1. Core Stabilizer: Single Leg Extension
- Why It’s Good for You: This move trains your core muscles to work together to stabilize your pelvis.
- Starting Position: Lie on your back with your knees bent, feet flat on the floor, and hands behind your head. Press your low back into the floor, and curl your head up off the floor.
- The Move: Exhale strongly and pull your navel in and up toward your spine. Slowly pull one knee into your chest, keeping your low back pressed to the floor, while extending your other leg straight at about a 45-degree angle off the floor. Keep your abdominals pulled in and your low back on the floor. If your low back arches off the floor, extend your leg higher toward the ceiling. Switch legs. Start with five to 10 extensions on each side.
- Increase the Intensity: Pull both knees into your chest, then extend both legs straight at about a 45-degree angle, using your core to keep your low back on the floor. Or, as you extend your legs, extend both arms overhead, reaching in the opposite direction from your legs.
2. The New Crunch
- Why It’s Good for You: Also called a “curl-up,” this exercise works the rectus abdominis (the six-pack muscle) and obliques (which run diagonally around your waist and rotate your torso).
- Starting Position: Lie on your back with your knees bent, feet flat on the floor. Press your low back into the floor. Place your hands behind your head, or reach your arms toward your knees if it doesn’t create too much tension in your neck.
- The Move: Exhale strongly and pull your navel in and up toward your spine. Curl your head and shoulders slowly off the floor. Hold, then slowly lower back down. Repeat three times
- Increase the Intensity: Extend one leg straight at a 45-degree angle toward the ceiling. Or hold both legs off the floor, knees bent, with your shins parallel to the floor
3. Pilates Roll-Up / Yoga Sit-Up
- Why It’s Good for You: This move works the rectus abdominis, obliques, and transverse abdominis (the deepest core muscles that wrap around your waist like a corset and pull your abdomen inward and upward toward your spine.)
- Starting Position: Lie on your back with your legs straight, your feet flexed, and your arms reaching overhead on the floor. Press your low back into the floor.
- The Move: Exhale strongly and pull your navel in and up toward your spine. Roll up in slow motion, reaching your arms off the floor, then your shoulders and head, rolling up one vertebra at a time until you’re sitting up with your abdominals still pulled in. Slowly roll back down. Repeat three to five times, adding more as your core gets stronger.
- Increase the Intensity: Cross your arms over your chest as you roll up.
