The side plank is one of the easiest ways to work the two layers of muscle along the sides of your core, known as your obliques. These muscles help you rotate and bend your trunk, and they also play a role in helping to protect your spine.

Side planks are an effective compound core strengthening exercise that targets the hips, abs, obliques, glutes, shoulders, and legs to improve balance and stability throughout the body. Unlike many other ab exercises, like crunches and situps, side planks place minimal stress on the lower back.

Side planks are a great way to strengthen the core and improve stability. They can help build strength in the obliques, glutes, and lower back muscles while engaging your shoulder girdle. Additionally, side planks can be used as an effective warm-up exercise before more intense workouts or as part of a cool-down routine after strenuous activity.

Side planks, including variations like the side plank leg raise and the side plank crunch, are pivotal for sculpting a robust core. Doing a side plank engages not only your abdominal muscles but also works the muscles along your sides — the obliques.

Consistently performing side planks improves muscle endurance in the lower back. The side plank targets the obliques, but also engages the quadratus lumborum. The quadratus lumborum makes up part of the posterior abdominal wall.