Splitting my abs open...

[Mace]

Need some suggestions: I cycle between gaining muscle and slimming off the fat. I adjust my workouts and diet accordingly. I just dropped 20 pounds of fat, but I've got this pocket of fat between my abs that I just can't seem to get rid of. My arms, legs and back are shredded, but this little patch is driving me NUTS. I do abs three days a week, three different routines. Any ideas on what to do different?

 

[w8lifter]

Change your diet. Abs are made in the kitchen, not the gym. You'll have to diet a bit longer next time.

 

[witchdoctor]

the perfect abs u need to do 3 simple things which r basically exercising ur abs,jogging or cardio mainly and finally cutting down on carbs and fat..u'll have to stick to all three things at the same time........it makes no sense if u exercise ur abs like hell without burning the fat to show it!

 

[Arnold]

In other words there is no such thing as spot reduction.

Working your abs does not make them lean, it's all about diet.

 

[Mace]

I tend to avoid cardio like the plague. I'll bite the bullet and try to tighten up my diet, too.

Thanks, guys.

 

[gopro]

Everyone is genetically programmed to drop fat, and gain muscle, in some places more quickly than others. This is why it is possible to appear ripped in a few spots and not in others. Like was already explained, you need to tighten the diet and start hitting the cardio to start to get at your more stubborn areas. Although this is essentially the only way, I will mention that there is a good topical fat burner on the market called LIPOBURN that will burn off some localized fat when applied daily. It will NOT work miracles, but, it can speed up the process a little. I use it a few weeks before a competition to get that last bit of tightening in a few areas with good results.

 

[Mace]

Hmm, I've heard of that stuff. I'm still a couple years out from competition, but I'll keep it in mind. Thanks.

 

[gopro]

Well, you don't HAVE to be a competitor to use it. But, I would not bother with it unless you are down to at least 8% BF.

 

[Arnold]

Correct, females tend to have more fat cells in their thigh and butt areas. Where as most men carry theirs in the abdomen/mid-section.

 

[gopro]

Prince..I know a few people that seem to have most of their fat cells in their head!

 

[Mace]

It's not that I don't want to use the stuff, it's the cost. I've seen that kind of stuff at GNC for $90 a bottle. When the time comes, yeak I'll try it, but it's winter time now...

 

[gopro]

I agree with you mace...but just as an aside...you can get LIPOBURN for 30-40 bucks

 

[HELLTACO]

I'm eattin' a big piece a cherry pie right now, an' yer not.

 

[gopro]

TACO...YOU BASTARD....

 

[delphidoc]

Where do you mean by between the abs? Do you have a bulge in the midline, between the navel and the breast bone? If so, does this seem to run up and down? You might have a diastasis recti, where the left and right rectus abdominis muscle don't meet in the midline. This is a "normal " variant. You can test for this by lying on your back and raising your head off the floor. It should bulge noticeably.

 

[Mace]

I might have a WHAT?

When I lay flat and sit up, I can see the horizontal rips in my abs, but the verticle part between them bulges out. Is that what you mean?

 

[Dero]

Originally posted by HELLTACO
I'm eattin' a big piece a cherry pie right now, an' yer not.

Wit ice cream and wipp cream?

 

[delphidoc]

Originally posted by Mace
When I lay flat and sit up, I can see the horizontal rips in my abs, but the verticle part between them bulges out. Is that what you mean?

Sure sounds like it. Should look kinda like a dinosaur crest running up and down between the rectus muscles. Lots of people mistake it for a hernia. It's just the muscles not meeting in the midline. I've always seen it above, not below, the navel. That has something to do with the posterior parts of the rectus sheath not being complete below the navel. Check these links. Several of them focus on pregnant women and infants, but most of the people I see with diastasis are men.

http://www.fitnesshelp.com/spring1999.stm

http://thriveonline.oxygen.com/medical/library/article/001602.html

http://my.webmd.com/content/asset/adam_disease_diastasis_recti

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/imagepage/17155.htm

http://www.google.com/search?q=cach...com/04_01/symposium.pdf+diastasis+recti&hl=en[/URL]

http://www.aetna.com/cpb/data/CPBA0211.html

 

[Mace]

Hmmm... Well, if I continue to develop my abs, the gap should diminish, right?

 

[delphidoc]

It might but I wouldn't count on it. Pregnant women have had the rectus muscles stretch during pregnancy. Plus they've had a general loosening of connective tissue due to hormonal effects. They would expect to regain tone and hopefully get back to "normal."

The male patients I've seen were fairly elderly, and they had had the condition for several years. I have never tried to get one to do strengthening exercises to see if it went away. They weren't having problems with it, but were sent to see my by their primary care physicians, who thought they had hernias.

It's worth a try, though. You're not going to hurt anything, assuming you don't have an epigastric hernia within the diastasis. It would be best to have a surgeon examine you to make sure you have "just" a diastasis, and not a hernia.

 

[Mace]

So, how does this happen? I've never been obese, hell I can eat a 1/2 gallon of ice cream and loose a pound the next day. I've never had surgery, (except on my ears) or any traumatic thorasic injury. Is it a genetic thing?

 

[delphidoc]

I've never heard of more than one person in a family having it. It's more congenital or developmental- just the way the good Lord split you. LOL


Can you either post a pic or email one to me? Just need to see the part of your abdomen between the navel and breast bone. If you can, it would be good to have the pic taken with you lying on you back in the position where you would start a Russian twist, but with your arms at your sides.

 

[toughern]

Is it "fat" or is it a rupture of the tissue that hold the abs together called "diastasis recti"? I ask this because I have the same thing. I also thought it was fat, but I showed it to my doctor and was told it's a diastasis recti. delphidoc has also mentioned this. I started a thread on this problem, but as yet I got no replies.

 

[CG]

Is it "fat" or is it a rupture of the tissue that hold the abs together called "diastasis recti"? I ask this because I have the same thing. I also thought it was fat, but I showed it to my doctor and was told it's a diastasis recti. delphidoc has also mentioned this. I started a thread on this problem, but as yet I got no replies.

Idk if anyone from a 16 year old thread will respond either to be honest