Abs

I’ve been lifting for several years, and am unable to achieve a smaller waistline. Even when I’m cut-up, my abs stick out as much as my chest. I’ve never done any drugs, but I do do a lot of squats and deadlifts. Any suggestions on what I can do to fix this?

You know, I have been trying something mew for only a few workouts, perhaps just under three weeks, and it is killing me. It is that silly wheel that were thought were for wusses. runs about $12 as opposed to the 40,50 of 80+ alts now available on infomercials. Trying a modified ab routine from somewhere, numerous sources, incling here. midsection is divided into 2 parts, 1)curls and 2)rotational work
day one: ab bench crunches, janda situps, that damn wheel and vacuums, (stand flat against a wall, blow out all air drawing navel in, then without inhaling, suck in the navel trying to draw the navel toward the spine.) day two Pavel’s full contact twists, (search “evolution of ab training” on this sites main page) ax chop, t-mag paper edition, and a very different exercise, side bends with a barbell pressed overhead. this one is really starting to improve my range of motion in my lumbar spine. I suggest if you implement it, use a ridiculously light weight as my first effort of this kept me in pain for 4 1/2 days. I humbled myself, lowered the weight to almost nothing and have added a few reps per workout, trying to keep solid form from the bottom of the range. I have blabbered enough. what I am seeing is a better appearance of the pouch and the side pinch thickness.

I had lipo on my abs/handles/lumbar back in November. Now right after the surgery my waist was really small (concave to ribcage and hips). I returned to lifting about 2 weeks after and been doing heavy ab work ever since. Now my abs have thickened up quite a bit. Lower abs are convex in my lower pelvis, obliques protrude over my upper hips, and upper/middle abs project forward. The point of all this is that ab work makes your abs bigger (not smaller). As long as they are defined I wouldn’t worry about it.

you might want to try training your transverse abdominis. It is the deepest of the abdominal muscles and is responsible for pulling the abdominal wall in. The only way of trainign it that i know of is to use ‘vacuums’ where you try to pull your bellybutton into your stomach, towards your spinal column. I use varying protocols, but some ones i’ve found effective where 2 weeks of 2 sets of 12 reps (hold stomach in for 5 seconds) followed by 2 weeks of 4 sets of 5 reps (hold stomach in for 10 seconds). Also i like doing 1 10 second hold in between static streches.

When you say cut-up, how cut are you talking, and how do you measure your bodyfat? If you really want the washboard look, you have to be around 5-7%. Also, if I recall correctly, if you have tight hip flexors, it can give a pouch-like appearance to your lower abs. You may want to incorporate some hip flexor stretching into your program if you don’t already. This will also help you maintain better form on squats/deads too.