Workout: To do at home, in the gym or on the go

Don’t be fooled by how easy this exercise for your abdominals may appear.
During the past two months of quarantine, if you gained weight and it has settled around your mid-section, this may be the calisthenic for you.
1. Lie on your back and bend your legs at a 90-degree angle. Squeeze an exercise ball with your knees and your arms that are stretched toward the ceiling.
2. Contract your abdominal muscles and flatten your lower back as much as you can toward the floor. At the same time, squeeze the ball with one knee and the opposite arm.
3. While maintaining pressure on the ball, slowly stretch your free arm backward toward the floor above your head, while at the same time, extend your free leg forward and down to the floor.
4. Slowly return both outstretched limbs back to the start position. Repeat 10 to 12 times, and then do a set of repetitions with the opposite limbs.
5. Throughout the repetitions, don’t allow your lower back to leave the floor. Keep squeezing the ball and lengthen your neck along the floor. Don’t allow your head and neck to protrude forward.
6. You’ll feel this calisthenic in your abdominal muscles, deep core muscles, your shoulders, buttocks, hamstrings, lower back and latissimus-dorsi, or “lats,” which run along either side of your spine, from the middle to lower back.
7. The benefits of this workout include strengthening the core muscles that support the mechanics of walking or any other
everyday activity.

Disclaimer: Do not begin any physical activity described in this column without prior approval from your health care professional.