Q: Should I train my obliques (the muscles down your sides)?

A: Jillian Michaels doesn’t – isn’t that enough for you people?? JMich (wow, that is not catchy at all!) and many others point out that building up your obliques can make your waist wider. Saith she in her book Making The Cut, “the trick [to a v-taper shape] is to build the muscles in your upper back and shoulders and shrink your internal and external obliques (the ab muscles on the sides of your upper and lower waist).” However, having an unbalanced core doesn’t sound like a great plan either. Your obliques are responsible for supporting your core when you twist and bend and they help keep everything else in line. Even Jillian has oblique exercises in her Shred DVDs. So I suppose the answer to this question depends on whether you are looking for form or function.