My gut sticks out even though I am not fat.

[Deeko]

that isn't correct.
Working out your abs, gives you bigger/stronger/defined abs... reducing your fat simply makes them visible.
There is no magic difference to your other muscles.

Yes, it was correct. Continually doing stomach exercises isn't going to help if you're fat, or if you're doing the wrong things. Most "lean" people are fatter than they think they are.

The bolded in your post is especially contradictory. Definition is the ability to see the muscle. You gain definition by reducing the fat obscuring it. There are a lot of skinny people out there that don't lift at all that have some ab definition solely due to their lack of fat.

edit: and more importantly, lets look at the context of this thread. The OP claims he has ab definition but his stomach is "too big". That means either A) he's still got fat or B) his muscles are actually TOO bulky underneath. How would him doing "hard" ab lifts to increase the size of his abs help his situation? That would be quite conterproductive, in fact.

 

[QuantumPion]

I think belly fat is just the last thing your body holds on to while losing weight, I'm in a similar position. I've lost a good amount of weight lately and gone down several waist sizes while maintaining the muscle I do have, but my tummy still looks fat. I think it is just a matter of losing a bit more weight and it will start disappearing.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

I think belly fat is just the last thing your body holds on to while losing weight, I'm in a similar position. I've lost a good amount of weight lately and gone down several waist sizes while maintaining the muscle I do have, but my tummy still looks fat. I think it is just a matter of losing a bit more weight and it will start disappearing.

Yea, I still had a bit of a gut until I hit 120 pounds : (

 

[Gonad the Barbarian]

My belly seems to bloat significantly when I'm dehydrated. A couple of days with a lot of water and I'm back to pretty flat.

 

[Whisper]

I think belly fat is just the last thing your body holds on to while losing weight, I'm in a similar position. I've lost a good amount of weight lately and gone down several waist sizes while maintaining the muscle I do have, but my tummy still looks fat. I think it is just a matter of losing a bit more weight and it will start disappearing.

For the average male, this is generally the case, as we tend to store much of our fat in our abdominal region. Awesome, I know.

 

[HomerX]

Yes, it was correct. Continually doing stomach exercises isn't going to help if you're fat, or if you're doing the wrong things. Most "lean" people are fatter than they think they are.

That is correct but your statement was that loosing fat gives you abs, instead of training them...
Your ab muscles won't grow simply because you loose fat...
There is nothing wrong with training your abs to get a 6-pack... 500 situps a day are silly but a 3x5 or 5x5 routine every second day will make your abs grow... like every other muscle.
Additionally you also need to reduce your bf in order to make these shiny new ab muscles visible.

The bolded in your post is especially contradictory. Definition is the ability to see the muscle. You gain definition by reducing the fat obscuring it. There are a lot of skinny people out there that don't lift at all that have some ab definition solely due to their lack of fat.

your right, definition is not only achived through training your abs. Its the combination of trained abs+low body fat that makes your abs "defined" or a "6-pack".

You can have visible abs without training them, but i wouldn't compare that to a "real" trained 6-pack.

edit: and more importantly, lets look at the context of this thread. The OP claims he has ab definition but his stomach is "too big". That means either A) he's still got fat or B) his muscles are actually TOO bulky underneath. How would him doing "hard" ab lifts to increase the size of his abs help his situation? That would be quite conterproductive, in fact.

Without pictures and a bf number its difficult... but i don't think that the OP has such massive ab muscles that they are responsible for this.

 

[Koing]

My belly seems to bloat significantly when I'm dehydrated. A couple of days with a lot of water and I'm back to pretty flat.

When I'm dehydrated I look a lot leaner...I'v been dieting down over the past 18days and I'm noticeably leaner already. Another 3-4 weeks and I'll be a fair amount leaner. I'll be also off the creatine on Saturday so I'll drop at least 1-1.5kg of water weight fast

Koing

 

[dmw16]

A lot of it is genetic. Chuck Liddell has the same thing, he's lean but his belly sticks out. I doubt there's much you can do, other than get a bigger chest to kind of even it out, and even then I'm not sure how that would look.

This.

