Side to side for a tighter midsection

Target your midsection by doing this fun and effective crisscross move. By holding a stability ball in your hands, you’ll increase the resistance as well as the range of motion. Because this exercise requires that you maintain a constant contraction in your core muscles, you can do fewer reps and get more out of each one.

-- Karen Voight

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1 Lie face up on a padded surface or a mat. With both arms extended, hold a large stability ball above your chest. Bend your knees over your hips with your calves raised and parallel to the floor. Inhale.

2 On the exhale, raise your shoulder blades off the floor and straighten your right leg in front of you to 45 degrees. Rotate to the left, moving the ball to the outside of your left knee. Inhale, pause for two seconds, keeping your shoulders lifted. Exhale, then straighten your left leg and bend your right knee, moving the ball to the outside of your right knee. Continue alternating sides without lowering your shoulders for a set of 10 reps (5 to each side). Then bend both knees, lower your head to the floor and relax.

Karen Voight can be reached at [email protected].