Caley Crawford, NASM-certified personal trainer and director of education at Row House, said, "As a traditional gymnastic core exercise, hollow holds strengthen and stabilize the entire core. They will make your abs look great and are a functional core movement that will make all of your other workout movements and daily life movements safer and more stable."
- Begin on your back with your legs straight and your arms extended overhead.
- Actively press your lower back into the floor and draw your belly button into your spine.
- Inhale to slowly lift your shoulders, arms, and legs off the floor. Keep your hands and heels as low to the ground as possible, while still pressing your lower back into the floor. Maintain tight abs and glutes.
- Hold for five to 30 seconds to complete one rep.
- For a modification, Caley says to bend the knees when your lower back comes off the ground. She also recommends alternating or integrating this exercise into a circuit with other ab moves, holding each move for 10 seconds and increasing the duration for every round until you get up to one minute of each move.