I want to see my abs !!!!

I am 5 foot 7 inches, and weigh 135lbs..... I workout  5 days a week...I am in GREAT shape except for my ABS !!!! they are hard when I flex from crunches I started doing......But I feel as if my stomach is getting FATTER !!!! what can I do ? What excerise will flatten and not bulk up my stomach ?

You may be doing crunches wrong.  Many, many people push instead of pull the belly down and inward towards the back. By pushing, it causes the belly to buldge. It actually causes a muscle - but a protruding one.

Otherwise, watch your  carb intake and soda intake both of which will bloat you.  Stick to whole foods, whole grains, etc drink a gallon a water a day.

have you tried pilates? that's supposed to "lengthen" muscles rather then bulk them up from what I've heard.

What about diet soda ? is that ok ? I rarely drink water !!! I guess that is probably part of the problem.....I do a  crunch with my hands at my temple and raise my hand and back...not a full sit up tho.....I do the bicycle crunches, and raise my legs slightly off the ground and  do crunches...

Muscles don't "lengthen" without some radical orthpedic surgery.

 Most of what you've heard about pilates is marketing, not fact. We've learned a lot about how the body works in the 70-80 years since ol' Joseph Pilates first put together his system, and while it's a reasonable training program for a beginner and has some therapeutic applications if you have a real instructor (rather than someone with a weekend certification) there are far better ways to train for most specific goals.

"Abs are made in the kitchen".... This quote (which I found in an Oxygen Magazine) is so completely true!!! Lean protein (fish, free-ranged meats & eggs) along with non-starchy vegetables, only a tiny bit of low-sugar fruit and tons of healthy fat (olive oil, fish, flaxseed, hempseed oil, etc) is what will help you attain your goal even without all the crunches. Plus, cardio exercise is what rids your stomach of flab so that is a must before you start crunching away. 

Original Post by giasbash6260:

"Abs are made in the kitchen".... This quote (which I found in an Oxygen Magazine) is so completely true!!! Lean protein (fish, free-ranged meats & eggs) along with non-starchy vegetables, only a tiny bit of low-sugar fruit and tons of healthy fat (olive oil, fish, flaxseed, hempseed oil, etc) is what will help you attain your goal even without all the crunches. Plus, cardio exercise is what rids your stomach of flab so that is a must before you start crunching away. 

agree w/ diet.. low GI clean eating is the way to go for fat loss.

Disagree w/ steady state cardio.  For fat loss weight training and high intensity interval training is the best way to burn fat.

Seeing abs is just a function of having low body fat, so work on lowering that.

read the articles on figureathlete.com.  My favorite is  "running makes you fat"

http://figureathlete.tmuscle.com/free_online_ article//running_makes_you_fat

PILATE’S - I naturally gain weight around my stomach/bum, breasts and I keep my mid section tight trough Pilate’s

Working the deep abdominal muscles AS WELL as the surface muscles in crunches, is key; also oblique work for those sexy sides!

The problem with only doing crunches, is that you could do 1000 a day and not get as good results as incorporating a MIXTURE or crunches/Pilate’s type moves for the deep transverse muscles.

Basically, crunches ONLY work the exterior surface muscles, and you need to work both the surface AND deep muscles UNDER the surface to get OPTIMAL results.

Oh, and none of this will be NEARLY as effective unless u eat a clean unprocessed diet. That is my strong belief

I don't know if anyone else has mentioned it, but you cannot target fat loss.  If you're developing some fat in that area, you cannot get rid of that specifically.. some women just have a 'pooch'.  I'm not sure you should try losing any more weight, but getting that area more muscular might help.  I liked yoga because the intructor I worked with for ages focused very much on 'core' mucles and helped give me a more curvy body over all.  after a year of yoga, I actually have something that could be called 'hourglass'. 

Do try to drink tons more water, and if you can, give up diet soda altogether.  I did, and am very happy with that choice.  Diet soda is nothing but flavored and colored water with bubbles and added chemicals and caffiene from decaffinated coffee beans.