abdominal wall

[absolutelove]

Hello! i have been asking a lot of questions lately, im sorry but im just such a curious person! but anyways...i was wondering...when you guys started bodybuilding with "heavy" weights (heavy to you i mean) did you feel like your abdominal wall was like starting to extend out. its hard to explain but like if you were to cross your arms...you feel like they are resting on a more extended abdominal wall then before your weightlifting days. ok i know the first thing that people are going to say is bodyfat...but im telling you thats not the issue because my BF is low. i think that heavy lifting has kind of made my core too strong to the point where my abdominals are like extended or something....do you guys know what i mean?

[Leigh P.]

It could only be a few things...

-muscle gain
-body fat
-muscle water volume
-Straining of other muscles causing tilt issues and over active postural distortions due to incorrect training/stretching.

In short, would need more info.

[SumthinOrNuthin]

Hmmm, can't say I've ever felt that but you could be onto something only the opposite of what you suggest.

Its not uncomon for people new to lifting to actually push their abdomen out when lifting rather than sucking it all in and 'bracing' their core muscles? Constantly pushing your abdomen out could slacken it a little and cause it to appear a bit distended if you're not holding your core properly when you stand in a natural position.

[absolutelove]

Leigh P,
what other information would you need? im desperate because its almost to the point where i want to stop lifting heavy which i love!

sumthinornuthin,
are you saying that if i were to hold in my core while doing heavy lifts this may have not happened? is there a solution?

[Defiant1]

Hello! i have been asking a lot of questions lately, im sorry but im just such a curious person! but anyways...i was wondering...when you guys started bodybuilding with "heavy" weights (heavy to you i mean) did you feel like your abdominal wall was like starting to extend out. its hard to explain but like if you were to cross your arms...you feel like they are resting on a more extended abdominal wall then before your weightlifting days. ok i know the first thing that people are going to say is bodyfat...but im telling you thats not the issue because my BF is low. i think that heavy lifting has kind of made my core too strong to the point where my abdominals are like extended or something....do you guys know what i mean?

Welcome to the world of what REALLY happens when you work out, versus theoretical working out.

Training with heavy weights for the abs, and/or relying on compound exercises to develop your abs is going to make your abs bigger. Period.

When doing heavy exercise, you create a lot of intra-abdominal pressure-pushing outward. The abdominal muscles contract isometrically against this pressure-pushing inward. Which would seem like a good thing. But isometric exercises really only cause strength and development, well...isometrically, in a single position. There isn't much transfer to contraction strength. And the pressure is going to distend the abs somewhat, so the abs essentially develop around this pressure "dome" if you will. The abdominal development you get from this is not going to be a "smaller waist". The colloquial term for it is a "power ab".

How much someone gets this is going to be tied to genetics-torso length, etc. Ectos can often get away with it. But if someone has a tendency to be wide or long waisted, then the problem is going to be exacerbated.

Why bodybuilders got into the habit of wearing belts. Not for the low back, but for the abdomen.

An exercise that will counter this effect:

http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/...nalVacuum.html

[ftnz]

Exactly.

[TurbulentFluid]

Bump to Defiant. It always confused me how people get down to exercise for mass and muscle growth and then end up surprised that they gained mass and muscle! And any muscle (group) you exercise - specially if you use weight - is going to grow, including abs. Specially if you do weighted abs exercises and yes, not only the ab machine, but also heavy squats, heavy deadlifts, good mornings, hyper extensions, side-bends... they're all gonna widen your waist.

To append to Defiant's "counter exercise" (which is good and works), there are other ways to rectify the wide(r) waist problem. They are as simple as making the other parts of you bigger, so to create an illusion of a narrower waist - namely, wider shoulders and lats will expand the upper part of your "triangle" and make your waist appear smaller. Also, keeping chest development symmetrical to lats/delts will aid to the V shape.

[absolutelove]

defiant i totallllllllllllllllllly appreciate you taking the time to answer my question...it makes total sense thank you! i dont even do abdominal work so this must have come from my heavy squatting maybe? because i eliminated deadlifting about 3 weeks ago and the problem still exists. its almost as though i want those muscles to go awayyyyyyyy but dont know how to do that? i dont really want to build my shoulders and lats anymore because i am pretty happy with where they are so that eliminates the idea of creating more of a V taper... what else can i do besides the vacuum technique?

[absolutelove]

oh and one more thing...im pretty sure im a mesomorph and i am tall so i do have a long torso if that helps.

[BuffedWildCat]

oh and one more thing...im pretty sure im a mesomorph and i am tall so i do have a long torso if that helps.

I wouldn't call you a mesomorph at 5'10" and only 130 lbs, sounds more ectomorphish to me. I am 5'5" and even before I started bodybuilding I weighed 132 lbs with about 18% bodyfat.

If you are worried about acquiring a big waist definitely don't do any weighted ab exercises. I do abs once a week, nothing special just 4-6 sets of high reps no weight. I have a long torso too.