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good lower ab workouts

antjewlz Posts: 2 Joined: 2006/03/03	2006/08/22, 10:49 PM anyone can give me advice on good lower ab workouts thanks -------------- Jewlz
SFGiantsMVP Posts: 1,533 Joined: 2005/12/04	2006/08/22, 11:57 PM If you go to a gym use the Captains chair, you'll also get obliques done if you twist as they get easy and will take a dumbbell between your Kness and do these! If no gym, do leg raises and if you want to iso them do 6 inches, raise feet 6 inches off the floor lying down and hold it for a 30' seconds to a minute and as they get easy and will take a dumbbell between your feet and do these! Bicycle Maneuver works great too!
edivecchio Posts: 81 Joined: 2006/05/20	2006/08/23, 04:00 PM Boy, that sounds good. I think I'll try that myself.
KC_72 Posts: 3,249 Joined: 2006/05/19	2006/08/23, 05:08 PM How do you keep your back flat on the floor when you do leg raises???I've tried forever and always end up arching my back.
msmogreen Posts: 717 Joined: 2006/04/22	2006/08/23, 05:59 PM KC, for leg raises I have to slide my hands just below my lower back (top of my rear) so I'm sort of laying on my hands. Gives a slight tilt to my pelvis which prevents my back from arching. You could also use a towel for the same effect. Works well for me.
KC_72 Posts: 3,249 Joined: 2006/05/19	2006/08/23, 06:05 PM I've tried that too...still the arch...am I just not strong enough to do them??The only way I seem to keep from arching is if I start at a 90 degree angle and lower my legs to about a foot off the floor...doesn't give me much of a burn though:(
SFGiantsMVP Posts: 1,533 Joined: 2005/12/04	2006/08/23, 09:18 PM KC start slow even if your can only do like 5 to start, doing it right in it's proper form is way better then 90% of the clowns in the gym doing them at light speed, you'll get stronger each week and be doing sets of 3 in 15 reps with a dumbbell in no time but if your a speed clown you'll just end up buying Tiger Balm or Sport Cream! This kind of stuff is a slow and steady with total mind focus not a sit and throw your legs down fast and pause kind of thing, it's all mental and you have to just say I'm going to do this and do it right and you will but if you set yourself up for failure your going to get out of forum and most likely hurt! People do ab work and man it's not even funny, they brag a ball to look god and go into light speed. I too use my hands msmogreen, it's how I was taught how to do 6 inches as a kid in soccer and it's a great way to protect your lower back.
wrestler125 Posts: 4,619 Joined: 2004/01/27	2006/08/23, 11:55 PM You are allowing your hip flexors to do all the work. They are overpowering your abdominals, probably because they are tight. Do you have a desk job? Try doing them with one knee bent, with the sole of your foot flat on the ground. Push the lumbar region of your back into the ground with a forward tilt of your pelvis, and lower your other leg as low as you can go before your lower back comes off the ground. You may be surprised at how uncoordinated the firing of your abdominal actually is. ============ Quoting from KC_72: How do you keep your back flat on the floor when you do leg raises???I've tried forever and always end up arching my back. ============= -------------- Iron and chalk.
wrestler125 Posts: 4,619 Joined: 2004/01/27	2006/08/23, 11:55 PM Message deleted by moderator due to unsuitable content for this board.
KC_72 Posts: 3,249 Joined: 2006/05/19	2006/08/24, 08:35 AM uncooordinated...the story of my life!!!I can swim like a fish...anything else takes much concentration!!!I'm going to try that with the foot on the floor...that sounds like it might be the trick!And no...no desk job,I'm at home with the kids most of the time..when I do work it's as a server.What would be a good way to stretch out my hip flexors?? And giants fan I will defineatly go for slow and steady....thanks so much guys...I've never been able to work my lower abs because of the arch.
KC_72 Posts: 3,249 Joined: 2006/05/19	2006/08/24, 10:13 AM I did the leg raises as you suggested with one foot solid on the floor.I could only do 15 reps on one leg(though my back never came off the floor)and my leg was on fire...still hurts!!Not my leg really but right where my thigh connects to my hip right between my inner thigh and my pelvis bone,my bikini line I guess(hope you understand what I'm saying...sorry)So I did some research found some stretches. Bent over lunging hip flexor kneeling lunging hip flexor I would have never guessed this to be my problem.I'm not very flexible especially in my legs...can't even touch my toes...So now my question is how often should I do these stretches?And are there others you would recommend?
bigandrew Posts: 5,146 Joined: 2002/10/21	2006/08/24, 10:29 AM no such thing as "lower abs" you can't target that area...You can change the % of muscle fibers recruited...however you can't just do or "hitt' the last 2.....they work as a ll or none. -------------- Get your bicep curling, cut off shirt, matching workout outfit wearing,flexing in mirror "toned" wanna-be ass , out of my squat rack! People don't reach thier true potental, only those who seek it.
SFGiantsMVP Posts: 1,533 Joined: 2005/12/04	2006/08/24, 02:01 PM Stretch when you wake up but this will be a tighter stretch, stretch before and after any exersice, and stretch before you go to bed. I stretch out even more then this because of an injury I'm dealing with, I'm in rehab for a dislocated hip and herniated disc compression from the hip, the dics is'nt a bad injury nor the hip but it was there a long time withou treatment.
KC_72 Posts: 3,249 Joined: 2006/05/19	2006/08/24, 02:29 PM ============ Quoting from SFGiantsMVP: the dics is'nt a bad injury ============= Interesting giant...but maybe a little to much info...:big_smile: Seriously though....thanks for the advice!!:)
KC_72 Posts: 3,249 Joined: 2006/05/19	2006/09/11, 04:20 PM see now I get that one and know why it's funny!
asimmer Posts: 8,201 Joined: 2003/01/07	2006/09/12, 07:28 AM You should have anatural space under your low back when you do ab exercises - it is how your abs are meant to stabilize - when you flatten your back to the floor you are creating an unnaturl position for your spine and stabilizing muscles. try to do all ab exercises with a 1 inch space under your low back, the space should never get bigger or smaller. This means reducing your range-of-motion until you get stronger in your core. Lower abs are just part of the same abs used while crunching, etc. I find you will feel them more when doing reverse crunches, or clamshell crunches, where you crunch upper and lower together. Mentally, try to think of pulling from both ends of your abs whenever you do any ab exercise. You hips curl in toward your belly button and your ribcage tucks in toward your belly button. -------------- Everything can be taken from a man but one thing; the last of the human freedoms - to choose ones attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose ones own way. - Victor E. Frankl
KC_72 Posts: 3,249 Joined: 2006/05/19	2006/09/12, 10:23 AM OK...tried that Amy...much better...KEEPING the slight arch in my lower back was the trick....I can only move my legs up and down about two inches...but with persistance I'm sure I will improve...thanks for the tip!