ABS-OLUTELY FABULOUS : TONE THESE MUSCLES TO SAVE YOUR BACK AND GET YOU NOTICED AT THE BEACH.

Byline: Lisa Lytle Orange County Register

You see it happen at the beach or by the pool. Man or woman walks by, waiting to exhale. It's the ``gotta-suck-in-that-gut'' phenomenon that happens every summer.

Abdominal muscles are the No. 1 body part people try to ``fix'' before and during the swimsuit season, fitness experts say.

The demand for abs videos, for example, increases by 20 percent to 30 percent in the months just before summer, said Jill Ross, director of customer service at Collage Video, a direct-mail service for exercise videos in Minneapolis. At Gold's Gym in Huntington Beach, head personal trainer Bill Howard said that at this time of year, nearly all his clients want him to help them develop a taut, fit abdomen in a short period.

Gina Hause, 27, a marketing specialist from Newport Beach, wears a two-piece swimsuit when she plays beach volleyball. Hause said she feels confident when she bares her abs - they are toned from consistent stretches and abdominal exercises several times a week at Bally's Fitness Center in Costa Mesa. And the abs get noticed at the beach.

``Men tease me about the six-pack, and women ask me, `How did you do that?' '' she said.

Hause started ab and back workouts four years ago after recovering from a car accident and said her strong ab muscles help her maintain good posture and carriage.

The way to toned abs is through correctly executed abdominal and back exercises, low-fat nutritional habits and sufficient calorie-burning cardiovascular exercise, said Len Kravitz, Ph.D., specializing in exercise science at the University of New Mexico.

Warning: You cannot spot-reduce and obliterate any layer of fat over your abs with exercise, but you can firm your abdominal muscles.

The bad news: There are no quick fixes short of liposuction, experts say.

The good news: No dreaded sit-ups - these are not the most effective ab exercise, experts say.

You need to do at least 15 minutes of simple abdominal and back exercises such as crunches and leg raises three to seven days a week. You can learn the basics from abdominal exercise videos, from a session with a certified fitness trainer, or from books such as ``The Crunch'' or ``Abs of Steel,'' the latter by Leisa Hart and Liz Neporent (Summit Publishing Group; $14.95).

You can do these exercises at home or at the gym.

The benefits of toned abs are beyond aesthetic: Taut abs are usually strong abs. Fit abs aid torso-related movements, from the simplest act of bending to pick up a pencil to twisting to one side to reach for the car door, Howard said.

Sagging abs could ``contribute to more serious physical problems, especially in the lower back,'' write fitness consultants Karen Amen and Tee Dobinson in ``The Crunch'' (Crown; $15).

The abdominals work with the muscles of the back to support the whole torso and help form correct posture, Amen and Dobinson write. ``Together, they form a natural protective girdle, which holds the body's major internal organs in place and provides added insulation against wear and tear,'' they write.

Frank Brajevic, 33, a dentist in Costa Mesa, spent his lunch hour one recent Friday working on his abs and back at Bally's Fitness Center near his home. Six months ago, he started doing simple crunches and back extensions three times a week because he had lower back problems as a result of his job.

``I always have to bend over,'' Brajevic said. ``I've had chronic posture problems, so I have to strengthen my abs and back.''

He's not working on his abs for the looks, he said. ``Function is important. The aesthetics are a bonus.''

Sometimes, a protruding lower abdomen - that little pouch of flesh below the navel - is a result of weak muscles in that area and tight lower back muscles, Kravitz said.

To strengthen and tone these abdominal muscles, it's crucial to understand where they are and how they function, according to Amen and Dobinson:

The rectus abdominis is the muscle that runs down the midtorso, from the middle of the rib cage to the pubic region. This muscle is used in bending the spine forward, bringing the rib cage and pelvis together in what's called forward flexion.

The internal and external obliques extend from the ribs to the hips on each side of the body. These muscles are responsible for rotating the torso and assist in forward flexion.

The transverse abdominis spreads fanlike across the lower abdominal region. This is the muscle that allows you to exhale and hold the lower abdominal region flat.

On the opposite side of the torso, the erector spinae is a group of back muscles that vary in length: the longissimus, the spinalis and the iliocostalis. These, too, need to be fortified and made flexible with strengthening exercises such as back extensions and stretching exercises such as cat curls.

It's important to vary the exercises after several weeks, Kravitz said. After a period of doing the same exercises, the muscles become accustomed to the movements and reach a plateau, when the exercises cease to be as effective as they were in the beginning. A different set of exercises ought to challenge those muscles again, he said.

As for those gadgets in TV infomercials, there's little need for them, most experts say.

The trouble with these gadgets is they offer limited exercise options, and the percentage of people who supposedly experience neck strain is inflated, Kravitz said. Several sets of correctly performed crunches several times a week, every day if possible, will do the trick.

CAPTION(S):

3 Photos

Photo: (1--Cover--Color) Absession

America is sitting up and taking notice of rock-hard stomachs

(2) Jennifer Della Ripa, 25, gives her abs a workout during a step class at L.A. Fitness in Sherman Oaks.

(3) Instructor Eve Fleck leads a class through abdominal exercises at L.A. Fitness in Sherman Oaks.

Tina Gerson/Daily News