some of your progress pics look incredible in the short time! even if its not all hanging out, they look incredible

I never EVER let it all hang out as long as I am fully conscious. Even after a huge, gut-busting, 4-plate free day buffet, I am STILL sucking it in, seriously.

Sucking in the gut after a meal like that is almost a passive ab exercise by itself if you think about it. Food is trying to push out...your abs are trying to hold it all in and keep your stomach at normal proportions against a huge amount of resistance... :p

Re: progress photos...
I was sucking in the tummy in my "before" pic, too; pity it's physically impossible to suck in thigh, hip, and arm flabbage.

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Been a while since I snapped pictures... but when I do, I stand there in all my slovenly glory. The worse the pictures, the more the motivation.

-R

I never EVER let it all hang out as long as I am fully conscious. Even after a huge, gut-busting, 4-plate free day buffet, I am STILL sucking it in, seriously.


You know, I've been doing this all my life but I often wonder if it artificially raises blood pressure, and if so, what the consequences might be.

You know, I've been doing this all my life but I often wonder if it artificially raises blood pressure, and if so, what the consequences might be.

I consider it more of a good posture thing. Letting the belly flop around in abandon usually goes hand in hand with slouching, and my mama did NOT approve of slouching under any circumstances! ;)

I think it's FAR more deceptive when guys do the opposite and purposely puff their guts out like beach balls for their "before" photos to make themselves look fatter. I swear that I've seen pics of men with SO much air in their bellies that it's a wonder that their innie belly buttons haven't popped out. :claplow:

arm flabbage.




:claplow:

i dont suck it in because you can see the facial expression :p ... plus, whats the point of taking progress pics :o

Well I don't mean sucking it in. Posture is a good word, usually when I'm out I keep my belly a little "tamed" if you know what I mean!

You know, I've been doing this all my life but I often wonder if it artificially raises blood pressure, and if so, what the consequences might be.
Hi there, I've been doing this too all my life... Even when I'm cut, I keep sucking it in (or maybe more of a vacuum). I think it has become a habit for me to "suck it in" and never let it hang out. But just curious, does it have any negative side effect? So far I haven't seen any, in fact the only thing I see is a "good posture".

It's all hanging out in my pictures.

I correct my posture when I take my progress pictures, but I make sure that I'm not sucking anything in. Tuck in the spine without sucking in the fat :p

I let it hang in all of it's glory - otherwise I consider it cheating. I mean, all that fat is there wether I like it or not.... :o

do you guys "let it all hang out" when taking progress pics

No, I always wear boxers. ;)

Jason

I let it hang in all of it's glory - otherwise I consider it cheating. I mean, all that fat is there wether I like it or not.... :o

I disagree ... When I contract my stomach muscles, I feel about an inch of fat before I hit muscle. But if I relax by belly completely it will protude more than an inch. Your abdominal walls are holding in a lot more than fat. There's a lot of stuff inside that pushes on your belly too.

I think I read somewhere that John Stone takes his pictures flexed, and I consider the abs a muscle to flex just like everything else. :D

No, I always wear boxers. ;)

Jason


lol... when I saw the title of the thread I was wondering who would be the first one to say something like that :lol: :lol: :lol:

some of your progress pics look incredible in the short time! even if its not all hanging out, they look incredible


Even when I was bigger I always had my abs semi-contracted AT ALL TIMES, I don't know when or why I started doing it, but if I "let it all hang loose" I get horrible stomach pains.

I have always done this too, for as long as I can remember. Even when I was a really skinny 150lbs in highschool.

some of your progress pics look incredible in the short time! even if its not all hanging out, they look incredible

In mine, some I sucked in, some I let hang out. I think I pointed out which ones were sucked in and which ones were not so people could get a full scope of what I looked like =P

I disagree ... When I contract my stomach muscles, I feel about an inch of fat before I hit muscle. But if I relax by belly completely it will protude more than an inch. Your abdominal walls are holding in a lot more than fat. There's a lot of stuff inside that pushes on your belly too.


Err... I ment on pictures! :p
Otherwise I always have it sucked in! :D

Edit - but it's all fat to me untill I see that sixpack! (Rockingmama - you're my role model! :D )

I try to take mine all in the same state. The most consistent way to do this for me, I've found, is to inhale and exhale right before the photo, so I'm completely relaxed when the photo is snapped. I don't know if this consistutes "letting it all hang out" or what. I don't flex. I'll probably start flexing when I start bulking.

I try to take mine all in the same state. The most consistent way to do this for me, I've found, is to inhale and exhale right before the photo, so I'm completely relaxed when the photo is snapped. I don't know if this consistutes "letting it all hang out" or what. I don't flex. I'll probably start flexing when I start bulking.


Im Relaxed when i take the photos, ill start flexing when i got muscle to show, until then its a waste of photo :P

When I contract my stomach muscles, I feel about an inch of fat before I hit muscle. But if I relax by belly completely it will protude more than an inch. Your abdominal walls are holding in a lot more than fat. There's a lot of stuff inside that pushes on your belly too.
When my waist was 28 or 29 inches, I could suck it in to about 26 or 27 inches. Now, at a little less than 26 inches, I can suck it in to 25 inches. Where'd the difference go?

One thing that I've noticed on alot of before/after pictures, is that people rarely attempt to maintain any kind of consistency for purposes of comparison. For example, this is what we usually see...

The "Before" Picture: Skin is pasty white, posture is slumped, muscles are unflexed, and the person is usually exhibiting some unpleasant scowl....if it is a guy, he is usually in a poor state of grooming...as if he just woke up. Hair is uncombed, body hair galore, about 3 days facial hair growth, usually wearing some baggy shorts or something....looking as if he wants to kill himself.

The "After" Picture: Always very uniformly tan, posture is upright with shoulders thrown back, muscles are flexed, and the person is smiling. Grooming is better...hair is at least combed, body is often shaved, stomach is sucked in, and wearing much tighter skin-fitting clothes....looking much happier.

Now, many of these are understandable, and I know why people do this (because it makes the transformation all the more impressive if one looks like general crap in the before picture and looks wonderful all the way around in the after picture), but it kind of distorts the real progress and makes it difficult to compare. I think as much consistency as possible should be maintained between the two shots.