Before you go beast mode at the gym, it's important to warm up your entire body, especially your core. Why, you ask? Because your core muscles (internal obliques, external obliques, transversus abdominus, and rectus abdominus) stabilize your spine and pelvis and are responsible for flexion and rotation. Simply put: twisting, reaching, bending, and all the other movements we do involve our abs.
If you tend to save ab exercises for the end of your workout, I suggest you start doing them at the beginning of your workout in conjunction with your warmup. This will ensure that your ab muscles are firing during your workout, and it will help prevent injury. To get your workout started, Kelsey Wells, a NASM-certified trainer and creator of the PWR program, shared four moves that will ignite and activate your abs.
Circuit 1:
Circuit 2:
"Perform each circuit consecutively for four minutes and slay your core day," Kelsey wrote in the caption. Be sure to check out the video above to see Kelsey in action. Continue reading for a detailed description on how to perform each move.