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How to do a reverse crunch for some sexy lower abs - photographic guide

Finally get some sexy lower abs with the reverse crunch

The reverse crunch is just about the best basic abs exercise there is for developing your lower abs. And, we all know hard it can be to bring out the lower abs and make them defined and sharp. Here is how to do a perfect reverse crunch.

Images of the reverse abs crunch

I will be taking more and more images of how to do exercises over the coming weeks and months. A picture really is worth a thousand words and as many thousands of women read this blog every single day I wanted to make sure they are all taking away the correct information so that their exercise sessions are much more productive and effective.

If you have an exercise you would like to see in a visual ‘how to’ guide here on Real Women’s Fitness then send me an email and I will try to organise a session with one of my fitness models and get it done for you.

How to bring out the lower abs

Before we get into the tutorial of how to do the reverse crunch I wanted to speak about the most important part of abs training - weight loss. As everyone knows by now, if you have a bit of fat covering your abs you will not be able to see them. Your abs training workouts might be coming along excellently but if you have fat covering them no one will be able to see your sexy abs muscles.

For this reason it is important that you approach your abs program with your diet and weight loss exercise foremost in your mind. Abs exercises that are aimed at developing midsection muscles should actually come a distant second in importance.

Abs are made in the kitchen, not the gym!

How to do the reverse crunch

If you want bring out your lower abs you need to lose some fat and develop them with an abs exercise that uses your legs to target the lower section of your stomach. The lying reverse crunch is the best one for this as it teaches you the technique you will need for more advanced exercises like the hanging leg raise and the hanging knee raise.

1. Lay on the floor with your hand under your hips
Start the reverse crunch by laying on a fitness mat or carpet and placing your hands under your hips so that a cup is formed that will allow you to rock back and forth on it. Extend your legs out so that they are straight but for a slight bend in your knees. This is the starting postion (see image below).

2. Tense your abs and bring your legs up towards your chest
The next step is the main part of the exercise and where the majority of the work is done. From the starting position above tense your abs and roll back on your hands and hips so that your knees tuck in and come up towards your chest.

3. Rock back on your hips and tense your abs
When you cannot bring your knees any closer to your chest you should rock back on your hips and bring them off the ground so that you can exert a final “crunch” on the abs. This is the final position of upwards part of the reverse crunch.

As you can see in this final image the legs are only slightly bent. This is one version of the reverse crunch and is somewhat harder than the bent leg version. If this is too difficult try bending the legs at step two so that your heels are on your hamstrings as you do the final hip rock. This is the traditional way to do a reverse crunch.

4. Slowly lower your legs back down
Once you have done the final crunch lower your legs back down the same way you lifted them up. This decline motion should be much slower and controlled and is the most important part of the movement. Do not forget about your technique and just allow your legs to drop down. Keep it slow and keep your abs tight.

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