Abdominal Exercises: Intermediate Oblique Curls

Video Transcript

"After you've mastered a basic oblique curl with both feet on the floor, we'll try taking one foot out of the picture and crossing it above the knee joint so you're not putting pressure on there, and you'll know how to stack your foot from your hip to where you control your back to the mat or the surface that you're working on. I'm going to uncross and go this way so you can see me coming at this angle, but I'm really working through this part of my waistline. I'm not twisting or rotating, but with a fist-width between the chin and the chest, and you can leave this hand here or you can lift it for a little more of a challenge. And we're crunching and releasing, and we're crunching in the waistline, not trying to twist but just leading with the chest, and release. If I tell you to lead with the shoulder or your elbow you're going to have a tendency to want to cross. Now I'm all out of neutral and I'm really not firing that lateral flexion that I need to. If you have a tendency to pull on your neck just wrap a hand around here towards your ear and that'll actually cause you to maintain cervical, neutral cervical spine. If you have the range of motion you can add in an extension of the leg and really focus peak contraction with an exhale and inhale halfway back. Exhale, inhale halfway back. So you don't let yourself fall all the way back, but you maintain a slight lift with a nice, soft neck and exhale and release. Starting out with about 10 on each side and working your way up from there. "