As you may know from my last post, the abdominal region has several muscles that you can target with different exercises. The lower part of your abs is a bit harder to hit, as it is easy to use your lower back or hip flexors in these exercises. Therefore, form and posture are very important in these exercises. Lower abs are easier to target by moving your legs in contrast to upper abs, where you mostly move your upper body. By moving your legs, your hip flexors tend to become exhausted simultaneously with your abs. You want to try and prevent yourself from tiring out due to your legs, rather than to your abs. Thus, I would recommend doing lower abs with light training sneakers and not on your leg day in the gym. Additionally, I would not recommend doing lower abs the same day you plan to or have run. Leg day and running tire out your hip flexors, thus limiting your ability to do a good lower ab day. Here are some hip flexor stretches that will be good to do before your workout. 

The workout is as follows:  

Flutter kicks: 0:20 on 0:10 rest for 3 minutes 

Helicopters: 0:15 on 0:15 rest for 3 minutes 

100 track abs 

4 sets of 20 double leg lifts  

4 sets of 20 crunch ins 

Chances are you don’t know what half of that meant. I will try my best to explain every exercise verbally, but it is best to just try them out yourself and get a feel for it. If you can feel your lower abs working and no strain in your lower back or neck, then you are probably doing it right.  

Flutter kicks?  

Put your hands under your tailbone and press your lower back to the ground. Keep your legs straight and lift them up about a foot off the ground. Then, start doing small kicks and of course, start the timer! For an added challenge, you can try a lift your head and look at your feet.  

Source

Helicopters?  

Same setup as flutter kicks, but instead of small kicks, cross one leg over the other and vice versa.  

Track abs?  

If you don’t know what these are, you’re missing out on a good one! Check out my last post to see what these are.  

Double leg lifts?  

Same beginning setup as flutter kicks, but instead of lifting your legs up a foot off the ground, lift them up until the bottom of your shoes are facing the ceiling. Begin to slowly lower both your legs at the same time towards the ground without touching it. When you’re about 6 inches away from the ground, lift them back up. That counts as one.  

Source

Crunch ins?  

Begin in a crunching position. Then, just like a normal crunch, you are going to engage your core and bring in both your upper and lower body. Your elbows and knees are basically going to “high five” right around the center of your torso.  

 

Here are some well deserved abdominal stretches to finish your workout. Remember that these workouts get easier the more you do them! Best of luck! 

Although abs never usually get their own special day in the gym, I like to give ab workouts the recognition they deserve. The abdominal region is generally viewed in several different parts such as upper abs, lower abs, obliques, etc. There are specific workouts that target each region. Some of these workouts pair better when you are sore in other parts of your body. Today I am going to share and explain my upper abs workout.  

1-minute rest in between each exercise 

100 track abs 

100 ab circles on each side 

100 flat leg crunches 

100 straight leg crunches 

100 weighted Russian twists 

100 track abs 

 

Track abs? 

Track abs are named this way because I first learned about this workout at track & field practice. Simply put, it is a crunch circuit. First, you start with 100 normal crunches (knees bent). That is followed by 100 crunches with your legs in a tabletop position. Next, you do 100 side crunches, where you twist your body to the side until your knee touches the ground. You finish with 100 crunches on the other side. This may seem daunting at first as you are doing 400 crunches in a row, but begin with 25 and see how it feels. Over time, it will be easy to increase the number of crunches.  

Image 1: side ab crunches. Photo taken of author: 9/4/2019

 

Ab circles?  

These are very similar to a crunch, but instead of going up and down, you are rotating in a small circle. This is best done by lifting one shoulder blade off the ground at a time while engaging your core. First clockwise, then counterclockwise. Likewise, with track abs, you can alter the amount you can do at first. 

 

Flat leg crunches?  

Just as the name tells: crunches with your legs straight on the ground. You should try and focus on keeping your lower back pressed on the ground.  

 

Straight leg crunches?  

Lift your legs up 90 degrees from the last position and crunch away! 

 

Weighted Russian twists?  

Pick up a weighted plate that you can handle (usually between 5-25 pounds). Balance your body on your tailbone with the weight in your hand. Slowly move the weight from one side to the other.  

Image 2: weighted Russian twists. Photo taken of author: 9/4/2019

 

This entire upper ab workout can be done without any equipment (besides the weight on the Russian twists which can be taken off). Thus, you can do this in your dorm room, or just about anywhere with a clean floor. However, I would recommend doing abs on a yoga mat as it prevents you from injuring your tailbone and keeps your back clean. Additionally, I recommend doing abs in lightweight sneakers, as it is easier on your hip flexors, which play a larger role in my lower ab workouts. That will be further explained next post. 😊