Shaping your abs.... is this even possible?

[JoNeS]

I was always under the assumption that you couldn't really alter the size and shape of your abs like you could any other muscles.

Personally, the only thing that I have noticed through ab training is an increase in strength and an ancrease in hardnes in the muscle....not a change in size or shape.

So the question is can abwork change the size and shape of your abs, or is your ab shape pretty much fixed genetically.

 

[wnt2bBeast]

Shape is genetic..you cant change the shape of any muscle in the body..Things may appear to have changed shape once you get to a lower % bodyfat..

 

[JoNeS]

Shape is genetic..you cant change the shape of any muscle in the body..Things may appear to have changed shape once you get to a lower % bodyfat..

But you can change the shape by adding overall size to it. Can you add noticeable size to your abs?

 

[cmdubs]

I think you can add size, just like any other muscle, but you can't change the shape. Just like with biceps, some people have a peak, some don't. You can make the muscle bigger but you'll never change the shape.

 

[one man gang]

One thing that you have to remember is that bodybuilding is a lot of times based on creating an "illusion" and based on that there is one "illusion" that you can create with your ab training. The function of the intercostal muscles is to pull the stomach in, so I use that with many of my trainees with lots of twisting high inlcine sit ups to actually pull the stomach in and give them the appearance of having a flatter "tummy." Don't know if you can really consider that "shaping" but trust me it works, simple body mechanics! O.M.G.

 

[wnt2bBeast]

But you can change the shape by adding overall size to it. Can you add noticeable size to your abs?

the shape cannot be changed...only the size!!!! you complain your legs are too big why the hell would you want huge abs?????

 

[JoNeS]

the shape cannot be changed...only the size!!!! you complain your legs are too big why the hell would you want huge abs?????

I don't want huge abs...

 

[WD30]

But you can change the shape by adding overall size to it. Can you add noticeable size to your abs?

And don,t believe the hype surrounding spot reduction

 

[TheOak84]

synthol can change the shape...

poor Valentino...

 

[LeanMeanHockeyMachine]

because there's no such thing as spot reduction, total fitness myth...

 

[giddyup]

Umm... if it matters, I will add this..

When I first started training about 10 years ago, I was a 17 y/o "skinny/fat kid"... I did alot of situps and crunches and had fairly hard abs, but they had zero seperation or definition.. I certainly had no six-pack, but when you pushed on my stomache they were hard...

I started doing a particular ab routine and slowly but surely the seperation started to happen.. after a while I could feel the seperated six pack... I then started dieting and soon after I could see a full out six pack (or actually 8 pack)... BUT, I had lower abs that stuck out really far.. they were lower abs/hip flexers.. I did some research and modified my ab routine and in about one month my lower abs didnt stick out as far and looked in proportion with the rest of my stomache..

So, maybe my genetics are what made my seperation the way it is, I'm sure that is the case (8 pack versus 6 pack versus 4 pack, etc)... I just wanted to add this to the thread incase people out there without a 6 pack have the idea that that is their genetics...

So yes, you can have a defined, sepeated stomache, but it will be your genetics that determine in which shape your stomache muscles seperate/define..

tip: stretch your stomache after doing your abs so those muscles lengthen and can create seperation.

cheers.

 

[louisefroghead]

Umm... if it matters, I will add this..

When I first started training about 10 years ago, I was a 17 y/o "skinny/fat kid"... I did alot of situps and crunches and had fairly hard abs, but they had zero seperation or definition.. I certainly had no six-pack, but when you pushed on my stomache they were hard...

I started doing a particular ab routine and slowly but surely the seperation started to happen.. after a while I could feel the seperated six pack... I then started dieting and soon after I could see a full out six pack (or actually 8 pack)... BUT, I had lower abs that stuck out really far.. they were lower abs/hip flexers.. I did some research and modified my ab routine and in about one month my lower abs didnt stick out as far and looked in proportion with the rest of my stomache..

So, maybe my genetics are what made my seperation the way it is, I'm sure that is the case (8 pack versus 6 pack versus 4 pack, etc)... I just wanted to add this to the thread incase people out there without a 6 pack have the idea that that is their genetics...

So yes, you can have a defined, sepeated stomache, but it will be your genetics that determine in which shape your stomache muscles seperate/define..

tip: stretch your stomache after doing your abs so those muscles lengthen and can create seperation.

cheers.

If we are talking about the rectus abdominus- think of ab muscles like a section of bubble wrap. Two bubbles across by three bubbles down. There can be lots of air in the bubbles or very little air, equating to well developed abs (bigger) or under-developed abs (smaller). What you cannot do is alter the position of each bubble because it is confined by tendons that are unique to each individual. Basic physiology.