Side Bends?

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Whimzeee
Whimzeee Posts: 152 Member
edited January 5 in Fitness and Exercise
I just read a Weight Training for Women book and they said:

Side bends will not make your waist smaller. Avoid doing them because they will make your waist thicker.

Yikes! Is this true?

Replies

  • meshashesha2012
    meshashesha2012 Posts: 8,329 Member
    it depends on your bone structure. i know for me this is definitely true. i have a short waist so there's only about 2" of space between where my rib cage ends and my pelvis starts. any type of exercises that would help develop a 6 pack would make my waist look extremely thick

    for that reason i avoid most all direct abdominal workouts. i do planks every so often and i definitely make sure to not do turkish get ups more than once a month
  • iorahkwano
    iorahkwano Posts: 709 Member
    Really? I've been doing those in hopes of getting a waist... I used to do them more before, I think it helped somewhat but I got lazy & stopped for a while. It helped in the appearance of my mid-section, it gave me muscle tone in the sides of my waist and a nice muscle line. Not sure how it affected the circumference of my waist though.
  • Whimzeee
    Whimzeee Posts: 152 Member
    Yep, the book said that side bends compress the sides of your stomach and work your lower back rather than your obliques - so thus they make your waist thicker!
  • Whimzeee
    Whimzeee Posts: 152 Member
    Bumping for more comments
  • DopeItUp
    DopeItUp Posts: 18,771 Member
    I don't know anything about side bends (who does those?), but I can tell you that doing an exercise for the purpose of slimming a body part is pointless. When worked, muscles will stay the same size or grow larger. Those are the two options, period. Which of the two happens largely depends on your diet (surplus vs deficit) and the intensity of the exercise done.
  • wellbert
    wellbert Posts: 3,924 Member
    The muscles in that region really don't get very large.
  • fakeplastictree
    fakeplastictree Posts: 834 Member
    I wouldn't really worry about it too much. Those muscles don't get very large anyways and unless you are eating in surplus you aren't going to gain too much muscle in the first place.
  • darrensurrey
    darrensurrey Posts: 3,942 Member
    These? http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Obliques/DBSideBend.html

    Yes, I do them to build the sides. Much like I do abdominal work to build the thickness in the abdominal area.

    And when I stopped doing squats in favour of saving the legs for long distance cycling, my thighs started to shrink. Since then, I do more leg work and thankfully my thighs are growing in size again. :) In fact, I don't have a thigh gap at all now thanks to doing sumo squats. Yes, that exercise those crap pictorials tell you to do to make your legs thin.
  • rmhand
    rmhand Posts: 1,067 Member
    The muscles fibers in your obliques (sides of torso) actually have the ability to increase in size unlike the muscle fibers of your six pack.
  • RGv2
    RGv2 Posts: 5,789 Member
    I have always learned that "side bends" are useless. You should twist and then bend, it's the twisting motion that engages the core. I definately feel it more in my obliques and core when I twist and bend.

    I'm sure someone will say I'm completely wrong becasue they've been doing it the other way forever.....rip away.
  • wellbert
    wellbert Posts: 3,924 Member
    You shouldn't twist AND bend at the same time, unless you hate your discs.
  • RGv2
    RGv2 Posts: 5,789 Member
    You shouldn't twist AND bend at the same time, unless you hate your discs.

    you don't twist and bend at the same time.

    one foot in front of the other, and twist just enough where you can lower the weight "between your legs" I have been told to do this my multiple trainers. I blew a disc in my back out in college and have had zero back problems from this exercise.
  • SyStEmPhReAk
    SyStEmPhReAk Posts: 330 Member
    Weighted ab exercises can increase the size of your ab muscles, which can possibly give the effect of looking bulkier. HOWEVER, you've got to be using a lot of weight for this to happen. Just like any other muscle in your body, if you never increase the weight you use, your abs will get used to the resistance and won't grow past a certain point - just maintain.

    If you are looking to lose weight around your waist, decrease your BF% through diet. Your ab and oblique exercises will further define your midsection and will not make you look bulky.
  • wellbert
    wellbert Posts: 3,924 Member
    You shouldn't twist AND bend at the same time, unless you hate your discs.

    you don't twist and bend at the same time.

    one foot in front of the other, and twist just enough where you can lower the weight "between your legs" I have been told to do this my multiple trainers. I blew a disc in my back out in college and have had zero back problems from this exercise.

    That doesn't sound so scary.
  • iorahkwano
    iorahkwano Posts: 709 Member
    Hm, whenever I read about "Why people should do planks instead of tons of sit-ups" or "Importance of working entire core/back," they usually say that the muscles in the core work sort of like a corset & when you tighten them up, they pull your waist inwards. I highly doubt sidebends will bulk me up, I can do tons of other abs workouts & I still don't have any visible abs T.T Maybe if I was 9% body fat... Maybe if you're a guy it's easier to bulk in the mid-section. But I'm not saying it's impossible, it does make sense that a myscle would just grow if a heavy enough weight is used.
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