Ladies around 5'5-5'7 - at what weight do you have abs?

Ed98043

I'm 5'7" and have been as low as 115. Never had visible abs. Visible bones, yes.

geekyjock76

Although genetics has a lot to do with it, the OP may have an issue revealing abs considering her history. You can't expect to appear lean in the midsection, or anywhere, if significant muscle mass is likely lost.

ShadeyC

YES *fist in the air*

When I hit my goal height I'll have abs

Day. Is. Made

HAhahahah awesome

livingleanlivingclean

Weight is a factor but not what makes or breaks the point of showing off abs. 1) Abs are created in the gym. You have to do a lot of abs exercises. I'm talking like 200-300 reps (about 4 sets of 25 reps of 2 or 3 abs exercises). Some of my favorite are captain's chair, reverse crunch, leg lifts, ball crunches, etc. 2) Abs are revealed in the kitchen. No matter how hard you workout or how little you weigh, in order to reveal those abs you have to eat clean and know how to "tighten" your look. A friend and I compete in body competitions. I just started and I am currently trying to lose more weight for my next competition. If you look up/ Google "a figure competition diet and workout plan", that will be step one to getting you on your way. I have some abs showing and I am 5'4" and sitting at 125lbs. My upper abs are currently what show, my lower abs are a work in progress (that will take me losing a little more weight and tightening my diet). Diet Diet Diet are everything when revealign abs. If I drink a glass of wine, I can see the "softness" coming back and my muscles don't look as "hard". Just always remember, muscle weighs more than fat and you can't always rely on the scale. Its helps, but doesn't always work. Another thing is go to your local gym and ask for a body fat % measurement. Average woman is at 21-25% body fat. Body competitiors are around 15% at show time. Anyhow, hope that helps!

I disagree with basically everything here. ^^^^^

There is no need to was time doing 2-300 reps. Compound lifts take care of working the core.

Yep....

Yup seconded

Weight has nothing to do with abs at all. All to do with losing bf enough for them to show for you. I have not been blessed with prominent abs, and even when I got on stage at 6-8% I barely had abs (by my standards).

For many women, maintaining abs all the time isn't healthy. Most fitness models don't have visible abs all the time....I think magazines/media gives most women unreal expectations

Amandainyaface

It doesn't have anything to do with weight! It's a matter of Bodyfat %. Abs should show at around 18-20% bodyfat for women all sizes.

livingleanlivingclean

It doesn't have anything to do with weight! It's a matter of Bodyfat %. Abs should show at around 18-20% bodyfat for women all sizes.

Everyone is different - some people (myself included) don't have great abs even at low BF.

aketola4344

I'm 5'6" and in my humble experience, it's not about weight it's about body fat. I compete in NPC Figure (lady's body building) and my abs show best at 12% or less. At that body fat percentage, my weight is about 122 lbs, but then I have a lot of muscle mass.

_namaste_

5'6 and my abs show even at 130lbs. All 6, too. Diet is the biggest factor I have heard but genetics must play a role too.

Sarauk2sf

Old thread...however..

My obliques show at a pretty high body fat (relatively)...up to about 24 - 25% as they are quite developed from compound lifting. I am 5 6" and at that BF% I am nearly 160lb. I don't have much of a six pack per se though and they only start to peak through when I am in my high teens from a BF% (at about 148lb). Apart from BF%, a lot is genetics (whether you have separation), fat distribution and muscle development.

shapefitter

H am 5'8 and suffer from the 'chicken wing' syndrome. I currently burn 1000 kcal a day, five times a week, combining cardio and strenght. I have a slight defined chest, and am not worried about abs. At 49, January, I'm not doing bad. Come this time next year, provided I don't injure myself again, we might be talking

nicenhealthy

If I workout they are visible when @ a low healthy weight. :P crunches and all that jazz.

Phoenix_Warrior

I'm 5'5" and I don't think I've ever seen my abs before lol. I'm 126 lbs now and I think something is starting to happen? Lol.

firstsip

Although genetics has a lot to do with it, the OP may have an issue revealing abs considering her history of malnutrition and being 10 lbs underweight. You can't expect to appear lean in the midsection, or anywhere, if significant muscle mass is likely lost.

I'm thinking this too (Though old thread! Tricked again...). My lowest weight was roughly 95 lbs at 5'6.5"; no abs to be seen. Why? Probably because I was starving myself.

Now at 139, after weightlifting for 1+ year, my stomach has more definition than it's ever seen. Not expecting to see abs I want until I've dropped a bit lower in bf% (probably around 25% right now), and completed a bulk/cut.

SarahBeth0625

I am 5'7 1/2" and my abs look best at 125-126. I am at 126-127 now.

