How to even out ab muscles

Sort of a weird question. I have been working out for about 16 years now, and I have done a bit of everything including heavy  weight training.  Last may I hurt my back, then got engaged and ended up taking 6 months off the gym. (gained 25 lbs!!!).

Anyway, I am back at the gym since October and in the past two months the top half of my abs has started to pop out noticably - I am talking the area from the belly button to the rib cage, just below the breast line. My waist has always been naturally flat and muscular, but I never got to six pack mode. Even when I had the extra 25 lbs I was still a 28 inch waist. Suddenly I have a large two pack. It looks very odd, people have commented and my husband particularly keeps poking at it. You can see it through shirts and such. I am still losing weight currently, but I am only 7 lbs over the weight I was last may, I just had a year of injuries and personal issues that had me gain.

The thing is I don't do ab exercises, and I am not doing anything drastically different then I have always done routine wise. Diet is the same, only because I am losing I am at a deficit calorie wise. Given my current workout routine I am thinking the most likely culprits are either pull-ups, push-ups or HIIT. Pull-ups and Push-ups I have always done but I am doing much more now than before, HIIT is something I have only been doing the last few months so I thought maybe that too. I also do deadlifts, shoulder presses, squats and dips - but not anymore or less than I have always done.

I am bad with physiology or anatomy or whatever you call it. Basically what I need are some good exercises to even out my lower stomach muscles. I would rather have a 6 pack than a two pack. Also if anyone has an idea of the exercises I mentioned above if any in particular work the top abs more than the lower.

Hope that makes sense....

Original Post by mwheeler75:

Also if anyone has an idea of the exercises I mentioned above if any in particular work the top abs more than the lower.

The rectus abdominus (the 6-pack muscle) is a single muscle, there aren't any exercises that work the 'top part' more or less than the 'bottom part' either the entire thing contracts or none of it contracts.

The only difference between a 2-pack and a 6-pack is the amount of fat you carry on around your middle.

Are you sure it's the muscle and not something else?

Hmmmm...so then if I read this right you are saying that the muscle growth I am seeing at the top is in fact on the bottom too, I just wont see it until the excess weight is gone? that would actually be pretty sweet. I dont know why that didnt occur to me to be honest, I guess because my waist size overall kept going down...

Tommy...what else could it be? it looks like muscle, I dont carry any fat in that area really...I used to be flat from the rib cage line...now my stomach pops out from the rib cage line..and splits in the middle...then sort of goes back to flat at my belly button. Unless its some sort of giant tumor. Which wouldn't be so sweet.

I think maybe I just assumed I would lose the weight I gained and my body would go back to the way it was. But maybe in the end I am actually building the stomach more than I realize with some of the work I am doing, and since I still have fat to lose its sorta wonky looking.

Original Post by mwheeler75:

Hmmmm...so then if I read this right you are saying that the muscle growth I am seeing at the top is in fact on the bottom too, I just wont see it until the excess weight is gone? that would actually be pretty sweet. I dont know why that didnt occur to me to be honest, I guess because my waist size overall kept going down...

 True, people hold fat in different places. So it is definately possible that you just don't have fat over your upper part of you abs.

The top two abs can become visible at 15% body fat and the lower two at sub-10% if your genetics predispose you to storing fat that way. Well, for men; women tend to add about 3-4% to those numbers.

 So definitely possible; genes express in very quirky ways ;)

yea I have that problem, too....the top of my abs are MUCH more visable than the rest....but I've attributed to where I hold my remaining fat. If you poke around on your abs when they are flexed, you can probably FEEL that the rest is there.

My bra line is only about a half inch thicker around than my waist, whereas my hips are about an 8inch difference thicker....it gets thicker around as it goes down. I'm hoping that when the hip measurement gets smaller, some of the bottom abs will start showing!

Could it be a hernia?  Get it checked out by a doc. 

just keep cutting your body fat, the top abs are usually the first ones that pop out when you are losing body fat, keep on with eating clean and cardio and you should see the remainded 2 bottoms rows with time.

Maybe just keep on going, and eventually it will even out? I'm not sure. Mostly I got on here to tell you that I LOVE your pic.

You'd feel a hernia, I'd think.

All I can add is if you want to hit the lower abs more, while hanging as if for a chin up, bring your knees up to your chest ("frog kick").  Most gyms have a set of parallel bars to do this exercise as well.

You can lie on the floor and just raise your legs upwards, like a hinge.  Watch your lower back, it may need support to do this, like putting your hands under the small of your back or a small pillow or towel.  You can also "scissor" your legs by alternating raising them one at a time.

You can research and try an exercise called "planks".  They are good/great for abs.  Looking up "lower abdominal exercises" should give you quite a few more suggestions. 

They do show up "last" as you drop weight though, even on competition bodybuilders.