I don't want a waist line that looks like this!

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  • jonnythan
    jonnythan Posts: 10,161 Member
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    I keep seeing pictures of women who after working out, losing fat, and building muscle, have a straight waistline with no curves at all. Is this because of the way the muscles were built, is it genetic? What causes a woman's waist to look like this? This kind of makes me think twice about trying too hard to build muscle. Not that someone like Dara Torres doesn't have a nice body, it's just the waist line looks like a pencil. Is this avoidable?

    strength.jpg

    Do you think your midsection is better than this Olympic athlete's?

    I wonder what she thinks of your "waist line."
  • lhourin
    lhourin Posts: 144 Member
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    That's pretty much what mine looks like and I don't love not having a defined waist, but abs are nice... I don't think you need to worry about it. It takes a ton of intense training and is pretty hard to actually get that lean. You'll likely keep some curves. And think of it this way: if you DO get to that point, and hate it, you can always have fun putting some fat back on. :)
  • Cyclink
    Cyclink Posts: 517 Member
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    I'm guessing she doesn't want yours either. But I'm willing to bet she has enough class to not go posting pictures of you and saying so.

    I'm going with this one.
    NO. TIME. The progress from the work you do accumulates OVER TIME.

    It's true that your progress is partially the accumulation of your work over time. You will never accidentally look like a body builder. If you put in the training and the diet for long enough, you could.

    The problem is when your progress in the wrong direction or (in relatively few elite cases) when you crash into your genetic ceiling.
  • cschiff
    cschiff Posts: 209 Member
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    Dara Torres lives in my neighborhood and I see her in Target (!!) from time to time and she looks AMAZING.


    are you serious? OMG. that's amazing.
  • LiftAllThePizzas
    LiftAllThePizzas Posts: 17,857 Member
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    I hate it when that happens. Also I hate it when I accidentally get super rich too.
  • UsedToBeHusky
    UsedToBeHusky Posts: 15,229 Member
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    It's her bone structure. Simply genetic. Nothing more.
  • _SABOTEUR_
    _SABOTEUR_ Posts: 6,833 Member
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    Professional athletes do up to 40 hours exercise a week to look like that over the course of many years. Unless you are planning to do that much exercise I wouldn't worry about it too much.
  • Lupercalia
    Lupercalia Posts: 1,857 Member
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    I enjoy all the nay sayers here as well. Telling me how I never have to worry about having a nice set of abs. LOL.... wait people. Time is all it takes for progress to accumulate. I'll get around to posting a recent pic of myself eventually. This one is actually a few months old.

    That's not what people are telling you!

    You'll notice changes in your body that you don't like LONG before you get to her level. When you start getting results you don't lihe change what you're doing! How can you not notice getting abs like that?!

    She is genetically predispositioned to not have "curves." I could never look like her because I have a tiny waist, big boobs, and wide hips. I cjust can't get that straight look.

    Yes it is. I don't have to worry about NOT looking the way I do now. Yes, that is what the general consensus is. I recall seeing an awful lot of success stories with pics of people who looked worse than this picture of me in january does, with stellar results in a rather short time. So, saying I don't ever have to worry about looking better is absurd. I ask a simple question, and anyone who could take it the wrong way has. Of course I have come to expect nothing less. Anyhoo, I am gathering that genetics would determine the muscle shape, not the workout itself.

    Don't be daft. Nobody is telling you that you'll never look better! They are telling you DO NOT WORRY ABOUT LOOKING LIKE AN ELITE ATHLETE.
  • fbmandy55
    fbmandy55 Posts: 5,263 Member
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    Ah, it's another body shaming post.

    You could have asked your questions without such a derogatory forum title, in my opinion.

    And it takes a LOT of work to look like that, along with genetics. You won't get their by accident.

    I don't think that what body shaming at all. She said she personally didn't want to look like that and even stated that she HAD a nice body....
  • BinaryPulsar
    BinaryPulsar Posts: 8,927 Member
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    I keep seeing pictures of women who after working out, losing fat, and building muscle, have a straight waistline with no curves at all. Is this because of the way the muscles were built, is it genetic? What causes a woman's waist to look like this? This kind of makes me think twice about trying too hard to build muscle. Not that someone like Dara Torres doesn't have a nice body, it's just the waist line looks like a pencil. Is this avoidable?

    strength.jpg

    There was a featured interview of her, shortly after the Olympics via HBO Sports I'm thinking and the lady here actually shared that she'd needed to consciously build her mid-torso (for strength) like a man, to improve her chances with the much younger swimmers.

    The above waistline is a purposefully engineered mid-torso to strengthen her core to affect her speed.

    You needn't worry about that. Your purpose is entirely different and your genetics lie in a different direction.

    I agree with this also. As for weight training, you can do compound lifts and don't bother with weighted ab exercises. Your core will get slim and lean, and reveal as much or as little muscle as you choose from doing body weight exercises and from the full body weightlifting. You don't need to specifically try and bulk your ab muscles if you don't want or need to.
  • DalekBrittany
    DalekBrittany Posts: 1,748 Member
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    my hip bones stick out waaaay farther than my waist.
    no amount of exercise will reduce the width of those.

    Yepp, this! I can already feel my hip bones and my rib cage, and I am still waaaayyyyyy far from my goal. Sometimes I worry if I will look funny if I can already feel those suckers poking out.
  • MudRunLvr
    MudRunLvr Posts: 226 Member
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    I hate it when that happens. Also I hate it when I accidentally get super rich too.

    I constantly worry that by putzing around on the computer I'm going to end up like Bill Gates.
  • Trechechus
    Trechechus Posts: 2,819 Member
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    Body shaming! Yay!
  • likitisplit
    likitisplit Posts: 9,420 Member
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    I would like my waistline to have more curves as opposed the more straight type.

    I would like my waistline to have more curves too, but it doesn't. My body doesn't look like this either. Sigh. Nothing I can do about the first and probably wouldn't look like the second even if I put in the work.

    I chose clothing that emphasizes the waist that I do have and the features I was blessed with. I have never had a guy turn me down when I was naked.
  • SoViLicious
    SoViLicious Posts: 2,633 Member
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    She does not look bad at all. I like her abs
  • billsica
    billsica Posts: 4,741 Member
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    I'm just going to put this out here, in-case she reads this thread. 10/10 wood do.
  • bannedword
    bannedword Posts: 299 Member
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    Dara Torres lives in my neighborhood and I see her in Target (!!) from time to time and she looks AMAZING.


    are you serious? OMG. that's amazing.

    I am. And then I text everyone I know and say "OMG I just saw Dara Torres in the Pets section at Target" and people text back and say "I saw her at the bank!"

    We're so cool. Or sad. One of those.
  • ash8184
    ash8184 Posts: 701 Member
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    Read "The New Rules of Lifting for Women"... that will help you understand how muscle is built. Point taken - I like my curves, but just want to make them less squishy. Though you can't spot tone, you can definitely focus your toning on arms, legs, abs, back, etc. So train your back, legs and arms and when you're happy with your midsection/abs, stop.
  • iulia_maddie
    iulia_maddie Posts: 2,780 Member
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    I think she looks fantastic. Your hip to waist ratio is a matter of genetics.
    And I wouldn't worry about getting her waist, either, if I were you. That took years of hard work and dedication. It won't just happen because you lift some weights.
  • klp1017
    klp1017 Posts: 95 Member
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    You're not going to just wake up one morning looking "bulky" after a weight training session. If you start to think you're gaining too much muscle for your preference, cut down on the weight training.
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