Strengthening your core can improve your overall fitness abilities (like make you a more powerful runner or skier), can prevent injury or back pain, and improves your posture.
Whether you throw in an ab routine after a cardio workout, or you're devoting an entire day to your midsection, these exercises are a must! Be sure to do these ab stretches afterward.
Not only does this move work all four abdominal muscles, but the glutes are targeted as well, giving a nice lift to your powerful rear.
Dr. Wu told us the ab roll-up works all four abdominal muscles at once, while "assisting with segmental mobility and stability of the core."
This challenging but simple move is so effective — and it specifically works the pesky lower ab area that can be difficult to target at times. You'll also take advantage of a nice quad exercise, which can help with running.