How to tone my stomach?

[RAZORBACK09]

I've been putting on weight, but I've wanted too. I want to get up to 225 pounds and then cut down to 215. However i'm at 200 now and I got a belly, obviously i'm keeping my calories up on purpose to gain weight. How can I get this stomach under control?

I do 8 minute abs 3-4 times a week, doesn't seem to be helping.

[sanchezgreg18]

lower ur sodium, fasted cardio, eat less carbs if ur carb sensitive. u cant spot reduce so minimizing fat gain is all you can do. well i guess u can kinda spot reduce with one of the topical products like eviscerate, liposolv, or dermatherm,but u still have to do cardio, situps wont flatten ur abs if theres fat covering them. if u want to have a leaner stomach u have to have a leaner body which requires lowering ur bodyfat. situps will not do that

[Porty]

I think I speak for the general gym-rat community when I say that it's is a pet-peeve to hear people say "why don't i have a six pack? I do plenty of sit-ups between my Big Macs..."

Lean-ness has arguably no relation to which muscle groups you exercise. You will build bigger, firmer, more seperated, etc, abs by focusing strenuous exercise activities for them. However, you will NOT lower the localized fat that is covering the muscle bellies beneath without appropriately diminishing your body-fat level. This is not to say that some people carry less fat around their mid-section at a certain body-fat level; however, for the most part, you will need to be LEANER to have more visible abs. With or without billions and billions of crunches.

[RAZORBACK09]

I'm not wondering why I don't have a 6 pack, nor do I think I'll get one while bulking. I'm wondering what I should to do make it more toned. 8 min abs hasn't seemed to help much, so what is some good exercises I should do for abs while at the gym?

[youngandfree]

Weight crunches, weighted leg raises. Train them with some weight or resistance like you do the other muscles in the 10-12 rep range. Once or twice a week at most. You will still have the fat based on tbe cals you eat, but they will bulk up and show better when you lean out.

[nattydisaster]

less beer/alcohol

less simple carbs

leg raises, ab workouts, both heavy and light weight, low and high reps

[Porty]

i've recently been using a TRX suspension training rig and you can do some amazing ab routines with it. they're about 200$ from the retailer, but they do some work.

[codywaters]

I've been putting on weight, but I've wanted too. I want to get up to 225 pounds and then cut down to 215. However i'm at 200 now and I got a belly, obviously i'm keeping my calories up on purpose to gain weight. How can I get this stomach under control?

I do 8 minute abs 3-4 times a week, doesn't seem to be helping.

Is this a serious question? First off there is no such thing as tone. Tone is a misnomer that has to do with low bodyfat content. If you are on a bulking cycle and taking in so many calories that you now have a belly, you have been at it completely wrong. there is really no reason why you should ever loose visibility of your abs.

Diet: I am going to assume that you are eating all you can to include the value menu at Micky D's. What you should be doing is trying to get 4500-5000 cals from the right things like eggs, beef, chicken, and lots of clean carbs like rice, oats and wheat bread.

Training: I hope you are not doing arm curls. You should be doing heavy ass squats, deadlifts,weighted pull ups, snatches, bench, military press, in that order of precidence. Yea its hard work, but if was easy everyone would be a bad ass.

Good luck

[orangerain]

lower ur sodium, fasted cardio, eat less carbs if ur carb sensitive. u cant spot reduce so minimizing fat gain is all you can do. well i guess u can kinda spot reduce with one of the topical products like eviscerate, liposolv, or dermatherm,but u still have to do cardio, situps wont flatten ur abs if theres fat covering them. if u want to have a leaner stomach u have to have a leaner body which requires lowering ur bodyfat. situps will not do that

I agree. If you want to flatten your stomach, you will have to lower your carbs.

[illgixxer]

Stomach vacuums, try adding those into your ab routine.

[RAZORBACK09]

I bust my ass at the gym with the stuff that codywaters stated, and I have cheated a bit and ate "dirty" meals sometimes when I don't have what I need at home and the stores are closed.

