The dumbbell side bend has you standing tall with a single dumbbell in one hand, bending sideways toward it and pulling yourself back up with the opposite side of your waist. It is one of the few ways to load the obliques through their side-bending range with a weight you can add to, and it needs nothing but one dumbbell. You train one side at a time, so the weaker side has nowhere to hide.
How to do it
- Stand tall with one dumbbell at your side and your free hand on your hip.
- Bend straight sideways toward the dumbbell, without tipping forward or back, then pull yourself upright with the other side.
- Do all your reps on one side before you switch hands.
Common mistakes
- Holding a dumbbell in each hand, which cancels the load out.
- Swinging a heavy dumbbell through the range instead of bending slowly and under control.
What it trains
- Obliques
- work on the side away from the dumbbell: they lower you under control and pull you back upright — the prime mover
- Lower back
- the quadratus lumborum, deep beside the spine, bends the trunk sideways together with the obliques
- Forearms
- hold the dumbbell, and with a heavy one can end the set before the waist does
Variations and alternatives
Common questions
Do I log both sides?
No — log the reps of one side. Twelve with the dumbbell in your left hand and then twelve with it in your right is a set of twelve, and StackUp judges your heaviest set against your rep range and suggests the next weight from that, exactly as for any other lift. Use the same dumbbell and the same reps on both sides.
Should I hold a dumbbell in each hand for side bends?
No. Two dumbbells balance each other out: as you bend toward one, the other helps pull you back up, and your waist does very little. One dumbbell, with the free hand on your hip or behind your head, is what makes the exercise work.
Why do I feel side bends on the side without the dumbbell?
Because that side is doing the work. The dumbbell pulls you down toward it, and the obliques on the opposite side are what lower you under control and pull you back up. That is why you switch hands: the dumbbell in your right hand trains your left side.
Do side bends make your waist wider?
Slightly at most — trained obliques thicken a little like any muscle, but waist size comes down mostly to body fat and bone structure. Side bends will not trim your waist either, because no exercise burns fat from one spot.
In StackUp. Logged as weight and reps per set, and your heaviest working set decides whether the weight goes up next time. Get the app.
Core
