Lateral Bends

Lateral Bends is an exercise for the oblique abdominals and a little know muscle called the Quadratus Lumborum.

Bending your spine to the left and right in this way is called dynamic loading. Dynamic loading helps to circulate nutrition to the inner part of the disks of your spine, the intervertebral discs. The inside of an intervertebral discs is called the nucleus pulposus. The nucleus pulposus does not receive direct blood flood, so it relies on movement like this to bring it nutrition.

A 2015 award winning paper showed that dynamic loading increases the nutrient supply to the nucleus pulposus.