Should I wait until I lose some belly fat to do abs?

brycehopper

I agree with Mattthewdill83, I have put myself on a low calorie diet, however I still eat a lot of protein. They tell you to eat a lot of calories when bulking up with muscle to help, the only problem is that when you do this 30% of what you have gained is actually fat. To avoid this just eat less calories and more protein, you will still be able to gain muscles but without gaining the fat. To your question, yes you should still do core exercises, they help improve overall core strength, endurance, and posture. Just do not over do it, otherwise you will make your stomach look bulky because you will be building muscles underneath.

tomorrowstartstoday

Thanks for answering my questions, guys! This helped a lot. I will definitely continue to do my abs. I didn't mean for this thread to get kind of ugly. Good to see you guys figured it out. Thanks again.

yeah, this got nasty pretty fast! just got done reading it and i got so caught up in the drama that i almost forgot why i started reading it in the first place. it's a good question, my friend. i have also wondered the same thing. i just recently got a large exercise ball and have been focusing on strengthening my core so that after i shed all this fat, i will have a "tight" stomach underneath. i can tell you that i have experienced noticeable improvement in my core strength (which, let's face it, was at zero...so any improvement would be noticeable), and i don't feel that my belly is getting bulky. i definitely don't see any definition, but that doesn't mean that i'm not improving.

p.s. you're beautiful

nikolaim5

Yes, it is possible to gain muscle in a calorie deficit under certain conditions.

Quoting Alan Aragon...

"Gaining muscle in a calorie deficit is possible mostly for newbs & deconditioned folks. Those far past the newb stage stand far less of a chance to experience this. The more advanced you are in your development amd/or level of conditioning, the less this can happen. Perfect examples of who can gain muscle in a calorie deficit are overweight/sedentary newbs who weight train for the first time in years, or ever. Here's a couple research examples:"

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10204826
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9280173

To the OP, ABS are 95% the result of low body fat. Do you think Iggy pop was hitting the gym after concerts? No, he was shooting smack and banging groupies. Smack (heroin) is an appetite suppressant.

P.S. I'm not suggesting smack

bahacca

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/adding-muscle-while-losing-fat-qa.html
This is a great article on the matter. There is another one by a poster here who wrote about the physiology behind muscle fibers being awakened from a "sleeping" state and therefore being wrapped in glycogen and water, hence making the appearance of more muscle tissue when, in reality, those fibers were there all along. I will go try and dig up the link for you. It was a really interesting read and helped me understand why I, too, thought my muscles were "bigger" in just 2 weeks of heavy lifting, but, in reality, it is my fibers going "Ohhhhh-you need us again!!!"
Found it:http://bankshealth.wordpress.com/2011/06/27/weight-gain-with-new-exercise-programs/