SHould I do more cardio or lower ab exercises.

You can do all the ab work you want but it all comes down to diet. I'm sure you've heard the "you can't spot reduce". Doing a bunch of ab work isn't going to get you results until you lose the bodyfat over them which will happen with a good diet.

I have this daily ab app but it seems like it targets my upper stomach and abs. If you see my pics you will see what I am up against. Should I do more cardio to lose the fat first or more lower ab exercises.

The only thing that causes you to lose fat is a calorie deficit. Cardio is good for your body, but you can't over exercise too many calories. I learned this the hard way, but I finally won the battle --> http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/740340-i-lost-60-lbs-at-age-51-anyone-can-any-workout

Your abs would benefit from a full body women's workout 3 days a week. I think many mention that the new rules for lifting for women is good and cheap, although I have never done it.

I did an experiment with abs and I write about it here: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/746754-how-to-get-abs-with-pics

Best of luck to you! Bobbie

How much is enough cardio? I don't even do cardio, just weights. While it is important to do some cardio, I don't think hours of cardio is neccesary. I used to do an hour each day I did cardio and even getting down from overweight to what is considered 'underweight' for my size, I still had a stomach pouch. Now I'm back at a healthy weight and seeing better results from working with weights.

Do a combination of both cardio and strength training with a healthy and balanced diet and you'll be on your way to finding those abs. There is no problem with incorporating your ab exercises into your strength/weight training.

you cant spot reduce. i dont even wast time with direct core work because IMO it has no value. my core still gets strong via deadlifting, squats and pullups and general fat loss from eating below my TDEE reduces belly blubber.

Try a leg raise progression if you want to make strong gains in core strength, it's pretty damn efficient

Would you mind posting a link showing an example of this if you get a sec?

I have no idea what the website is, I just got it from the Google Image search for the picture but leg raises look like this :

http://www.exercisegoals.com/leg-raises-exercise.html

EDIT: Found this on Wikipedia for the sitting variation : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:SeatedLegRaise.gif It's not that great, you should try to get legs MUCH closer to the ground when you straighten them after the tuck, but it does a better job at explaining the seated position than I did below...

Now, this hanging leg raise with straight leg is pretty much the hardest thing ever. You can start a lot more slowly than this, and make the exercise progressively harder. I follow a plan in a book called Convict Conditioning, and basically the progression is something like :

- Knee tucks. Sit on edge of a bench/chair holding yourself on the edge of your seat with your hands. Lean upper body back. Extend legs straight in front of you, a few inches from the ground. Tuck your knees without moving your upper body. That's a rep. Do some until you cry

- Flat bent knees raises. Lay on your back on the floor. Tuck your knees, just like is you were sitting on a chair basically (90 degree bend at hip and knees). Lower your legs until your feet are close to the ground without touching it, keeping the 90 degree angle at your knees.

Then you basically reduce the angle until you can do them laying on your back with straight legs, then go to hanging versions. There you start again with 90 degree, or knee tucks, and move to straight legs as you progress.

It's a great exercise because you move a lot of weight (your legs) against gravity using only your abs. It's pretty easy to spot "cheating" on this exercise, if you use momentum or swing basically. With proper form it's a killer workout, no amount of crunches or situps will give you that amount of work in that short amount of time