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A Great Lower Ab Workout

By admin | May 3, 2008

Wondering what lower ab workout really works the best to get you that totally ripped “eight pack” look?

Is there an exercise or exercises out there that will really let you focus on the lower ab muscles and get them toned?

While many sites and even experienced personal trainers will try and teach you specific exercises that supposedly target the lower abs, and many companies sell products that are also supposed to target this region, I believe in checking the latest research before recommending an exercise.

What does the latest research say?

According to research conducted by the respected American Council on Exercise, in which electromyographic readings of abdominal muscles were taken during a wide range of exercises (from crunches to reverse curls to leg lifts), the test subjects seemed to be unable to “differentially recruit” either the upper or lower abdominal muscles.

What does this mean in plain English? People can’t isolate the lower or upper abs in any exercise. Furthermore, even in exercises where the lower abs might FEEL like it has been worked harder (as in leg lifts), this did not translate into actual muscle isolation according to the electromyographic readings.

This might all seem highly technical, but the net result is that you simply CANNOT isolate the lower abs in any exercise. Instead, the abdominal muscle was shown to be a “continuous sheath”of muscle.

So how do you get ripped lower abs?

Is it possible then to target the lower abs and get that eight pack look? Absolutely! In fact, the above study shows that it is even easier to target the lower abs than was previously thought.

Any exercise that targets the upper abs will automatically target the lower abs too! That means you don’t have to do two sets of exercises to get cut upper and lower abs. Instead, you just need to concentrate on doing your basic ab exercises with perfect form.

So the best exercises for a lower ab workout are the same as for any ab workout. According to another study, those exercises are:

To learn how to do these exercises properly, check out this page.

So if you have ever heard from a trainer or read in a magazine that you need to to special exercises to target the lower abs, you now know better.

For the best lower ab workout, simply concentrate on a solid ab workout plan featuring aerobic conditioning, proper diet, and the right ab exercises. It really is that easy!

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