Snow3y

weight means nothing for abs, body fat % is what matters.

whitebalance

YES *fist in the air*

When I hit my goal height I'll have abs

Day. Is. Made

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :drinker:

drusilla126

I'm 5'7" was down to 20% BF or so. Saw abs. Didn't want to but I did. Still had a friggin muffin top though. Couldn't get it to budge even though I dropped my weight enough that my period stopped for 8 months. My body's just stubborn I guess.

tigerblue

Agree with those who said that abs are made in the kitchen. No matter how little you weight on the scale, if you still have a layer of fat on your belly, it will obscure the abdominals.

The only problem for me is that the stomach area is where my body likes to store fat, so I'm afraid that if I lose enough to show abs, I will be totally flat-chested & buttless. Not sure if I'm willing to make that compromise, frankly, but if there's a way around it, I'd sure be glad to hear it!

Yes, I have decided that my legs will disappear before my ab fat will leave!

Lifting does help with both problems, but genetics. . . .

RedArizona5

I always have the top of my abs show even when I was at my heaviest. I am on the right track and need to lose just 15-20 pounds but I already see my lower abs defined. what I find, ladies that helps is when you lie on you belly and keep your hand flat on the ground and just lift up the torso and head only towards the ceiling as much as possible. When I stretch that way, uuw it feels so good and you can really feel the stomach muscle working. Key is to hold it as long as you can while breathing deeply:) i findd that this move ladies is the best move to feel your tummy flatter!
I have a flat stomach and the more I strength train which is not often but more than what I ever did in my life, my abs show. Oh my BMI 22.1 for 5'7" and 140( I should be 135-holday weight:( )

MrsJS5

Sorry if someone has already said this - I'm not going to read through all the responses - but it has a lot to do with your body dimensions. I'm 5'6" and I weigh 119 and I've had two kids. I had great abs 3 weeks after my second child and a 50 lb. weight gain because I hold almost no weight in my abs and I never have. I have a longer torso compared to my legs so everything in the middle is just stretched out. Someone with a shorter torso will have better legs than I will without having to do the work that I will.

moxleymama6

Never have got a low enough body fat!

nidamahmood1992

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RedArizona5

Never mind my BMI, my body fat % is 33.5% body fat/ and 46.9 Pounds of fat and 93.1 Pounds of lean muscle. Yea so i don't full set of abs but they are visibly outlined a lot better then they used to be due to working out now. Trying to get fitter and leaner so...

stonel94

you probably don't have enough muscle, because I have the "ab line" like all the way down my abdomen and I'm 5'7 and 170 pounds so...yeah

Slrajr

149

xstarxdustx

Weight is not the only determinant for this. Losing the excess fat layer above the abs through toning and strength training will help with this.

MTGirl4Life

Bump

iamMLH

I know this has been said a few times, but I think it's worth saying again:

Weight has almost no impact on your abs. There are essentially 2 things that go into having any kind of definition. It is based on the size of the muscle and the amount of fat on top of it. Thinking of weight as a goal is going to distract us from getting the successes we really want and perpetuate some really unhealthy cycles.

If you are having trouble visualizing what people mean when they say it's not about weight, it's about fat and muscle, there's a little experiment you can do (sorry, this won't give you abs):

Go to your bed, and lay 6 pillows of different thicknesses in a 2x3 pattern (like your six pack) on your mattress. Them layer a sheet, a thin blanket, and a thick comforter over pillows in that order. With all three of of the covers on there, you can probably see very little definition from any but the thickest pillows. Take the thick comforter off. You should now be able to see more definition between the pillows. Finally, remote all but the sheet. You should now be able to se quite a bit of definition (even with the thinnest pillows).

Your abs work exactly the same way. You can add definition by increasing the size of the muscles or by decreasing the amount of fat that covers them. Ideally, this is done in combination to have the best results.

Here is a link to a bunch of women who say they 5'7", 140lbs and between 25-34. You can see some are very lean and some are pretty curvy. It's not necessarily a genetics; it's composition. I believe muscle has roughly 1/5 the volume of fat. So, someone with more muscle can be significantly smaller than someone more fat.

http://www.mybodygallery.com/search.html?gender=female&height=170&weight=64&age=30&pantSize=0&shirtSize=any&bodytype=&p=2

Sorry for the long post.

floatfitness

I'm 5'7" and compete in NPC bikini and for me I can see them around 130lbs

ndj1979

jadebuilding wrote: »

Thanks for the feedback! I'm going to see if my university's gym has bodyfat calculating equipment... but at the moment, I'll keep with my regular routine, which has been upping protein, calories, & doing strength training. Hopefully it'll pay off, since I was skin & bones before, without the curves & toned look I wanted.

ughhh zombie thread…who the hell rebumped this…??