Need advice for uneven/gross looking abs (pic included)

[cosmicbrownie]

Even after months of dieting and exercise, my tummy just will not go away. I'm 19, 5'3" and 108 pounds, so I'm really not looking to lose any more weight. I just want to feel confident about my body. I do cardio 5x a week (mix of LISS/HIIT) for 30-60 mins as well as 30 mins of resistance training every other day. I've been eating really clean lately, lots of fruit and lean protein. But I'm really not sure what to do at this point because my stomach tends to stick out despite how dedicated I am to exercising.

What I need help with is..
1) I don't like how my abs have a V. It just doesn't suit me. Which exercises should I AVOID so the V will go away?
2) How do I make the muscles on each side even again?
3) Is there anything I should add/subtract to my diet?

I'm open to any suggestions! Thank you.
(also please ignore the infected-ness of my belly button piercing. piercings hate me, I swear)

[NuWaveFitness]

Have you tried AB Ripper X from P90X for a good ab routine to work the whole core?

[Artistry]

1: That's just the shape of your abs. I don't really know what to tell you there.
2: Full-body compound lifts that activate your stabilizing muscles
3: Not enough information given

First, no amount of direct ab work will help you display your abs; that's all diet. Second, stop doing all that cardio and get on a good lifting program, then eat to support it; there are stickies that will help with both of these ends in their respective sections. I did a very similar dead-end routine for a very long time, and my stomach never showed any improvement until I started lifting heavy.

EDIT: Also, love your username. Many fond memories of those brownies...

[Anef06]

Your stomach looks bloated or pregnant :S Are you certain it is neither one of those 2 things?

[Amanda76]

1: That's just the shape of your abs. I don't really know what to tell you there.
2: Full-body compound lifts that activate your stabilizing muscles
3: Not enough information given

First, no amount of direct ab work will help you display your abs; that's all diet. Second, stop doing all that cardio and get on a good lifting program, then eat to support it; there are stickies that will help with both of these ends in their respective sections. I did a very similar dead-end routine for a very long time, and my stomach never showed any improvement until I started lifting heavy.

EDIT: Also, love your username. Many fond memories of those brownies...

^^^This^^^ But to add:

1. Many people covet having that "v" so with that being something that you're just genetically prone to having (especially lean) keep in mind that not everyone is going to think that's something you should wish away. I'm not sure how to help you learn to like it, but maybe if you hang around here enough you'll start to appreciate it more.

2. Try doing stomach vacuums to train your abs in. http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercise...stomach-vacuum It's not shown in the video, but you may find it helpful to start doing these on the floor and think about pulling your belly button through your spine to touch the floor, upper abs through your ribcage and lower abs through your pelvic floor. You can do stomach vacuums pretty much anywhere. I did them all semester seated in a biology lecture class and got to a point where it was difficult to push my abs out!

3. Looking at your photo, I also wondered about bloating. It would be helpful if you gave us more of an idea of what you typically eat. Common bloaters are wheat and dairy products. Bloating can also be a sign you're not drinking enough water, not getting enough fiber or getting too much fiber.

[wakechica]

3. Looking at your photo, I also wondered about bloating. It would be helpful if you gave us more of an idea of what you typically eat. Common bloaters are wheat and dairy products. Bloating can also be a sign you're not drinking enough water, not getting enough fiber or getting too much fiber.

Bloating was the first thing that came to my mind, it definitely not posture. Other one was hernia. But hernias tend to be more prominent.

[birdiefu]

I also agree with some sort of bloat - does your stomach size change depending on time of day, etc.? If you are thinking of cutting to get more "ab definition", you would be going in the wrong direction. You are skinny with little muscle mass. If you want to see more of the "6-pack" abs, you will have to go on a bulk and lift heavy to grow the muscle underneath so it's more prominent when you cut next.

As far as prominent obliques - I also seem to genetically be prone to having them be pretty obvious, even at higher BF levels. I stay away from any direct oblique work just in case, but really you need to learn to love your body shape

[thepowerwithin]

You've gotten great advice. I just want to chime in and say it looks like diet-related bloat. I had some unexplained bloating going on last year and starting calculating fiber and figured out I was having close to 75-100 gm. So many foods have added fiber! I cut back drastically with my sweet spot being approx 25 gm (recommended for your age) and it took care of the chronic bloat.

As Amanda mentioned, wheat and diary are big culprits too.

[soar4ever]

Besides all the great advice given here, maybe your belly button ring is affecting your belly fat? Charles Poliquin writes about how body piercings impact body composition. I don't know if it is true, as I am sure many people have no problem with their piercings, but it may be something to consider, especially if your piercing is infected.

I'm sorry I can't post a link to Poliquin's article because I just signed up for the boards. But if you Google search "Poliquin piercings" you should find the information. Sometimes Poliquin's web site crashes my browser, so I pull up the cached version of his articles.

[nicmay]

I used to have a problem with bloating and used to have a similar look to my stomach but I realized for me personally I think it all comes down to diet. I try to eat frequent small meals with less sodium. I'm just saying this from my experience and also maybe try more exercises for obliques instead of core stuff.

[AlessandrinaS]

What does your eating look like? I've always heard that the "abs are made in the kitchen". So I'm wondering if your eating processed things or even things that may be too artificial which can sometimes cause bloating.

[MsCitrus]

Do you hold your abs in throughout the day? If you try to be conscious of holding them in as much as possible it can help to develop them in a more flat manner.

[johndom450]

stomach vacuums will definetly help you a lot there. They are a great core exercise that have been forgotten by most for quite some time.
Stomach vacuum exercises are how all the old school bodybuilders like Arnold and Franc Zane kept small tapered waist and abs while maintaining large upper and lower bodies. I cant post links but im sure google could help you out. If you go on youtube Elliot Hulse has a few excellent videos describing the exercises and their effect on your anatomy. I think his channel is called strengthcamp. Hope this helped!

[sujun]

im also facing this problem, usually after a meal. its kinda depressing :l

OP, any improvements so far?

[Diljeet027]

I'm also suffering this problem, did u got any improvement regarding

[j1nevertogthr]

Bulk/thread