How to do it: Come onto all fours with your knees underneath your hips and your hands underneath your shoulders. Gently lift your right leg up, bending your knee and pointing your toe, until your thigh is parallel to the floor. Begin pulling the knee towards your chest, underneath the rib cage, using your core. Keeping the abs engaged, lift knee back to hip height. Repeat 10 times. Then begin pulling the knee toward the left elbow and back up to hip height. Repeat 10 times. Then begin pulling the knee toward the right elbow and back up to hip height. Repeat 10 times. Go slowly with each move and engage the abs the entire time and remember to breathe. Switch legs and repeat the series. Try this entire sequence on both sides twice for a total of 160 repetitions. If that seems like too much, and you want to start slow, try only one full round, says Kelsey Patel, yoga instructor and owner of Pure Barre Beverly Hills.
The benefits: If it sounds intense, that’s because it is. This series will target your entire core, but mainly hits the upper abs and those hard-to-reach side abs, says Patel.