# Side-bends - good/bad????



## beta1770 (Jul 8, 2003)

Do any of you have a viewpoint regarding side-bends??  Are they Good, or use-less?

Ive done some off and on to try and tone up my side/obliques/ "love handles", but I am afraid of actually building them up.  Ive been using weight too (45 lbs); its really easy, but I dont want them to come out anymore.

Any opinions / reccomendations will be greatly appreciated!


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## Skib (Jul 8, 2003)

i've actually been wondering the same thing myself for quite some time... i need to get rid of these love handles... what's the best way to do so?


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## beta1770 (Jul 8, 2003)

I heard that working them is obviously good for tone, but w/ weight is bad b/c they may cause them to look like (__) intead of 
\__/ -   

Ive also tried bi-cycle crunches/situps, bu w/o results\

Any ideas???


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## Arnold (Jul 8, 2003)

Ther is NO such thing as 'spot reduction'! 

Doing side bends will be beneficial for your obliques, but getting rid of 'love handles' is accomplished thru proper diet & nutrition.


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## beta1770 (Jul 8, 2003)

Okay - so they are beneficial, but will they "grow" when working them with weights?  that is my only fear.......thanks for your input.


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## tjwes (Jul 8, 2003)

Doing sidebends ,especially with weight ,will increase the size of your waist by adding size to the oblique muscles.I never work my waist with weights,it will definately detract from your taper.Get on a good diet and cardio and ab regimen as well as weight training and you`ll be OK .A lower b/f% is needed to get fat off the sides of the waist .There is no such animal as spot reduction.


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## Jem7V (Jul 9, 2003)

is crunches with weight better than w/o weight??


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## OceanDude (Jul 10, 2003)

Good thread  topic.
I think we all have the same paranoia about developing obliques to the point of screwing up our waist thickness. I too am worried a little but would tend to think that an endurance/toning/maintenance  kind of rep/set regiment (i.e. a few sets of 15-20 reps at moderate weight) would apply in this area and promote genuine flexibility/tone and muscle balance. Agree it probably would be self defeating to work ???heavies??? on a mass building routine on this muscle group since few want the mass (interesting to note how we can spot grow mass but not spot reduce ??? seems so unfair). I have been doing very low level side oblique work by turning sideways to the roman chair with a 45 lb plate extending from my downward arm. Pretty easy stuff and I feel like it???s improved my flexibility and balance and not contributed to any noticeable mass gains what so ever. I???m going with the ???instinctive principal??? here ??? it???s all in my comfort zone and it really feels good to get that stretch. I feel it loosens up and relaxes my whole upper body and contributes to more even pressure on the spinal column and better posture. Just my opinion


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## P-funk (Jul 10, 2003)

Side bends are pretty usless for the obliques anyway.  It is an urban legend that they work the obliques just because the obliques are in the side of your body.  The direction of the muscle fibers can tell you that obliques play a huge roll in right and left rotation of the trunk/spine and a very minimal roll in side bending.  Actually the muscle witch is most affected by side bending is the quadratuslaborum.


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## OceanDude (Jul 10, 2003)

> _*Originally posted by P-funk *_
> Side bends are pretty usless for the obliques anyway.  It is an urban legend that they work the obliques just because the obliques are in the side of your body.  The direction of the muscle fibers can tell you that obliques play a huge roll in right and left rotation of the trunk/spine and a very minimal roll in side bending.  Actually the muscle witch is most affected by side bending is the quadratuslaborum.



P-Funk ??? that??? an excellent observation ??? I learned something here. Intrigued, I did some rapid searches on the web and found out that the quadratus lumborum is a well known muscle that is a primary cause of lower back pain. This may account for why I like to do this exercise so much ??? it just feels good to stretch it and balance that area. I???ll now also add in a twisting motion by holding the weight from the top arm and pull it across my body while doing this to also hit my obliques. Cool!


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## P-funk (Jul 10, 2003)

The quadratus laborum (QL) is a muscle which runs along your lower back, just above your pelvis.  It does right and left side bending of the trunk and is your main trunk extensor as well (think back extensions).  Yes is can cause lower back pain if it is tugging on the pelvis and causing an anterior pelvic tilt.  However in most cases it is tight hip flexors (primarily psoas major) or tight hamstring muscle (biceps femoris, semimembrinosis, semitendonosis) which cause lower back pain because these muscle are slacking all day as people sit at their desks.  Then when they finaly stand at the end of the day these muscles are forced to strech and can;t doint becuase they have been inactive all day.  This causes a pull on the pelvis which leads to lower back pain, also known as the psoas paradox (this is when the psoas major can cause an anterior and posterior pelvic tilt at the same time...ouch!!!!).

The reason it feels so good for you to side bend or do trunk flexion if you have lower back pain is becuase when you do these things you are causing the ligaments between the vertabrae to strech out and the disk between the vertabrae to move out a little bit and relax becuase it is getting pinched in between the vertabrae all day because it has swollen up and there is no more room it to fit there.  By bending over you are creating a greater amount of space between the vertabrae and thus creating a greater amount of space for the disk to move.  I don't think this is a really good thing at all.  If you are experiencing lower back pain I highly advice you to strech your hamstrings and hip flexors daily as well as do things like back extensions and supermans.


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## Fit Freak (Jul 11, 2003)

Gr8 post bud


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## spooky (Jul 18, 2003)

What are supermans?


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## P-funk (Jul 18, 2003)

lie prone (on your stomach) on the ground or a stability ball, place your hands out in front of you like superman does when he flyes and then bring your hands down and under (if you are on the ball) or around your body and raise them up (palms facing up) going into shoulder extension.  As you are doing that raise your body up using your lower back.  Hold for a 2 second pause then return to start position......make sense????  Kind of a hard one to explain.


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## Freeman (Jul 18, 2003)

ABS ARE MADE IN THE KITCHEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! RIGHT PRINCE?!


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## Lean_Physique16 (Jul 19, 2003)

the ONLY WAY to get rid of ANY FAT is through cardio and diet.  That is it.  You will not get fat off of your sides by doing side bends, just like crunches will not get fat off of your stomach.  It is just a fact.  Also, I know that sidebends(or teacups as we call them, although I'm not sure why exactly such a feminine name for them was picked) DO need to be worked out and it is a very beneficial exercise which helps with balance and all kinds of lifting pulling, pushing, etc. movements. Great thread by the way...


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