A no-equipment move that seriously challenges your abs

Plus, a (still spicy) modification, and a call for nutrition questions

Jun 11, 2025

In the traditional Pilates sequence, a group of five movements known as the “ab series” comes immediately after four other moves that also work the core. (I always laugh when I tell students, “It’s time for the ab series!” and they say, “Wait, what did I just do?!”) One of the most challenging of these pre–ab series ab moves is the roll up.

The roll up is a bit like a more deliberate, precise, and spine-friendly sit-up. You begin fully supine, with your arms at a 45-degree angle (next to your earlobes), and then roll all the way up and over until your torso is hovering over your legs, then return back down to the mat with control, one bone at a time. It mobilizes your entire spine and challenges basically every part of your core: your rectus abdominis, transverse abdominis, and internal and external obliques. It even stretches the backs of your legs while you’re at it.

It’s also really freaking hard to do, and if you give it a shot and find yourself hoisting yourself up using momentum, take it down a notch and try the half roll down instead (more on that below). Forcing or “horking” your way through a full roll up just isn’t worth it!

Also: This is not a great move if you’re pregnant or newly postpartum, as it requires a lot of intra-abdominal pressure management to avoid excess outward pressure on the linea alba or downward pressure on your pelvic floor. Stick to the half roll-down, and consider putting a pillow or soft Pilates ball just below your lower back to help support you and prevent you from going too low. If you’re postpartum, well recovered, and ready to progress beyond the half roll down, just watch your abdominals for doming or coning during the roll up.

Half Roll Down

Sit up tall on your mat with knees bent, feet flat, and hands resting lightly behind your knee creases.

Inhale to tuck your pelvis under, curving your spine and slowly lowering your torso toward the mat until your arms are fully extended.
Exhale to curl back upright, maintaining the C-curve in the spine.
Experiment with hand placement (as shown): Try a few with your hands just above the knee creases and a few with your hands closer to your glutes (farther down toward the mat). See how lightly you can hold your legs with your hands: Can you just gently rest your hands instead of gripping? You can also try having your feet closer to, or farther away from, your butt.
If you need more of a challenge but the roll up (below) isn’t for you, you can try the half roll down with your arms released: Just extend your arms in front of you at about shoulder height, and roll down and up.
You can also try adding an arm lift at the bottom of the roll down: Inhale to curve down toward the mat, and when you reach the halfway point, lift your arms up by the ears (or lift one at a time!), but don’t allow the rest of your body to move. Then return the hands to the backs of the legs, or reaching straight forward, and curl forward again.
Perform between 3 and 10 reps, depending on how many you can do while maintaining good form.

Roll Up

Begin lying supine on the mat, legs glued together, feet flexed, arms at a 45-degree angle with your triceps right next to your earlobes.

Close your ribcage. Draw your abdominals in and up.
Inhale to lift your head and shoulders off the mat.
Exhale to reach forward and bring your arms down (do this with strength and intention, imagining you’re squeezing a large beach ball underneath your arms: bringing your arms down like this will fire the obliques and help you peel off the mat with better control), and peel your spine off the mat one vertebra at a time. Pull your abdominals in and up as you fold over your legs.
Inhale to roll halfway back, then exhale to roll all the way back down on the mat, arms returning to that 45-degree starting point.
Repeat (inhale lift head and shoulders, exhale curve forward over the legs, inhale roll halfway back, exhale roll all the way down) for a total of 3–8 repetitions. Try to make the movement as smooth and connected as possible: Each little section flows seamlessly into the next.

Another great option for the roll up is to use your legs for leverage to help you make your way up and off the mat: Place your hands behind one or both thighs, and press your leg(s) forward as you peel your spine off the mat — the weight and strength of your legs pressing forward can help “pull” you up. You can also wrap a resistance band or yoga strap around a couch leg and pull on it to help you lift up and over, and slowly return back down.

Note: A version of this exercise tutorial originally appeared on Better Humans.

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Also! Great, great news: As I shared in the Substack chat, I’ll be interviewing a wonderful anti-diet sports nutrition RD next week for the newsletter. I met her because one of you works with her and told her about How to Move, and she reached out! (She kept you anonymous, but whoever you are, THANK YOU.)

So: Please comment here or DM me with your food and nutrition questions, especially as they pertain to movement and muscle! We’ll obviously be talking a lot about protein, but what else do you want to know? Think hydration, timing of meals and snacks, how to eat to fuel your workouts and feel great without getting into a level of optimization that isn’t good for you. Do you want to know about creatine? (I want to know about creatine.)

A no-equipment move that seriously challenges your abs

Plus, a (still spicy) modification, and a call for nutrition questions

Half Roll Down

Roll Up

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