Thursday, March 12, 2009

I think many of us strive for a 4 or 6 pack as the saying goes. We want our abs to look great! Saying that, you can do all the crunches, reverse crunches, oblique crunches, planks in the world (along with the move I show you here) and you WILL NOT see those abs unless you burn off the layer of fat covering them. I feel the need to say this often because people just don't want to hear that you have to eat better & lower the body fat to see the abdominals. Just doing ab/core exercises is not going to cut it!

OK, I got that out of the way!!! Now, I know you have all heard of the hanging leg raise to work the lower abs. Really, there is no one exercise that isolates one specific part of the ab completely, but there are exercises that can target them better than others. The hanging leg raise is one of those for the lower abs. This is a tough exercise to do & you really need to get that mind/muscle link in gear (see yesterday's post). I used to hate them & always felt them in my legs or hip flexors rather than the lower abs ..... until I brought in that mind muscle link. I mean this & it works!

If the exercise is too hard, try to bring up your knees first until you get strong enough to do them with straight legs. As you bring those knees up, almost do them as if you were doing a reverse crunch meaning that as you lift the knees to parallel, also try to do that "tilt" when you bring your butt off the bench or mat in the reverse crunch. I am not saying a huge move but try this mini variation & I know you will feel it. As you get stronger, you can tilt a bit more. With time, you will be able to do the straight legged motion. I do encourage you to at least try a couple straight legged ones & just increase the reps as you get stronger. I usually start with straight legs & then move to the knee up version as I fatigue. There are also pieces of equipment in the gym that allow you to prop yourself up on your forearms & your back will be against a pad. Try that too.

Check out this article from Muscle and Fitness Hers to see the move & how to execute it properly. Add this in to your ab/core routine & you will see results ... as long as you do it right! Hanging Leg Raise