Ab Exercises and Bulking - Do Ab Exercises Help Me Get That Hourglass Figure?

by Anonymous

Often, ab exercises are encouraged to attain that "trim, toned, sexy midsection". I am aware that it is impossible to spot train in order to reduce fat in any area. My question, however, is this: Say my fat percentage is low enough for abs to show. Will ab exercises make my waist bigger or wider, because of the muscles consequently bulking up? If I want to get a more hourglass figure, will ab exercises help, or will my waist get wider?

TOM SAYS:

Hi there,

I think there's a few different things to consider in your quest for a 'trim, toned, sexy midsection'.

Firstly: I know that when I do lots of abdominal exercises my abs definitely get bigger. Which does make sense because when you overload your muscles they put on more bulk to cope with the exercises. But even after having put on all that muscle around my midsection, if my body has got a really low fat percentage then my waist looks trim. There's only so much muscle you can put on there, the physical structure of your body just doesn't let your ab muscles bulge out.

And if you're a woman, you'll put on even less muscle than I can. You just don't have the testosterone levels for bulking up.

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TIP

To build strong abs while putting on the least bulk possible, you should do high reps of the exercises you choose. This will train your muscles for endurance rather than strength. Endurance muscles are slimmer, strength muscles are bulkier!

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Secondly: although abdominal exercises do build muscle in your midsection, the muscle there actually tightens up and pulls everything in. You may have noticed that people with very little abdominal muscle let their tummy's sag out. There's no muscle there to hold everything in place.

This is where the toned part comes into play. If you've got no muscle tone then everything is soft and squishy. It doesn't have a natural shape and it doesn't look good!


Thirdly and most importantly: Try to think of someone who exercises and someone who doesn't. Now compare the look of their body's...

I personally think that the person who exercises will look better every time.( Except for body builders, some of them look just plain weird! ) It just seems to me that a well cared for body looks much better. It has less fat, it's more toned, it has a 'glow' and the posture is better.

So if you're wondering whether abdominal exercises are a good idea...

Absolutely! Here's my summary of why...

• Abdominal exercises are good for pulling everything in nice and tight.


• They do bulk up, but only very slightly. The key here is to keep a low body fat percentage and do high reps of your abdominal exercises.


• Your abs won't get that 'toned' look and feel without doing abdominal exercises


• People always look better from doing exercise

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P.S. Now if you're going for the hourglass figure you can "cheat" a little bit. You can build up muscle in your lower body. This will make your midsection appear smaller. Try this glute workout for starters.


Wishing you the best of health, fitness and freedom!
Tom Wilson