Best ways to Strengthen the Lower Abs in Midlife

Tips to help you lose the belly pooch by strengthening the lower abs.

One thing many of us struggle with in midlife is the area of the lower abs. For some, it has to do with having a C-section and the nerves no longer responding. For others, it may have been a lack of connection to the abdominal muscles after a hard labor or a larger baby, and for many others, you may not have had a problem until you started with Perimenopause. Whatever your reason for struggling with the lower abs is, it is okay and understandable. I want you to know that you can reconnect to your core muscles and begin to strengthen them even after so many years.

There are many sites out there that will provide you with great abdominal exercises but if you aren’t focusing on breathing and posture to help strengthen the entire core, these exercises may not help you.

2 reasons why those lower ab exercises aren’t working

1. That 30 minute exercise routine feels great and you feel like you connected to your lower abs all throughout the class but then you go back to sitting, standing, and moving the way you always have and those 30 minutes can’t compete with how you are moving your entire body the other 23 1/2 hours of the day.
2. The way you breath during the exercises creates a lot of pressure down which may create further problems.

First way to strengthen the low belly

We need to start with your breathing. Each time you take a deep breath, your rib cage should expand fully so that the diaphragm can expand, and air should go down into the core, activating the transverse abdominis while tapping the pelvic floor. Then, coming back out and allowing the pressure within the core to actively work the pelvic floor without adding pressure down or out into the belly button area. Yes, we don’t want to fully belly breath as this doesn’t allow full diaphragm expansion/contraction. Instead, you want to ensure that you’re expanding through your ribs in a 360 breathing pattern and breathing into the back, sides, and belly. Once you begin to practice the below breathing pattern, you can start working on each breath out starting down at the low belly and imagine it stitching up towards the ribs.

Second way to Strengthen the Lower Abs

The second way to focus on strengthening the low abs is to begin to focus on your posture. If you are slumping down with rounded shoulders, head jutting forward, and ribs gripping down, you are in essence, creating a low belly. This puts a ton of pressure down, and when this occurs, it will either go out from the low belly or into the pelvic floor. So we need to work on sitting and standing up taller (not stiff, don’t worry) to help ensure that the core is actively engaged and mobile, which will naturally help strengthen the lower abs.

Third Way to Strengthen the Lower Abs

The third thing I want you to focus on is how you are moving throughout the day. Whether you are doing a workout or just picking up your child, sitting down in a chair or preferably on the floor. You must ensure you engage your core when moving through these patterns and not create pressure down or out on the belly. Also, make sure you are practicing strength training movements with good form, bracing properly when lifting heavy weights,and seek help from a personal trainer if you are unsure about proper form.

Take a moment, stop what you are doing right now and focus in on where there is pressure in your belly. Do you notice pressure out on the low belly or heaviness down near your sits bones? If you do, we need to work on that. When we move in our natural day we need to ensure we are activating our deep abdominal muscle when we pick up heavy things, activating our low belly when we sit down (not just fall into the chair). Unfortunately, I can’t give you just one movement to fix everything. Our body is completely interconnected, which means that your big toe may be affecting how your inner thighs are firing which in turn affects your pelvic floor. The good news is, as long as you work your muscles in various ways, you should be able to help build core strength naturally.

Focus on the whole body:

For best results, It is important to practice weight training with full-body movements to help strengthen all of the muscles in our body. They all work together to support each other and just like we can’t really spot reduce, we also can’t spot fix a problem. Here is something to think about when squatting or sitting down in a chair to help ensure you are actively using the core.

Fourth way to Strengthen Lower Abs

It’s the time you are excited for! Yes, once you start with breathing and posture, you can then move on to the best core exercises. Please understand that rushing through the first two when you have a weak core, may create more problems. Once you have started strengthening all muscle groups (transverse abdominis, rectus abdominis, oblique muscles, and hip flexors), you can focus on abs exercises to help support the journey of strengthening the lower abs. When done in this fashion, you will notice improvements more quickly and will be able to help other problems you may be struggling with as well, such as lower back pain, split abs, tight hip flexors, or even pain around the shoulder blades.

Some of my favorite core exercises are:

• Core activation-laying on your back, bring knees up off the floor to a 90-degree angle like you are sitting in a chair. Slowly move knees out slightly into a 45-degree angle and hold without allowing the low back to lift up off the floor.
• From the above starting position, bring legs back into the 90 degree position, and curl the knees up towards your head creating a reverse crunch to really target the lower abs.
• Dead bug is another favorite exercise of mine. Again starting in the core activation position, bring your left hand to your right knee and press your hand into your knee while creating counter pressure with your knee into your hand. To increase the intensity, you can also lift your head up off the floor and straighten the right leg out trying not to let the right foot drop to the floor.
• Hover holds. In tabletop position on hands and knees, gently lift your knees off the floor, not to high or you won’t feel it as well. Breath out through pursed lips while in this position. This is a great way to really feel the lower abs working.

Other blog posts you may enjoy:

Core Fitness for Moms – How To Build A Strong Core With These Exercises

Breathing Helps with Lower Belly Pooch

Diastasis Recti Exercises

Proper Planking Form