Help taming a man tummy....

[oystergirl]

LOL I bet you thought this was about food! Nope, its about a man tummy...

My wonderful husband has taken it upon himself to create his own fitness program which includes short full body intervals and walking with hill intervals. He started out working out with me after he was inspired by my progress (he told me that, I ain't making it up! LOL) and then decided because there was not enough room in the rec room for him, me and christina to all workout together, he split off.

He used to be a soccer and baseball player (shortstop/third base), and he used to run about 3 miles a day but over the past few years (who am I kidding, he was a frat boy and drank too much beer and never really stopped so its been about 25 years of steady over carbing...) his tummy has gotten out of control while the rest of his body remained relatively muscular--you could call it a beer belly, or a man tummy, I like man tummy better...

He has cut back on drinking completely and has been exercising regularly and losing well (eating my primal/paleo diet!) but I noticed something today when I came in to stretch that disturbed me a bit and I wanted to ask any of you guys if this happened to you when you had a man tummy--his belly, down the middle, is tenting when he does a crunch...

As a woman, we all know after pregnancy that distasis recti separation is possible and we know to suck in our guts and simply do very simply exercises to repair it and usually it works. I don't want to make a big deal about this because he has been doing so well, but are there any exercises he can do to stop this tenting or how to approach a crunch? I certainly dont want to "castrate" him by saying--do the pregnancy exercises...you can understand that I am sure...

So, any ab suggestions for a man recovering from big tummy would be wonderful! THANKS GUYS!!!

[Egg and Lettuce]

Hi,

When I first started out with abdominal exercises (crunch has never been one of them) I had a bit of a bulge down the middle of my stomach during certain exercises (leg raises were a main one) It didn't strike me as anything to worry about as on feeling it and giving it a push during a leg raise it seemed like muscle. I didn't think of it again until I read your post.

I have searched a little and managed to find This/ article. It seems if the tenting is uniform down the middle of his stomach it is just muscles strengthening, if it is in an isolated spot it could be a hernia.

If anyone knows a little more about this i would love to find out as well.

[oystergirl]

thanks Egg and Lettuce! That is a cool article and I will share it with my hubby...

anyone else? Tons of guys on here, how did you get your tummy's flat? anyone? Bueller????

[Egg and Lettuce]

Could try mixing up the abdominal exercises... instead of just crunches throw in some windmills, Russian twists (both weighted) leg raise, leg thrust etc and remember it doesn't have to be an isolated ab exercise to work on the stomach, many compound exercises will hit the area as well.

[Flatsnap]

If he's losing weight, he can just keep it up and it'll work itself out.. not sure I see how this requires special exercises.

And if he's not losing weight (but making fitness gains).. who cares? Adult men have some belly fat, typically.

[NukeTheUnicorns]

Flat tummies come from:

1. A reduction in body-fat through proper nutrition

2. Building a strong core with squats, deads, pull-ups, push-ups, and core specific work like planks.

Number 1 will be the most crucial.

[tigersheart]

Flat tummies come from:

1. A reduction in body-fat through proper nutrition

2. Building a strong core with squats, deads, pull-ups, push-ups, and core specific work like planks.

Number 1 will be the most crucial.

Absolutely agree with this, special ab exercises are not needed to reduce the tummy.

[This is Seth]

Beer guts are hard to get rid of, they only shed off with time. As I'm still working on shrinking mine, I can't offer great advice, but: Crunches will hit the upper abs, leg raises will hit the lower abs and hip flexors...

Or you know, he could just squat more. That seems to work the best for me.

[oystergirl]

LOL ok, thanks guys, I really appreciate the help, cause you know, as a girl, I ain't built the same...

[thescrawnycaveman]

Tell him to make sure when he is doing basically all of his exercises to engage his abs. This is done by tucking in the stomach and holding it in throughout the exercise, as though you were trying to fit into a pair of pants.

[This is Seth]

You could take it to the extreme and start using the old body builder trick of the Vacuum Technique.

[Jcannon98188]

cause you know, as a girl, I ain't built the same...

Wait. What?

Everything I thought I knew was a lie....

[BarefootDawsy]

Unfortunately it all just comes down to weight loss. All the crunches I the world will do ziltch to flatten a stomach, and taken to the extreme, if the ab muscles start getting really large they will only push it out further.

Patience and healthy eating are the beat method. Wish him luck!

[Barbarossa]

<.<

>.>

Bastardos.

I've only lost two pounds since I started hitting them hard for the challenge, but I can see my belly fat melting off (as in, in a certain light, I *have* abs, but not very defined and I have to pull my belt a bit tighter).