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LOWER ABS DEVELOPMENT

Many people consider that the lower abs are the most difficult abdominal muscles to define. Developing a lean hard-ripped midsection requires a great effort and patience, especially when it comes to lose those last few pounds. The lower abs can be the most stubborn and exercise-resistant area regarding the loss of body fat. Unfortunately, some individuals are so obsessed with this spot that do not hesitate to use extremely hazardous diet drugs or liposuction. Others use the latest abs devices or do countless sit-ups, all to no avail. Don’t be kidding yourself! The only proved method of get rid of the adipose tissue is the proper combination of a healthy diet, aerobics, a comprehensive abdominal training and weight training.

Before we proceed to a training routine that its main target would be the development of lower abs lets clear some thoughts. First of all you have to realize that there is no such thing as ‘spot reduction’. In simple words you can’t isolate where you are going to reduce body fat. When you burn fat for energy, you will draw it from all areas of the body and either you are like it or not, the first place you tend to hold it will be the last place it comes off. When it comes to these ‘stubborn’ spots genetics play a crucial role. Both sexes have different genetic patterns of fat storage. In women, the stubborn areas tend to be hips, thighs and the butt. In men it’s usually the lower abs. These genetic traits cannot be altered or changed through diet or training alone. They are unchangeable. You should understand that the shape of your abs is entirely genetic. If you do not have great abs naturally, a million of crunches won’t built a hard six-pack midsection. The number of rows of abdominal muscle you possess is also entirely a matter of genetics. Most people have three rows, but some have four rows and some people have only two. Whatever number of abs God gave you is what you have. You cannot do anything about it.

A more than a good routine which develops mainly the lower abs would be the following.

1) Hanging Leg Raises: Grasp a chinning bar with an overhand grip and hang at arms’ length from the bar. Now raise your knees as high as you can, trying to touch them to your chest (bent your knees while doing this). At this point flex the abs hard and lower slowly in complete control. Do not swing while doing this movement as this motion will reduce the effectiveness of this exercise.

2) Roman Chair Crunches: Position yourself on a Roman chair bench, forearms on the pads and hangs gripping the handles. Start with your legs fully extended. Now pull up your knees as high as you can toward your chest. Hold at this point for a 2-count and then lower your legs back down slowly to the start position. It’s important to control your legs at all times. Avoid letting your body get into swinging motion which will detract from the effectiveness of the exercise 

3) Incline Bench-Leg Raise: Lie on an incline bench with your legs off the end. Grasp overhead for support on the bench. Bring your knees up, as high as possible, while simultaneously lifting your buttocks and hips off the bench. Flex your abs hard at the top of this movement. Lower your legs slowly. Be sure that your feet do not touch the floor at any time during the exercise.

4) Seated Leg Raise: Sit on a bench sideways, grasping the edges for support. With knees bent, raise your legs slightly and then straighten your legs, leaning backward as balance requires. Now lift your knees toward your chest, keeping your lower legs pointed downward and squeeze your abs very hard. Keep continuous tension on the abs throughout this movement.

With the above exercises you are going to develop a strong lower abs base which you will be proud of, but also you need to take into consideration five important components in order to accomplish your goals:

a) You need to adapt an overall weight training routine to develop muscle mass and thereby make your body more efficient in burning calories.

b) Stick with a fat-burning diet to speed up your metabolism (getting the best from your body type)

c) Intense training to strengthen and develop the abdominals themselves.

d) Plenty of aerobics to further heighten fat loss by burning off excess calories

e) Special supplements which cause thermogenesis and help rid the body of excess stored fat.

As far as concerned the training schedule of lower abs you can pick some of them and put them in your abdominal training or do the above exercises in a separate training session which will target the problematic area of lower abs something i recommend you to do. Here are some examples:

Lower abs workout sample #1:

               Beginner

- Hanging Leg Raise 3x10-15reps

-Seated leg raise   3x10-15reps

Lower abs workout sample #2:

            Intermediate

-Hanging Leg Raise 4x15-20

-Incline Bench-Leg Raise 3x15-20

-Seated Leg Raise   3xmax

Lower abs workout sample #3:

            Advanced

            Giant-set*

-Hanging Leg Raise x max

-Incline Bench-Leg Raise x max

-Roman chair crunches x max

-Seated Leg Raise x max

*According to your fitness level you can perform 2-4 sets per session.

We should define here, that a giant set is a form of a very intense set that consists of various exercises and you do them all without rest between them. After you are finished performing the whole series of exercises, you can rest a little, with the amount of rest depending on your fitness level.

On average an ab workout generally should take less than 20 minutes. You can train your abs at the end or beginning of a workout. As with most body-parts, I like to perform between 15-20 reps for every ab exercise or do a series of them as a giant-set. I do each exercise slowly to increase the workload. As for tempo, it should take you approximately one minute to complete a set of any abdominal exercise. This means it should take about two seconds to perform the lifting part of an exercise (the concentric or the positive phase) and three to four seconds to complete the lowering part of the exercise (the eccentric or negative phase).

I’m sure that the above lower abs training sessions will help you to develop this hard-fixed area to the maximum as far as your genetics permitted this. Also I must mention again how important is to get rid of the excess body-fat preferably below 8% otherwise no matter how well are your lower abs developed, you won’t see them at any chance!

Good luck with this program!