AB excercise will it change the shape of my stomach?

[mistycatt]

Hi everyone!

I know that doing ab excercises will not burn fat and I know it helps build muscle.....BUT does AB exc. help change the look of someone's stomach... mean does it tone it, lift it..etc... I know this is a dumb question....but I need to know...


Becuause my stomach is not fat, I have a little pooch and I was wondering If i do ab excercises it might help change the look of it a bit.

[Shamrock]

Flex your abs, notice the roundness disappear? Your organs slump downwards and expand without the structure of your ribs to contain them. Same reason small bone bag children with extremely low BF %'s have "round" stomachs.

[LINDA]

Originally Posted by mistycatt

Hi everyone!

I know that doing ab excercises will not burn fat and I know it helps build muscle.....BUT does AB exc. help change the look of someone's stomach... mean does it tone it, lift it..etc... I know this is a dumb question....but I need to know...


Becuause my stomach is not fat, I have a little pooch and I was wondering If i do ab excercises it might help change the look of it a bit.

Exercising the transverse abdominus is the only way to target the issue you are talking about. Search on the topic on the female forum.

Stablizing your core and tightening the TA while doing ab exercises is good. So is the exercise bridges aka "planks". The best by far is remembering to suck in your gut (contract the TA) whenever you think of it all day long. Just think of maintaining good posture 24/7. It makes the muscles stronger, but you've got to train yourself to do it without thinking about it.

[threenorns]

brat's idea is an excellent one. the neat thing is that after you've reminded yourself a hundred times a day to "suck in that gut", it will not only become automatic, but it will become uncomfortable to NOT maintain good posture.

[Merrida]

Brat hit the nail on the head.

You cannot spot reduce bodyfat, we all know and agree that, (yes?) D'oh.

However, only recruiting the TA will "pull in" your gut. Pulling up on your pelvic floor,...an exercise both men AND women can perform, (this is not exclusively related to what almost all women know as kegals),... in fact, in an ideal world, you should be performing this maneuver, pulling up on your transverse, before every exercise, to stabilize the deepest muscles within the abdomen.

It should be an automatic part of every workout, every exercise, not "just" your abdominal training.