Is it possible that too much abdominal exercise can enlarge and toughen an existing tummy?

I’m 31, and I’ve always been slightly overweight, but I started working out on a regular basis for the past five years – doing cardio 3 or 4 times a week with weight training and tons of abdominal exercises. I even cut out alcohol for the past year, but seem to have difficulty reducing my gut / tummy. Is it possible that too many sit ups and ab exercises will toughen my gut muscles and prevent me from actually reducing it? Thanks in advance.

I would say this is possible if you are not doing cardio exercises. What happens is that you don’t “lose” the fat on your stomach, but turn it into an ab that is puffed out instead. However, you said that you’ve been doing cardio. Maybe you are doing too many ab exercises. My personal trainer told me that if you are doing weight training, you are working your ab muscles without knowing it. Therefore, you only have to work abs once a week.

Remember that your abs are a muscle group like any other. You need to work them hard but give them a day rest inbetween workouts in order from them to repair and grow.

What is your diet like? You can do all the exercises in the world,but you’ll never get a defined stomach if you arent’ eating healthy. Make sure you are eating healthy portions from all food groups and try to eliminate sugars and salts (which cause you to retain water and give you that bloated, firm tummy feeling).

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