# How do you flatten a beer belly?



## Jedd (Mar 17, 2011)

Hi

The guy in the picture has a classic beer belly. After drinking many pints of beer per night on a regular basis, his abdomen has gradually stretched to accommodate the load of the beer.

He has an excess body fat problem, but the more difficult problem is the stretched abs.

If you were this guy's personal trainer and he asked how to achieve a flat stomach, besides a change in diet and less beer, what exercises would you recommend??

Is it actually possible to repair stretched abs?


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## Dirk McQuickly (Dec 29, 2010)

First thing I'd do is tell him to admit it's you


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## xpower (Jul 28, 2009)

Stop drinking lose weight & exercise


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## Jalapa (Mar 18, 2010)

No beer, small meal sizes but eat more often. Planks and compound lifts. Also do something to lower cortisol i.e. lower stress and get more sleep.

But it's gonna take time.


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## bigt2009 (Oct 24, 2009)

dunno about repairing streched abs but you can certainly improve that fat bastards gut with some weight cruches and floor sweepers


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## Jedd (Mar 17, 2011)

chilli said:


> First thing I'd do is tell him to admit it's you


That made me chuckle ;-) You're not far off the mark, matey, but I'd never wear undies like that.


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## Was_Eric (Jul 3, 2008)

at xmas i was 16 stone, 3 months later i was 13, i am not knocking on to 12 and arf

i had what looked like a big beer belly, now my stomach is flat

i stopped eating lots and started lots of cadio

i never stopped drinking beer, i only drink once a week or twice on rare occasions


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## rocky666 (Jul 9, 2009)

get your missus to sit on your belly. All that weight should flatten your stomach straight away?


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## Jedd (Mar 17, 2011)

> i had what looked like a big beer belly, now my stomach is flat


Thats impressive, but I don't think cardio is enough for the guy in the photo. Its not just excess body fat.


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## austin84 (Nov 18, 2010)

Jedd said:


> Thats impressive, but I don't think cardio is enough for the guy in the photo. Its not just excess body fat.


True but for " the guy in the photo" it's a fuking good start!!


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## Jedd (Mar 17, 2011)

Does anyone think that oblique exercises would be more effective than ab exercises?


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## switch (Jan 5, 2011)

Tell him to stop standing like a pregnat woman, stand up straight, stick his chest out and take £45 off him for a session


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## Bantersaurus (Jan 3, 2011)

Stomach vacuums (youtube/google it) to strengthen the abdominal wall which 'holds in' all your organs and what not.

I think anyway, but correct me if I'm wrong!


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## MRSTRONG (Apr 18, 2009)

buy a mirdle its a girdle for men


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## JB74 (Jan 6, 2008)

Cardio and good diet


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## Pancake (Oct 24, 2010)

He may well have a lot of visceral fat (fat around the organs, under the abs) which is pushing out his stomach - diet eats up that fat, so the abs come back in.


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## Jedd (Mar 17, 2011)

Bantersaurus said:


> Stomach vacuums (youtube/google it) to strengthen the abdominal wall which 'holds in' all your organs and what not.
> 
> I think anyway, but correct me if I'm wrong!


Thanks for the tip! - I'd never heard of this before, but from doing a bit of reading about it, it sounds like a plausible way to fix the problem. I'll definitely give it a go.

Fot those that are interested, here is a link to an explantion of the various stomach vacuum exercises;

http://www.best-abs-exercises.com/stomach-vacuum.html

Has anyone tried them before?

Will report back with progress...


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## N666T (Sep 4, 2010)

i had a small belly a few months ago , started my training back up for mma , i bought one of those neoprene wrap things that go round your stomach , how i use it is put a tshirt on then a bin bag then the neoprene wrap then another tshirt then a sweat top , and go and do 45 to an hour run and hill sprints , soon comes off


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## Guest (Apr 21, 2011)

Jedd said:


> Is it actually possible to repair stretched abs?


Yep, otherwise every pregnant women ever would have permanently stetched out abbs.

Eat less, do more

Re how you get a beer belly, was always under the impression its just Visceral Abdominal Tissue. Sod all to do with the actual amount of fluid drunk.


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## Jedd (Mar 17, 2011)

> Yep, otherwise every pregnant women ever would have permanently stetched out abbs.


