Activate Your Abs With Kelsey Wells's 4-Move Strengthening Workout

Published on Oct 9, 2018 at 12:37 PM

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.

The Workout

Circuit 1:

Flutter: 20 reps
Ab Bike: 20 reps

Circuit 2:

Knee Tuck: 10 reps
Half Burpee: 10 reps

"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.

Flutter Kicks

Lie flat on your back on a mat with your legs straight and your arms extended alongside your hips, palms flat on the mat.
Lift your legs about six inches off the ground.
Begin the movement by lifting one leg higher than the other. As you are lowering that leg to starting position (six inches off the floor), raise the other. This should be a fluid fluttering (or up and down) motion. Your feet should never touch the floor. This keeps tension in your core.

Bicycle Crunches

Lie flat on the floor with your lower back pressed to the ground (pull your abs down to also target your deep abs). Interlace your fingers, and put your hands behind your head.
Bring your knees in toward your chest, and lift your shoulder blades off the ground.
Straighten your right leg out to about a 45-degree angle to the ground while turning your upper body to the left, bringing your right elbow toward the left knee. Make sure your rib cage is moving and not just your elbows.
Now switch sides, and do the same motion on the other side to complete one rep (and to create the "pedaling" motion).

Ball Knee Tucks

Start in a plank position with your hands directly under your shoulders and your shins on the ball.
Do not allow your lower back to arch. Keep your feet, pelvis, and shoulders in one long line.
On an exhale, pull the ball forward toward your hands. Extend your legs as you push the ball backward, returning to your starting position. This completes one rep.

Squat Thrust

Begin standing with the feet hip-distance apart.
Lower into a crouching squat with your hands on the floor.
Keeping the abs engaged, jump your feet back so you're in plank position.
Keeping the arms straight, jump your feet forward behind the hands.
Stand up to complete one rep.