Ab Exercises for Lower Abs and Obliques

[GreenGiant]

What are some exercises for the lower abs and obliques that ya'll have found to be most effective?

[naughtynatalie82]

Lower abs are a myth, you need to do a mix of abdominal crunches/sit-ups with Cardio exercise and watch your diet too.

[Jonathan]

exactly

[BPinSD]

I've found that going on a deline ab-bench and doing the following helps me get really soar on my obs and my lower stomach muscles.

In the up position facing forward, arms across your chest (so they make an X) go down half way and come up flexing your stomach at the top x5. Without rest turn your upper body to the right and go all the way down and all the way up flexing at the top x5, do the same facing the left. Without rest face forward again and go all the way down, and all the way up this time with your arms stretched out in front of you, head looking semi-up and flex at the top. THAT'S ONE REP. Do that for about 5 reps to start and increase as you go. As you get stronger, hold a 25lb weight in front of you, arms stretched out and complete the same movements.

This excercise has turned my abs to rock hard in just a short while. Remember though, it's nearly impossible to gain weight and have a very low fat% at the same time so if you're trying to cut, diet is the most important part. Good luck!

[motof]

Originally Posted by GreenGiant

What are some exercises for the lower abs and obliques that ya'll have found to be most effective?

As was said before, the key to good abs is in cutting down your body fat and letting the muscles show. This can be achieved through a quality diet and cardio work.

As far as exercises for your "lower abs".. I used to need to work on my lower abs too because I felt that whenever I did my ab workouts, I was always working my upper abs. The lower region of my abs would never feel sore afterwards. I asked one of my trainers about how I could work on this and they recommended that I needed to work on "activating" my lower abs before doing my full ab routine. To do this, I would do my regular crunches but with my feet up on a stability ball (with torso near perpendicular with my legs). This definitely seemed to do the trick because I could feel the burn in the lower region of my abs. After doing this, I would continue with my regular workout of abs and I could feel it working my abs much more evenly. I think this is also what naughtynatalie meant by doing a "mix of abdominal crunches".

Originally Posted by naughtynatalie82

Lower abs are a myth, you need to do a mix of abdominal crunches/sit-ups with Cardio exercise and watch your diet too.

What exactly do you mean by "lower abs are a myth"?

Good luck
Motof