Good point. It seems its all to do with the transverse abdominals which are often overlooked by the usual ab exercises.


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## Dirk McQuickly (Dec 29, 2010)

always do vacuums and planks for my core. I looked at your link. I don't do vacuums that way. I lie on my back and flatten the arch of my lower back to the floor. Contract my stomach muscles, as if I'm trying to press my belly button against the floor. Hold for 10 seconds and breathe evenly while I'm holding it.


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## MyVision (Apr 15, 2009)

Drinking less beer would be a good start!


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## Maturemuscle (Oct 30, 2010)

The guy on that pic is holding his back, either because the belly is causing him to have backache when counter balancing it....or because he has a bad back and can't hold his stomach in like most people or can't exercise it off. In his case it may be nothing at all to do with drinking beer.

I am not sure about drinking beer distending the stomach (unless you are allergic to grains or are gluten intolerant)....I always thought alcohol stopped the body getting rid of body fat.....and that the extra calories taken in from it added to the amount of visceral fat around the organs. The stomach is at the top near to the ribs in the body, and presumably not a huge mass the size of his gut!


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## Maturemuscle (Oct 30, 2010)

Many of the old school bodybuilders in the 1980's used to use the stomach vacuum as part of their posing onstage in bodybuilding shows.


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## dtlv (Jul 24, 2009)

A beer belly is rarely the result of drinking beer... preferential fat storage around the stomach and internal organs (sometimes called 'android' fat, visceral fat, or central fat) is not quite the same as subcutaneous fat as that kind of uneven fat distribution is the result of hormone imbalance and excess cortisol.

The abdominal muscles can easily be put back into shape with the right exercises, and the ab muscles themselves revealed by dropping enough bodyfat, but to reduce the visceral fat quickly you need to pay special attention to lowerisng cortisol at the same time as cutting calories and losing weight. This involves getting enough sleep, relaxing/meditating as much as possible, avoiding large amounts of fast carbohydrates and saturated fat, and cutting back on or eliminating smoking and excessive amounts of alcohol.

Visceral fat is far more closely linked to heart disease and diabetes than just carrying a lot of subcutaneous fat, and IMO getting rid of it (or better yet not letting it develop in the first place) should be seen as a priority well above simply improving the way you look.


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## rocky666 (Jul 9, 2009)

go on a bike ride and dont stop till you get to new zealand?


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## FatScrub (Nov 16, 2010)

Stop drinking beer. Made a lot of difference for me personally.


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## Hera (May 6, 2011)

Dtlv74 said:


> A beer belly is rarely the result of drinking beer... preferential fat storage around the stomach and internal organs (sometimes called 'android' fat, visceral fat, or central fat) is not quite the same as subcutaneous fat as that kind of uneven fat distribution is the result of hormone imbalance and excess cortisol.
> 
> The abdominal muscles can easily be put back into shape with the right exercises, and the ab muscles themselves revealed by dropping enough bodyfat, but to reduce the visceral fat quickly you need to pay special attention to lowerisng cortisol at the same time as cutting calories and losing weight. This involves getting enough sleep, relaxing/meditating as much as possible, avoiding large amounts of fast carbohydrates and saturated fat, and cutting back on or eliminating smoking and excessive amounts of alcohol.
> 
> Visceral fat is far more closely linked to heart disease and diabetes than just carrying a lot of subcutaneous fat, and IMO getting rid of it (or better yet not letting it develop in the first place) should be seen as a priority well above simply improving the way you look.


Sorry to resurrect this...I presume then that if someone is less stressed they are less likely to store fat around the abdomen and if they have fat around the abdomen and then become less stressed their gut will gradually decrease?


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## Hayesy (Aug 15, 2011)

Obv cut all beer out and drink water get a good diet and STICK with it, cardio cardio and MORE cardio!!

Core work also can help improve this!!!


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## Hayesy (Aug 15, 2011)

I really should start looking at the date of these threads lololol


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## UKBenC (May 23, 2011)

Bollocks to abs drink more beer and have one BIG ass ab!!!


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## essexboy (Sep 7, 2008)

Pancake said:


> He may well have a lot of visceral fat (fat around the organs, under the abs) which is pushing out his stomach - diet eats up that fat, so the abs come back in.


This.


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