My problem is not anywhere as serious as Quiksilver's but I do notice some variations in my gut, here are what I think are the causes of my variations that were not mentioned in this thread yet.
Quiksilver said:
The last things to tackle now are my digestive system. I notice a big improvement in belly size when I take ATLEAST one nice long dump each day. That I believe is a major player, so I've been working on staying "very regular", which means sitting on the can twice a day instead of once a day or once every two days like I used to.
Tomorrow I'm tackling the other end of the digestive tract. I'm starting to take digestive enzyme supplements and Metamucil fibre. I'm also considering some sort of digestive cleansing thing, but that's on the back burner for now.
Seems important. I usually take a huge one right when I wake up in the morning, and a medium sized one in the late afternoon.
-If you are having any trouble doing this, try making sure you are getting both water soluble fiber and water insoluble fiber. Also, try being more active. Not just during certain periods, but through out the day as well. I don't know why, but somehow when I am active through out the day (10 minute walking or biking break every 1-2 hours), I have a lot more urges to dump 2x a day.
-I think if you're on a bulking diet, you should be taking a dump 2x a day. That might get food faster through your system so intestines have a chance to shrink *shrugs*.
Breathing was mentioned before. I think this may be important. Make sure you are taking full breathes. My friend whose been playing instruments since he was a kid said that most people don't take in full breathes, they don't use their whole lung capacity. Since the lungs are not expanding as much, the rib cage does not expand to its optimal capacity, and then your gut will stick out more.
-When you do breathing exercises, make sure that your gut is expanding and not your chest, that is the proper way to breath. Try to increase the amount of air that goes into your lungs each time you breath.
-Do breathing intensive exercises occasionally, like sprints or fast swimming. Like a mentioned before, my abs always look the best when I was doing sprints, and it have been the heavy breathing. You never see sprinters with round bellys. Those exercises are taxing, but it won't hurt too much to do after your lifting. If my theory is true about the breathing, you don't have to get good at those exercises, you just need to challenge the lungs.
-Try to stimulate your lungs every 1-2 hours for 5-10 minutes via bike or speed walking. Don't breath out of your mouth, but should be at the point where you feel that you need to breath out of your mouth. Take deep full breathes to prevent this.
-Rickson Gracie shows some breathing exercises at the end of this video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vhJza-2xiI.
I recent went on a vacation that required a lot of walking, and I noticed that my stomach was very flat during that weekend (it was more round than usual before that weekend). It could be that I was constantly active, even though I was not intensely active.
From your pic, I noticed your butt is kinda flat, do glut-ham raises, reverse hypers, back extentions (I use 170 lbs weight), squeeze glutes hard during deadlifts. Not sure if that will help, but it couldn't hurt to work on your glutes.
*shrugs*
Quiksilver said:
appointment this thursday where he'll do a real exam. By the way, sleeping on your stomach is terrible I discovered. sleeping that way tilts your pelvis forward, making the belly more prominent. sleep on your back. This one is still in play.
I also hear people raises their head too much when they sleep. They use too much pillows. I know some people who uses no pillows, although I think thats kinda extreme.
Try doing a variety of ab exercises. Esp ones that challenge your breathing. I like to do em as a warmup before my lifting as part of my warm up. A current favorite is doing crunches with your legs in a figure 4 (like you are crossing your legs when you sit) and keeping you leg off the ground. Put your hand behind your head (put don't touch your head to cheat) and bring your elbow to your knee. It is a lot harder than you think
.
-Also, my abs were really good/flat when I do BJJ, and I noticed that during the warm ups, we do a huge variety of ab exercises during which it was hard breath. During the grappling/breathing itself my abs were challenged in a variety of situations. I think it was the synergy of abs and lung stimulation is what causes my abs to be so good/flat.
stronglifts said:
Several things that you can do Quagmire.
Lol, for some reason I thought Quagmire and Quiksilver were the same person too. I noticed they were different about 2 monthes ago when both their workout journals were side by side. I was like, 'wait a minute' . . . .
My post summary:
Major things
-Take dump 2x a day. Get water both soluble/insoluble fiber. Fruits with skins, veggies, ect. Keep in mind that not all fruits and veggies have both fibers. For example, spinich has very low fiber.
-Be active throughout day. Bike or speed walk for 5 minutes every 1-2 hours to challenge breathing and maybe get dump frequency up.
-Breathing exercises to develop full breath and to expand ribcage (both during being still and during walks/bike rides. )
-Challenging breathing exercises after lifting (sprints, speed swimming). Don't go too crazy, just challenge your lungs.
-Variety of ab exercises that feel challenging to your breathing before lifting as your warm up (don't do anything weighted).
Minor things
-Sleep on back, use only 1 pillow and not a huge pillow. Make sure both shoulder blades are flat on your bed.
-Work on butt.
-Quagmire is not Quiksilver. Well, I guess thats a major thing.
