The Standing Abs Move You Should Do Before Every Workout

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One of the main functions of that all-important warm-up is to ease your body into the hard work ahead. Aside from literally warming up your muscles before challenging them with tougher moves, you’re working to improve mobility, reduce your risk for injury, and increase your heart rate. The standing toe touch helps with all of the above—plus, it incorporates some subtle abs work, too. It’s the perfect way to take you from your warm-up to the real work. 

The standing toe touch is considered a dynamic movement, says trainer Hannah Davis, C.S.C.S. and author of Operation Bikini Body. These types of movements help prevent injury and increase your range of motion. This exercise also helps to release tightness that can prevent you from doing exercises correctly, explains Davis. “Too much sitting usually leads to tight hip flexors and quads, contributing to an anterior pelvic tilt. This shortens the lower back muscles, making them tight and painful, while the hamstrings are forced into a stretched position, so they become tight as well. The standing toe touch is a simple way to begin to release these muscles so that then you can work on those dysfunctions with proper exercises.”

Plus, since you’re twisting one side of your upper body to the opposite side of your lower body, you start to warm up your obliques, and the small crunch you’ll need to touch your fingers to your toes also engages your core. 

Before you dive into those burpees and squat jumps, here’s how to incorporate standing toe touches into your routine.

Standing Toe Touch

Whitney Thielman 

• Start standing with your feet hip-distance apart.
• Swing your right leg up and touch your left hand to your right toes. Keep your chest up!
• Return to the starting position and repeat with your left leg, touching your right hand to your left toes.
• That’s 1 rep. Do 8 to 10 total.

You may also like: 9 Easy Stretches For Tight Hips

Related:

• The 20-Minute Cardio Workout That Is All About Those Abs
• These 3 Moves Will Give You A Total-Body, At-Home Workout
• There’s A Reason Why This Total-Body Move Is In Every Boot Camp Class

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