Abdominals - Lower Ab Workouts

A well-toned and defined lower ab reflects lean fit body. It is the result of hard graft in the gym as well as cardio training and proper nutrition(for more information refer to our Nutrition section). Together, they all produce strong abdominals and low body-fat levels.

Well-defined abdominals are mainly the product of low body-fat levels, which explains why even untrained people can possess washboard abs. If you are after a rippling six-pack, you need to reduce your abdominal fat layer for the muscles to show through. Increasing their size alone through exercise will not be enough. For these muscles to become visible, men need below 10-12% body fat and women need below 15-18% body fat - ranges that are below those considered healthy among the general population but which, are compatible with improved sports performance.

Strong abdominals help you perform virtually every strength-training exercise and sports movement, improving core stability. Abdominal training is also important for the prevention of lower-back injuries, since these muscles help stabilize the pelvis which, in turn, helps maintain proper spine alignment.(For more information on Lower Back injuries, their occurrence, treatment, prevention...Click here).You should add a lower-back exercise such as back extensions to your abdominal routine to help balance abdominal strength.

Gadgets and machines are unnecessary ­ you can develop great abdominals from the basic exercises that require nothing more than the floor and perhaps a bench or bar. The secret to effective abdominal exercising is mental focus and technique. You should concentrate on each part of the movement, keeping it slow and controlled. That is most important. The most common error people do is to perform the movements too fast, aiming for a high number of repetitions. High repetitions will only build endurance. They will not work the important FT muscle fibres that give your abdominals visible shape, nor will they increase definition or melt away fat.

The abdominals are the same as any other muscle and should be trained in the same fashion: no more than every other day and no more than 12-15 repetitions per set. So slow down, visualize your abdominals working and focus on feeling the contraction through the full range of motion. When it starts to hurt (not to be confused with actual pain), take a short rest; then complete the exercise or move on to the next.

The drawback with many exercise programmes is that they isolate muscles, training them in ways that are not related to sports or everyday activities. For example, abdominal training is typically performed lying face-up on the floor with the knees bent. But no sport or activity requires you to be in this position. Similarly, using an arm curl machine in the gym trains your biceps independently of all the other muscles you would use to stabilize, and control your arm in everyday life. But the power needed, say, when sprinting for the ball in a football match is actually generated in the core of the body and transferred out to the pumping arms.