I’ll start this article by saying I know I’m very late to the party with the Daisy Keech quarantine go-to clinch waist workout, which has already racked up over 9 million views on YouTube. Always keen to join a workout trend, (find out what happened when I tried the Bretman Rock ab workout and the 12-3-30 viral treadmill TikTok workout here), I unrolled my mat and pressed play, and, wow.
Core workouts are part of my weekly workout routine as a runner. And as an avid Pilates fan, I wasn’t too worried about this workout. I was wrong. Despite looking OK on paper, my lower abs were aching for a good few hours after this workout, and I definitely noticed them looking more defined the next day.
Daisy Keech explains in her intro that the moves are designed to give you more of a “clinched waist than build your obliques outwards.” By this, the YouTuber means that by working on the external oblique muscles, which are located along the side of the abdominals, you can get more of a squarer torso and if you’re hoping to make your waist smaller, you should target the abdominal muscles.
It’s important to caveat here that you shouldn’t avoid strengthening your oblique muscles — they’re important for anyone who practices sports that involve twisting from side to side, plus they can help you gain a stronger core.
The exercises Keech has put together are designed to target the lower abdominal muscles; “a lot of ab routines tend to focus on your upper abs and your obliques, however, if you start to increase the blood flow into the lower abs, it’ll help you burn that stubborn belly fat” the fitness model explains.
What is the Daisy Keech ab workout?
On paper, the Daisy Keech 8-minute