reps per side

Oblique Crunch – 15 Reps per side

Oblique Burner – 30 seconds

Hip Dips – 16 Total Reps

Side To Side Obliques – 16 Total Reps

(repeat)

Use Oblique Burners in a Cardio Workout

Cardio workouts are fun to do and make you feel great. The problem is that often people fall into the habit or relying on cardio as their only exercise program. Adding oblique burners to a cardio workout makes sense because it strengthens the core while keeping your heart pumping.

Oblique burners are in this next workout that can be done at home with no equipment. Check it out!

12 Minute At-Home Cardio Workout: No equipment needed. Just get ready to work hard and get that body in shape in 10 minutes!

Warm up by marching or jogging lightly for 1 minute. Then do 4 inchworms to get the body ready for movement. Perform each move below one minute. When you get to the end go back to the top and repeat one more time.

Squat Jumps

Upper Cuts

Skaters

Mountain Climbers

Skiers

Oblique Burner

Repeat the sequence one more time!

Use Oblique Burners in a Full Body Strength Challenge

An all-over strength workout requires core training to be part of the equation. Oblique Burner is the perfect move to slide in between other exercises to work your core while your other muscles are resting between moves.

Full Body Strength Challenge: This workout uses Oblique Burner in addition to covering every major muscle group! Grab a medium pair of dumbbells and go from one move directly to the next. Make sure you repeat 2 times!

Push-Up Punch – 12 reps

Bicep Curl Lunge – 12 Reps

Tricep Overhead Extensions – 12 Reps

Squat Thruster – 12 Reps

Shoulder Front Raise – 12 Reps

Cross Behind Lunge Lateral Raise – 12 Reps

Straight Arm Press Back – 12 Reps

Reverse Grip Double Arm Row – 12 Reps

Oblique Burner – Rotate side to side a total of 20 times total

Here are 3 more workouts that incorporate oblique burners you might want to try:

6 Standing Ab Exercises for a Flat Stomach

9 Oblique Exercises To Tone Your Abs

15-Minute Workout to Get Rid of Lower Belly Pooch

Targets: core, obliques

About Chris Freytag, CPT

Chris Freytag is an ACE certified personal trainer, TV personality, author and motivational speaker. She has been sharing the message of healthy living for 30 years while teaching fitness classes, writing books, creating workouts and sharing her knowledge in magazines and online.

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