Your obliques are the muscles that run along the sides of your midsection, basically from the lower ribs down toward the hip bones on each side of your torso.

What the obliques are

  • The obliques are part of your abdominal muscles and come in two layers: external obliques (on top) and internal obliques (underneath).
  • They sit on the front and sides of your abdomen, covering the area between the rib cage and the pelvis on both sides.

How to locate them on yourself

  • Stand upright and gently twist your torso left and right; the tightening you feel along the side of your waist under your ribs is your obliques.
  • If you lean to the side (a side bend), the side that feels the strongest “squeeze” from just below the ribs down toward the hip is the working oblique.

What they do

  • Obliques help you rotate your trunk, bend sideways, and assist with forward bending of the spine.
  • They also help stabilize your spine and increase abdominal pressure for actions like forceful exhalation or bracing your core during lifting or sports.

Simple ways to train them

  • Side planks and bicycle crunches are common exercises that strongly recruit the obliques.
  • Rotational moves like Russian twists or controlled torso twists also target these muscles because they rely on side-to-side turning of the trunk.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.