Exercise Questions - How Can I Tone Up My Lower Abs?

Exercise Question:
I am currently exercising at least four to six times a week on the elliptical trainer (mostly) and some strength training. My lower abs (from belly button down) have more fat and less muscle tone than the rest of my stomach. How can I lose weight from my lower abs and what exercises can I do to tone the area?

Exercise Answer:
The lower abdominal region is a very tough area to develop and remove excess fat from. I see many clients dropping their overall body fat levels way down only to be disappointed by that little extra fold of fat on their lower abs. It comes down to really focusing on three main areas:

1. Extremely clean diet. You need to really focus on eliminating all of the empty calories from your nutritional plan. Stick with lean protein (chicken breast, egg whites, turkey breast and fibrous, non-starchy carbs throughout most of the day. Starches can be eaten before your workout and early to mid-morning but should be cut by 5pm. Fibrous carbs should contain mostly vegetables like broccoli, mushrooms, yellow squash, green beans, zucchini, etc.

2. Switch up your cardio. Try cardio cross training to add a shock to your body and start burning more fat. Make sure to mix in low-intensity with high-intensity sessions. Here is a great article to read for cardio crosss training:

• Cardio Exercises Cross Training

3. Abs exercises with that really blast your stomach. Focus on these ab exercises below for the lower area of your abdominal region:

• Hanging Leg Raises
  
• Seated Flat Bench Leg Pull Ins
  
• Exercise Ball Crunches

By combining all three factors above, you should start seeing results in your lower abs!

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