please no one suggest crunches…i do about 200-300 4 times a week. i want something that targets the lower region crunches seem to concentrate on the upper and middle section of your abs! thanks!!!!!!!!!
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belly dance, also make sure you are breathing properly.
in the army we call it 6 inches.. because you lay there on your back with your hands under your but and you hold your legs 6 inches off the ground until you cant bear it no longer great for lower abs.. also you can change it up and do flutter kicks where your moving your legs in opposite directions up and down.. hope this answered your question
Leg lifts. Lie down on a stable, flat surface, elevated a few feet off the ground. Keep your legs an inch off the floor and slowly raise them until they are slightly elevated above the surface you are lying on. Slowly lowering them, never touching the floor. The downward motion is what builds the muscle, so concentrate on that motion and muscle.
The best exercises for your lower abs require the opposite action of a crunch or situp. Doing a crunch/situp, you bring your shoulders to your core. To exercise the other end of your stomach; the lower end; you will need to bring your knees to your core. You can do this in a variety of ways but I would suggest hanging from a pullup bar and raising your knees. Do this slowly as not to swing your body. Resist using momentum and don’t raise your knees up and out, but instead, raise them up and in. Imagine trying to touch your knees to your chest. Obviously, that’s near impossible, but that’s the feeling your want. You can also lie on the floor, place your hands under your buttocks, and do a bicycling motion with your legs but keep your legs close to the floor instead of above your hips. These are good ways to work the lower abs but the absolute and fastest way to work your lower abs is two legged stair jumps. Careful with this one cause you may have serious stomach muscle aches the next day. Basically, go to a stadium and with both legs at the same time, jump steps. Sometimes taking one stair at a time and others taking two stairs at a time. Good luck !
If you are not seeing results with your abdominal program, part of it may be diet, lack of sufficient cardiovascular activity or your rep count. High rep counts (i.e. 200-300) will do little or nothing to stimulate strength and thickness in any part of the abs.
The abdominal muscles work just like any other muscle and have to be challenged as such. If you want muscular abdominals, you have to challenge them with resistance and good form just like you would your chest, your back or any other muscle for that matter. Targeting the correct energy system is imperative. This means you should never enter into the aerobic phase of this exercise, ideally keeping it under 2 minutes at most.
Think of rolling a carpet and contracting fully on the top of the movement and squeeze. If you do them correctly, you shouldn’t be able to do more than 30 repetitions of any abdominal exercise (i.e reverse crunches, hanging leg raises, or any other). Any more than that, and you’re probably doing them half-azz, incorrectly or with a partial range of motion. Moreover, entering into the aerobic phase (2 min +)will prevent the majority of stimulus for growth of muscle fibers rendering the exercise useless for its intended target and goal.
For the lower abs, keep in mind there is very little muscle tissue there so decreasing levels of body fat (via cardio and a great diet) is the most effective way to bring out the best in this area. Hanging leg raises, v-situps and reverse crunches are among some of the best exercise for this region. Always make sure your pelvis curls up to maximize lower abdominal contraction during these exercises. If your pelvis does not curl up and your knees do not bend, your hip flexors (psoas) will override almost all efforts to contract your lower abdominals, especially during the most critical stages of the movement.
As far as fat loss and getting cut goes, cardio, cardio, cardio. Abdominal exercises alone will never burn fat from your abdominal area. You must do cardiovascular exercise to accomplish this. Cardio is best in the morning, on an empty stomach at about 70-80% of your maximum heart rate for about 30-45 minutes. This combined with a common sense diet, strict time scheduling (i.e. last carb meal 6 hours before bed and last meal 4 hours before bed) will quickly shed body fat so you can actually see those abs you’ve developed.
I would encourage you to seek the advice and guidance of a personal trainer in your area for further education on these principles. Please ensure you start off at a very basic level for crunches and cardio if you are a beginner.
Here are some excellent links to build a great mid-section.
http://www.preventdisease.com/fitness/Strength_Exercises_abdominals.html
http://www.preventdisease.com/fitness/swiss_ball.html