Abs and Oblique Stretch (TIGHT ABS FIX!) – ATHLEAN-X™

How to get ripped abs and obliques year round…

People often say that they want to get tight abs and obliques, but it’s often a phrase used to mean having a ripped six pack and a flat stomach. When taken literally however, tight abs and obliques require stretching or else dysfunction will soon set in to your training and disrupt many of your other lifts. In this video, I show you abs and oblique stretches that you can do in your ab and obliques workouts and after them to ensure that your abs remain adequately flexible.

All you need to perform these abs and oblique stretches is a physioball. Begin by laying on your back over the ball and stretching your arms up and over your head. Understanding that your rectus and obliques run from your ribs to your pelvis requires that you need to separate these two points as much as possible if you are going to maximize the stretch.

In order to do this, you will want to drop your hips and pelvis down along the curvature of the ball. This will separate your rib cage from your pelvis and intensify the stretch on your abs. Take it even a step further by taking a big deep breath in to expand your ribcage even further away from your pelvis.

The obliques can also be hit using the same ball. Reposition yourself on the side of the ball and place it under one hip as you lean across the ball. Reach across your body and over your head to set up the stretch on your obliques. If you tilt and twist your body upward and roll back on the ball you will preferentially hit the external obliques with a great stretch. Tilt forward and roll towards the ground with your upper body and you will shift the focus to your internal obliques.

Each of these abs and oblique stretches can be held for 45-60 seconds and repeated 3-5 times. You should aim to perform them at least a couple times each week to try and counteract the posterior rotation pull of the pelvis that is caused from all of the sitting that we do throughout the day. When not stretched, these tight abs and obliques can not only dramatically impact the performance of your ab and oblique workouts but also how you do your squats.

Trying to squat with a posteriorly rotated pelvis will severely compromise the stability and integrity of your lower back. In order to get your pelvis to drop away from your ribcage to establish a slight arch in your low back, you need to be able to anteriorly rotate your pelvis. Tight abs will not allow this.

For a complete workout program that not only gives you abs you can see year round but teaches you how to train them effectively for best results, head to and get the ATHLEAN-X Training System.

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