here is the ab routine i do. i have found that a lot of the other excercises mentioned are hard on the back and the ones i use are not:
1. start off with 50 regular crunches, feet on the floor and knees slightly bent
2. go right into a set of 25 "russian twists." do a regular situp, but when once you reach the point where you would normally start going back down, twist left-right-left-right rapidly then go back down, next one twist right-left-right-left and so on
3. next 25 leg lifts, as described earlier - lay on your back with your legs slightly off the ground and raise them to where your quads make a 75-90 degree angle with the floor. make sure you put your hands palm down under your butt cheeks as this will make it much easier on your back.
4. as you finish the last leg lift let your legs drop to the floor fully extended, and keeping them sticking straight out do 50 crunches
5. next jump into scissors - lying on youre back with your legs extended do a situp twisting to one side and brining up the opposite leg to meet your elbow )right elbow meets left knee, left elbow meets right knee) i do 50 of these
6. next do another set of 25 leg lefts, but these are a little different. as you are bringing your legs up ( pivoting at the waist) when youre legs get to about a 75 degree angle to the ground, thrust up with your hips pushing your legs up towards the ceiling
7. last do one more set of 50 crunches, but this time with your quads at a 90 degree angle with the ground and calves parallel to the floor.
each of these excercises should be done one after another without rest between, and they will get your abs looking good fast. i havent been able to do these excercises for about 6 weeks bc of a broken collarbone and my abs were just about gone, but i started doing the routine about a week ago and theyre already looking pretty good. on another note, these excercises wont do any good if you dont do them right. instead of cheating and using momentum, or other muscles, or pulling up with your hands behind your head - you have to use your abs, and when you get to the apex ( im not sure if thats the right word to use ) you should squeeze your abs. i guarantee you'll get a good burn out of this and the first couple times your abs are gonna be sore for a couple days. i do this routine every night right before i go to bed, unless my abs are still sore from the previous night. theres no point in excercising them if they are still rebuilding
just wondering, have any of you guys used that cutting gel stuff? it supposedly disolves surface body fat where ever it is applied to get you more ripped and puts the fat into the blood stream where it can be used for energy...sounds like it would definately be worth getting if it actually works