Flex Australia – June-July 2017

110 FLEX | JUNE – JULY 2017

KEVIIN HORTON

■ The great conundrum of
X-frame enhancement is how to
minimise your middle. You can’t
do anything to reduce your hip
skeletal structure, which is the
primary component of middle
width. There’s not a lot of muscle
on the outside of the hips, but
what’s there is your gluteus
medius. Its primary function
is pulling your legs outwards,
so don’t do any hip abduction
exercises. This is probably just
telling you to avoid something
you’ve never done. The more
pertinent question is, should you
skip free-weight squats and
deadlifts, which can expand the
gluteus medius — a stabiliser
in such exercises. If you’re a
physique or classic physique
competitor, the answer is
probably yes. But most
bodybuilders will find the
growth-enhancing benefits of
squats outweigh the downside
of slightly wider hips, because
you can’t get big wheels without
getting bigger glutes.
The external obliques lie on
the sides of the abdomen. To
avoid greatly expanding these
muscles, don’t do heavy side
bends. On the other hand, don’t
fear oblique work. Your biceps,
unfortunately, don’t rapidly
expand just because you crank
out a dozen sets of curls once
weekly. So why expect your
obliques to balloon outwards
because you do some twisting
crunches? They grow as slow as
any other muscle. Include some
moderate- to high-rep oblique
work in your ab routine to
accentuate these muscles and
create a visual frame for your
middle. You don’t want a blank
canvas at the centre of your X,
so train to grow your abs.
Diet and cardio are the
most important components in
slenderising your waist. Never let
yourself get so smooth that your
abs completely vanish. A “blown-
out” waist will be hard to pull back

in. Wear a lifting belt during

exercises like leg presses, squats

and barbell rows to prevent your

waist from stretching outwards

with your exertion. You also need

to work the ab muscles you don’t

see, the transverse abdominis.

This is a sheath that lies beneath

your rectus abdominis and

obliques that functions to keep

your waist from protruding

outward and pulls your abs

inward. The best way to work it is

to vacuum your abs in as far as

possible and hold for at least 20

seconds. You can do this anytime,

standing, sitting or lying. We’ve

included vacuuming in our

MIDDLE

slenderising ab workout, but do it

outside the gym as well, to help

you keep your waist in, and thus

smaller, at all times.

EXERCISE SETS REPS

Vacuum 4 20–30

seconds

Cable woodchop 4 15–20

Rope crunch 4 12–15

Hanging leg raise 4 12–15

SLENDERISING

AB ROUTINE