The best abs workout to get a narrower waist?

I do not have a well defined waist at all, and I know that the fat is shed by doing cardio.. BUT which moves are SUPER to really nip that waist in? links/pics of exercises/personal experiences would be greeeeat!

Also, those muscles, that narrow in your waist, how fast should the result come? just so I don't get unmotivated, if the tape measurer don't show results 'quickly'.

Right now I am doing winsor pilates, the 20 minutes workout

TIA

took me 3 months to lose (as in not water inches or whatever) 3 inches on my waist. Done by;

a FEW crunches, not 1,000 a day  or whatever
sit ups, only about 20 a day. Slow and steady
walking, holding my abs in
running
cross trainer
arm weights, moving from my abs only. Lean down to one side then back again, you should feel your side muscles being pulled. about 30 a day


See my pics for how it worked on me!

I'd advise plenty of cardio and the following:

Planks - Couple of sets, holding for 30 seconds each.
Sit ups - 2 to 3 sets of 20
Crunches - Same as sit ups
Reverse crunches - same as crunches
Leg raises - individual and both together 3 sets of 10 to 15 raises. I do these on a weights bench with my legs in the air (no support). This forces you to engage the abs more. These hurt like f**k!!!

You can do the leg raises by holding the legs at the highest point and twisiting them to the left, then on the next raise, twist to the right - this works the obliques.

I usually have a 20 second rest in between sets.

PLEASE NOTE: I don't do all these at the same time....my abs would explode!!

I generally do one or two of these at the end of my workout (after cardio and weight machines)

In my Denise Austin video she has this one move where you stand with your arms over your head holding a resistance band. You leave one arm up and pull the other to the side (holding the band of course) then bring it back up and pull the other arm down to the side.

She says it's a great way to get the waist line to go in, and give you shape.

But like everyone else said : cardio, cardio, cardio, and work out your abs!

I have a great one that I actually learn from foot ball players.

You sit on the floor with your knees pulled slightly towards your chest and balance yourself on your butt and lift your feet off of the floor just a few inches or more if you can handle it.  Here is the workout part get a medicine ball (or a gallon of water if you don't have one) and hold it in between your chest and your knees. Then you rotate your torso like you are going to set the ball on the ground next to you, but don't let it hit the floor stop it and twist over to the other side and let the ball almost hit the floor.  Keep twisting  and really turn at the waist to move the weight and not just your arms. 

Any ab excercise that involves twisting or turning your waist is going to help tighten and narrow your muscles. 

I do the exercise mentioned by agana but I leave my feet on the floor, lean back a bit so the abs are engaged and twist with the medicine ball from side to side.  Can't say if its resulted in anything but it feels like it !

Thank a lot all!!

Agana : Do you have some pics of the workout? I do not think I am AT ALL able to do anything but just move a few inches from sie to side with out falling :D

Chief77 : When you do the planks, after you hold for 30 seconds, do you lower the entire body to the floor and then raise up again to the position? Also do you have an illustration of the leg raises?

THANKS ALL!!

Sorry dj_lux...no pics of the leg raises.

To begin with, I'd try 'em on the floor so you can get used to the way it works the abs, and then move onto a bench once you are comfortable and feel strong enough to do so.

The planks...I drop a knee to the floor to take the strain off the abdominals, or kneel down and stretch upwards as high as I can to stretch the abs out before the second set.

I did 40 or so of the bench leg raises on Tuesday and my abs still feel tight, so they must work (Either that or I ruptured something!)

For Ideas for a full body work out - get a copy of Bruce Lee's The Art of Expressing the Human Body: This is chock full of stuff the dude did to sculpt his AMAZING physique, and if it was good enough for him then it's good enough for me!

Found this site: http://www.exrx.net/Lists/Directory.html

Got excercises for all the muscles

I did kickboxing for 9 months and learnt some great core exercises that I do everyday. Slow reps are the most effective. I do 100 crunches, 100 leg cross overs, 100 leg raises, 100 hip raises and others that I forgot the names of! I end up doing around 600 reps a day and that takes me about 25 minutes. My core is pretty tough now and I have found that a strengthened core is really helping with my running and overall fitness

Sorry no pics but try doing it with you feet still on the floor then work up to lifting your feet.  Lifting your feet and leaning back a tad really activates those abs.  If you can't twist all the way try just turning your body towards one side or the other, even if you have to skip the medicine ball.  Build up to that when you can do it with your feet off the floor and twist that ball all the way to the side you will know how much you improved.  Sorry no pics though.

Training your TVA (transversus abdominis) muscle will help as well. Fairly easy to train.

Video of TVA exercise can be found at:
http://www.nowloss.com/flat_tummy.htm