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Captain's chair - This abs exercise involves standing on a gym chair and gripping the handholds. Press your back against the head pad and slowly lift your knees towards your chest. The back must remai
n straight.
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Reverse Curl - Lying on your back, bend your knees towards the chest. Keep the hips on the floor. Contract your abdominal muscles at the same time. Your lower abdominal exercise program must include r
everse curls.
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How to Get a Six-Pack
As you may have found, crunches aren't enough to flatten your abs. Yes, you should work your abs, but, if there's a layer of fat there, you'll never see them. You've probably
heard that spot reducing is about is effective as spitting in the wind, but when you work your abs in an effort to reduce the belly flab, spot reducing is exactly what you're trying to do. The body ca
n't be forced to lose fat in a particular area by exercising the muscles directly under that area.
What you should be focusing on is losing body fat and gaining a little muscle.
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I want to get rid of my lower belly pooch. How do I work the lower abs?
Many people still think their abs are divided into lower and upper sections. This isn't true. Your rectus abdominis is actua
lly one long muscle that travels from your lower chest to your pelvis so any exercise you do works the entire muscle.
That isn't to say that reverse crunches (or other exercises that target the 'l
ower' abs) are useless. It's a good idea to do a variety of exercises, but don't expect to do 'lower' ab exercises to get rid of a lower belly pooch. Remember--the only way to do that is to reduce you
r body fat.
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Leg raise - Single leg raise involves raising one leg from the floor. The double leg raise involves raising both legs from the floor at the same time and this works as an abdominal muscle exercise. Ly
ing leg raises are ideal lower abdominal exercise
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How many sets/reps of ab exercises should I do?
As mentioned above, your ab muscles are just like other muscles in your body. That means you want to do between 10-16 reps of each exercise for 2-3 s
ets. If you've been doing abs for a while and find that you're not fatigued at the end of each set:
Check Your Form. Don't use momentum or other body parts (like your neck or your hip flexors) to
help you.
Slow down. The slower you go, the more your muscles will work.
Challenge yourself with different exercises.
Try dynamic activities such as Pilates to target your abdominals in a
whole new way.
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