Yep, the 5 series is sweaty!

When you do the roll over, are you breathing out through the mouth(which will help activate the core)? Are you engaging the pelvic floor? Are you bringing the belly button in towards the spine? Sometimes people push the belly out instead of in when engaging tummy muscles. Think about drawing in the waist too. That way, the diaphragm, transverse abdominals and pelvic floor is activating, which will help. Also, use your upper arms to push into the mat, that can really help. Try squeezing legs together as well as that activates the inner thighs, which helps activate the pelvic floor.

Make sure it isn’t just the abs doing the work. We want the whole core working, and then the rest of the body does it’s bit. Cramping could be you are squeezing too much or too much pressure on the abs, or could be you aren’t relaxing the core muscles in between or in general. So, once you do a roll over, come down, take a breathe and relax the core, before you go again. Take it nice and slow.

Try the roll over with a small ball or plump cushion under the lower back, so you are lifting from higher up, which makes it easier. When you roll down from the roll over, again breathe out and activate the core and slowly roll down. That will strengthen the muscles and will help with the roll up part. Once you start getting stronger, you’ll find you don’t need the ball/cushion.