I am built the same way. I am pretty lean, but my stomach just sticks out a little bit. Certainly doesn't look bad, just is the way you are built.

As for wearing tight fitted shirts - some styles don't look good on some body types. Just is the way it is.

Also believe that 500 situps/day is excessive and you'd probably benefit from a bit of variety.

Oh, are you stretching after you situps? Your abs are like any muscle and you want to stretch after you work them.

 

[eits]

you might have a hyperlordodic spine.

http://img.tfd.com/mosbycam/thumbs/500227-fx44.gif

kinda like this

 

[Howard]

you might have a hyperlordodic spine.

http://img.tfd.com/mosbycam/thumbs/500227-fx44.gif

kinda like this

How do you fix that?

 

[eits]

How do you fix that?

it's extremely hard to. most of the time, it cannot be done. that doesn't mean it can't be done, though.

however, it's worth a shot. strengthen your hamstrings bigtime as well as your abs. don't do lower back and quad exercises for a while. see if you notice results.

without having you in front of me with an x-ray, it's hard for me to tell.

 

[Jeff7181]

I read about that condition a while back. There was a specific exercise program that was suggested for that to pull the front of the pelvis back up to where it should be, probably pretty close to if not exactly what eits suggested.

 

[Howard]

it's extremely hard to. most of the time, it cannot be done. that doesn't mean it can't be done, though.

however, it's worth a shot. strengthen your hamstrings bigtime as well as your abs. don't do lower back and quad exercises for a while. see if you notice results.

without having you in front of me with an x-ray, it's hard for me to tell.

I think I suffer from the same thing but it looks like I can correct it if I consciously puff my chest out along with my pelvis. It seems as though I do need to strengthen my abs, though, because they get tired after a short period of time holding that [badass] posture.

 

[KingstonU]

Thanks for the posts and sorry that I couldn`t reply, I have been away on vacation, which is exactly why I was trying to get into shape, but I was not able to reach my goal of a defined 6 pack for the beach.

I´m not sure body fat % but my belly is about the only place where I have fat that I could pinch with my fingers, when I started working out it might have been about an inch of fat, a couple months of lots of exercise later I then had it down to less than 1/2", but my belly sticks out more than 1/2" and I now have some ab definition, so I figure it can`t be just the fat that makes my gut stick out. Also I have been unable to get rid of the last 1/2" of fat since then.

And yes I went a couple years in university with lots of heavy drinking and all-you-can-eat places. It`s been over a year since I stopped all that. I eat much smaller portions and much healthier foods, cutting out almost all unhealthy foods, I also only drink occationally now and only a couple beers.

So it could be a large stomach? Can my stomach shrink again now that I cut my portions?

Anyhow, so if I keep up the healthy living and do a bit more cardio exercises, like biking and running, can the gut go away?

Thanks

 

[KingstonU]

you might have a hyperlordodic spine.

http://img.tfd.com/mosbycam/thumbs/500227-fx44.gif

kinda like this

Huh I think I perhaps have a bit of this shape to my back as well. Should I also be working on my posture and standing more straight instead of resting back?

I can maybe post pictures later.

 

[eits]

Huh I think I perhaps have a bit of this shape to my back as well. Should I also be working on my posture and standing more straight instead of resting back?

I can maybe post pictures later.

post pictures... i might be able to tell you some helpful things to do.

 

[hiyatran]

to get a flat stomach you can't just only do tummy workout. you also need to do some cardio this will burn off the fat everywhere else and the fat in your tummy will soon follow.

 

[SlitheryDee]

Here's a photo that shows my protruding stomach pretty well.

That's from my vacation earlier this month. After doing a bit of research I'm wondering if maybe I have an overabundance of visceral fat stores or something. Anyway, I still like that pic.

 

[Davidpaul007]

Good pic...i'm jealous of your abs but it doesn't even look like you are flexing your arms.

 

[Howard]

Here's a photo that shows my protruding stomach pretty well.

That's from my vacation earlier this month. After doing a bit of research I'm wondering if maybe I have an overabundance of visceral fat stores or something. Anyway, I still like that pic.

Side view?