Lower Abs for Women

tiffanyanderson0277

My lower abs are my downfall. Are sets really the key or is there something else that I can do....any suggestions that have been successful for you?

arditarose

How are they your downfall? If you have fat to lose there, gotta get in a deficit. I've had abs before (for like a day) without doing a single crunch. It comes down to a low body fat% and a decent amount of muscle.

usmcmp

Lower body fat enough that the fat from there is gone.
Add lean mass enough that the area is firm.

Sued0nim

Mine disappears in my pants ...so I cope

TBH I had to come to a decision about continuing to cut and potentially losing more boob tissue, or accepting a small bulge over my c-section scar while having the rest of my body hit my personal aesthetic of soft but strong (eg vaguely visible upper abs etc)

My perceived BF is fairly low for my age..I'm 49 and my scales say 21-22%, head says 23-25% but I will know better after a DEXA scan

I decided on maintenance and continue to lift heavy and hope that it will continue to improve slowly ...it's been 18 months there have been minor changes ... I occasionally consider surgery ...like every morning when I look in the mirror as I'm getting dressed, but it's not enough to worry about

I suppose my question to you is at your stage in life (no idea what that is) and if it risks losing more fat elsewhere (like boobs or face), does it bother you enough to keep cutting cos that's the way the fat will go.

Clarewho

@Sued0nim I could have written that myself

OP - yes you need to reduce your bf so the layer of fat is lost. Unfortunately it's often the last to go, and the rest of your body could be very lean well before it decides to give up the stomach fat. Only you can decide how lean to go so that you're happy with the entire aesthetic and not just the stomach area. In the meantime strengthen your core to help pull things in, it can make a great deal of difference.

HamsterManV2

Increase muscle mass in abs, decrease body fat %. The right combination and ratio will get you where you want to be.

I.E. this is a guy for example, who has higher body fat (15%) yet still has abs, albeit not very defined (typically it takes your average guy 10-12% BF to see abs). The idea is that he has lots of muscle already, and as his body fat drops, his abs become more and more visible.

This applies to you as well. Build up abs, and cut to a low enough body fat % to reveal them. If you don't see lower abs, it's cause you still have body fat that stays there longer (all up to genetics!). Lower your body fat %, and/or build more abdomen muscles.

musclegood_fatbad

TannedTiger wrote: »

Time and time again people say "calorie deficit" but you MUST also workout your abs just like any other muscles.
Do ab workouts at least twice a week.

It helps but in my experience you do not have to train them directly. Doing exercises like squats, deadlifts, overhead press all work the core harder than most crunches anyway. If you do these types of exercises, you will see abs at a certain bf% whether you do ab specific work or not.