Lose The Love Handles: Oblique Shredder Workout
Summary
Jeff Cavaliere of AthleanX presents a four-exercise circuit workout specifically targeting the love handle area and obliques. The routine is designed to be completed three to five times through, requiring minimal equipment, and emphasizes engaging the oblique muscles that are often undertrained. Jeff also notes that proper diet is essential alongside this training program for visible results.
Key Points
- The workout is structured as a quick circuit of four exercises, repeated 3–5 times for an effective midsection session
- The primary focus is on the obliques — muscles in the love handle area that are commonly neglected in standard ab training
- Most exercises can be modified to require little to no equipment (substitutions for tubing and medicine ball are mentioned)
- Simply doing standard leg raises or crunches is insufficient — rotation and twisting movements are key to engaging the obliques
- Jeff emphasizes that diet is a necessary complement to this training in order to see the obliques and reduce the love handle area
- The circuit is intentionally time-efficient, making it accessible as a standalone finisher or add-on workout
Exercise Details
1. Hanging Corkscrews
- Target muscles: Obliques, abdominals
- Form cues: Hang from a pull-up bar, perform a leg raise, then add a corkscrew twist at the top of the movement to engage the obliques
- Common mistakes: Skipping the twist and performing a standard leg raise, which primarily works the hip flexors and abdominals without targeting the obliques
- Sets/Reps: 8 reps each side
2. Physio Ball Tuck Circles
- Target muscles: Obliques, abdominals
- Form cues: Hold a physio ball between the legs, perform full rotational circles — knees must go all the way around in each direction; go 8 circles clockwise, then 8 counterclockwise
- Common mistakes: Making small, shallow circles that only work the hip flexors and abs without recruiting the obliques; circles must be full and complete
- Sets/Reps: 8 clockwise, 8 counterclockwise
3. Tubing Oblique Crunch
- Target muscles: Obliques, lower abdominals
- Form cues: With tubing anchored overhead (or no equipment), keep elbows out and crunch diagonally — driving one elbow toward the opposite side; keep the movement controlled and focused on muscle contraction
- Common mistakes: Using too large a range of motion; this is described as a small, targeted move focused on muscle engagement rather than momentum
- Equipment note: Can be performed without tubing by simply mimicking the contraction pattern
4. Med Ball Carry Crunch
- Target muscles: Obliques, abdominals
- Form cues: Lie on the ground, place a medicine ball on one shoulder, legs raised in the air, opposite arm extended out; bring everything up together into a side crunch
- Common mistakes: Not mentioned explicitly, but emphasis is on performing a true side crunch rather than a standard forward crunch
- Equipment note: Can be performed without a medicine ball