HELP-Stomach defined, but sticks out???

[ryan]

Help me please,
I am fairly fitt and have been training a fair bit.
My stomach is quite defined with visable abs when flexing but from side on my stomach sticks out...even further than my sternum.
I am not sure what exercises to do as i do not want to make them bigger, i just dont want them sticking out further than my chest.
I have not trained them in a long time as i am quite happy with being able to see them. They only stick out where the six pack is with not much of a cut down the middle.....Help. I dont care if the abs stick out, i just want them to look as good from the side as they do from the front.

[yakky]

That's easy, work on your chest so it sticks out more than your stomach

[Brewsky]

I think I read somewhere that doing exercises that build the "trunk" cause this. Deadlifts and a few others were named. I dunno what to tell you man, but I would stay away from ab and lower back exercises for a bit.

BTW, Craig Titus has the same problem.

[cursor]

A picture's worth a thousand words. Post one.

[ebon00]

Ever notice that the oldtimers (70's) never had the "bloated gut" problem. Arnold, Sergio, Ferrigno... those guys were big and had flat stomachs. I think it has something to do with the fact that they worked their transversus abdominis using vacuums.

Just get on all fours, hands and knees on the floor. Exhale all the air out of your lungs and then pull your stomach in as much as possible. Now hold that. For 30 seconds. Once you get better at that try it in a seated position. The final step is to do it standing up. 5-8 vacuums should be enough for a good transversus routine.

[stencil]

Could be gas, too.

[Merrida]

Vacuums are an excellent exercise, just like PC contraction. People's "natural" instinct if you ask them to "suck in their gut" is the reverse of what's effective: They breathe IN very DEEP and THEN try to SUCK in. It's sort of like hardening a bloat,.... (sorta).

However, with a vacuum, a forced exhale and squeeze, sucking in, deep within the abdomen,... it's also a Pilates movement, an exercise that is performed in almost every Pilates movement simultaneously. They call it zipping up and hollowing (for visual ID).

Good stuff.

Many weight lifters do the reverse and bloat or press their abs OUTWARDS, against weight belts if they wear them, or just pressing out in general, weaking their pelvic floor as well as distending their abdomen.