While eagle-eyed fans have been scouring Season 3 of “The White Lotus” for clues pointing to who winds up in a body bag teased in the first episode, others are struck by the killer abs on the characters stirring up drama in Thailand.

Michelle Monaghan, who plays Jaclyn on the hit HBO show, has shown off her strong core in workout scenes, as well as shots by the pool while she lounges with her two childhood pals Laurie (Carrie Coon) and Kate (Leslie Bibb).

Monaghan’s abs are thanks to her devotion to her workout routine, Pilates instructor Jacqui Kingswell tells TODAY.com.

“The main thing, for anybody wanting to see results, is to find a workout that you love because consistency is key, and that’s what Michelle does,” Kingswell says. “She’s really consistent with her workouts. She’s not just jumping on and like training for six weeks and then not working out at all, like she genuinely loves to feel good, to work out. And so she’s consistently finding a routine that makes her feel good.”

Kingswell says she began training with Monaghan in early 2024, just a few months before Season 3 of the show started filming in Thailand. She says that she didn’t know Monaghan was in the new season of the show until she mentioned going to Thailand for work one day.

Once the show began airing, she posted a TikTok on March 3 of Monaghan working out, and fans gushed over her abs in the comments.

“She’s so disciplined, and her attention to detail … she just takes on every cue and every detail that I throw at her,” Kingswell says. “And she’s very focused, she’s very present. She’s such a hard worker, and she loves Pilates.”

Kingswell says Pilates exercises can help anyone get abs like Monaghan’s, but she emphasizes that finding a workout that people like and can be consistent with is the best way to see results.

“It’s not just like she’s working out to get a certain body type. She’s doing it because she loves it, it makes her feel good, and anyone can do that,” Kingswell says. “You just have to find movement that you love and stick to it consistently, and you’ll find results.”

Here are some of the Pilates exercises Kingswell had Monaghan do to tone her entire body, including her core.

Work out like Monaghan

Kingswell, the instructor behind The Pilates Class, says that with each full-body workout, Kingswell made sure Monaghan targeted all of her abdominal muscles, including the deepest ones.

Her Pilates technique starts with a few simple steps that activate multiple layers of muscles throughout the abdomen.

First, activate your pelvic floor, she says. Next, your transverse abdominis, the deepest layer of the abdominal muscles.

To do this, “draw your belly button back towards your spine, and then your ribs down to your hips. And once you get those full cues locked in, it changes your life,” she says.

“In my classes, we start with a core setup to really activate those muscles,” she says. “Then we start to get into working them, which is the deeper abdominal muscles than your rectus abdominis, which is your six-pack, essentially, and your obliques. So full core.”

Some of her go-to Pilates exercises for Monaghan included:

• Toe taps
• Abdominal curls
• Leg extensions

Then, she’d “level up” those moves and have Monaghan perform these same moves while balancing on a Pilates ball.

One of Kingswell’s classes features a 10-minute ab targeting workout, which includes Pilates sit-ups,
straight leg reaches, bicycles, oblique reaches, flutter kicks and more. She recommends taking full-body Pilates classes to replicate the movements she taught Monaghan since there will likely be crossover.

Each of Kingswell’s classes is divided into three sections. But no matter which body parts her exercises are targeting — whether it’s glutes, legs or arm — she makes sure her clients are working their cores.

“She’s always really holding those muscles, and if she’s moving in a twisting direction, she’s squeezing her abs, and then still getting an ab workout throughout the entire session,” Kingswell says about Monaghan during workouts. “So it really is, like, all core. But then, of course, we work on her posture, so then when she’s on set, she looks really strong and open and fit. And we did a lot of like, toned arm sequences, booty work, strong glutes.”

Kingswell emphasizes that people can work their core throughout the day and not just at the gym once they have learned the cues to activate the proper muscles.

Whether she’s boiling water for tea, running lines, cooking dinner or playing with her kids, Kingswell reminded Monaghan to activate her core. “Start to activate the pelvic floor and the transverse and squeeze your core, and you’ll work it all day long, even when you’re not on the mat,” she says.

Kingswell says she thinks Monaghan is working her abs “all the time.”

“Which of course, makes your abs look amazing, but really it’s to help support your lower back and your posture and for your overall body health. Yeah, she’s squeezing it,” she says with a laugh.