I do usually drink 2-3 protein shakes a day, depending on workout day or not.

Also, whats the best way to test for BF% at home? Then I could really tell if i've put on too much fat.

[MacTech]

Also, whats the best way to test for BF% at home? Then I could really tell if i've put on too much fat.

I use the mirror. If you don't like what you see, maybe you put on too much fat.

[Porty]

I use the mirror. If you don't like what you see, maybe you put on too much fat.

he's lost 25 lbs and still has "a belly"... i'd say you may have put on too much fat!

read up on "Cutting," "Losing Fat," and "Dieting." Can't give any more advice than that! Just remember to keep lifting while doing it!

[Gym4Life]

lower ur sodium, fasted cardio, eat less carbs if ur carb sensitive. u cant spot reduce so minimizing fat gain is all you can do. well i guess u can kinda spot reduce with one of the topical products like eviscerate, liposolv, or dermatherm,but u still have to do cardio, situps wont flatten ur abs if theres fat covering them. if u want to have a leaner stomach u have to have a leaner body which requires lowering ur bodyfat. situps will not do that

good advice i do have one question for you though, im quite sensitive to carbs but would whole grain brown rice be ok for an induvidual like myself.

[RAZORBACK09]

he's lost 25 lbs and still has "a belly"... i'd say you may have put on too much fat!

read up on "Cutting," "Losing Fat," and "Dieting." Can't give any more advice than that! Just remember to keep lifting while doing it!

Lost 25 pounds? You read my post wrong. I'm currently around 200 pounds, trying to get to 225 and then cut to 215.

I need to do some more ab workouts, I do everything else well and push myself but I think i've been lacking to do abs because I was mostly skinny my whole life until the last couple of months.

[TipTopShape]

I would def. lower your carb intake.

[babywifey]

I need to do some more ab workouts, I do everything else well and push myself but I think i've been lacking to do abs because I was mostly skinny my whole life until the last couple of months.

Working out your abs is NOT going to make your gut smaller. If anything, it will make your abs bigger and with all the excess fat you already have over them, you'll give yourself an even bigger gut. If you want to work on strengthening and increasing your ab muscles anyway it would be better if you went about doing so with heavy compound movements. Squats, Deadlifts, Clean and Press, Dips and Pull Ups are amazing for working out your whole body and strengthening your core. They are also great for overall fat loss as well as bulking. I suggest you add them to your routine.

If you want your abs to be more "toned" you're going to need to gain more muscle overall and drop some body fat. To be "toned" is just to have more muscle, less fat.

[Porty]

Working out your abs is NOT going to make your gut smaller.

Not to knit pick, but I will marginally disagree with this statement. Both when I began ab routines after a relatively long bulk, and when I began stomach vacuums while driving long ago, my stomach flattened/pulled in considerably. To the point of measurable differences, in the case of the vacuums especially. I know this isn't particularly relevant, and the rest of your post is dead on, I just wanted to add that comment!

[AtomStrange]

Similarly I am trying to lose the tire too. I've got a flat stomach, but the back and around the sides is the problem.
I'm on a very Low Carb diet which has helped me slim down over the last few years (down 65lbs). I'm high protein and veggies. I'm sure the binge drinking on the weekends isn't helping my cause at this point (non sugar drinks), but even without that I've been struggling in that area. I'm fortunate that I bulk up really easily, though that's not what I want to do. I'm trying to lean out not bulk up.
I have the outline of my abs in the front... visible when flexed if that gives you an idea of where I'm at.
Also, I am starting to notice my stomach muscles sticking out more these days in shirts and such (giving the appearance of being fat). I'm trying to tone these muscles not make them bigger so they stand out. I'm not using weight for my ab exercises. Any advice for that?

I do plenty of cardio and high rep training. Any advice would be well appreciated.

Cheers,

Rick
(fairly new guy here)