As a trainer “how do I get a thin waist line?” is one of the most commonly asked questions I receive from my female clients. For my answer, I don’t tend to tell them the step by step method for how to develop a thin waist line, but I tell them what NOT to do if they want to develop a thin waist line. Did you know that most of the exercises you’re told to do for your waist could be a large percentage of why you haven’t gotten the results you’re looking for yet? Let me explain.

The anatomy of your waistline consists of 4 muscle groups. These 4 muscles groups make up what is called the “abdominal corset”. The first group being the rectus abdominis, which is also called the “6-pack”. The second group is the external oblique. These muscles help our body to rotate. The third group is the internal oblique. These muscles move in opposite directions to the external oblique. Last, we have the transverse abdominis. This is the muscle group we use to suck in our belly.

I apologize for the boring anatomy lesson, but it will help you better understand why over-working these muscles can be detrimental to a thin waist line. When someone wants to shrink their waist, they tend to do more oblique exercises. They don’t want to do endless repetitions, so they add weight or resistance to the exercises. There is a major problem with this. Just like other muscles, if you add weight to the exercise, you will build more muscle. This isn’t what you’re going for if you want a thin waist line. Muscular obliques will make your waist appear thicker. I suggest limiting your oblique work, but if you want to tone your sides, just do high reps with little to no weight. This is also a common mistake with rectus and transverse abdominis exercises as well. Too much direct work with these muscles, and they will appear blocky. Remember; keep the reps high and the weights low. Unfortunately, the waist line is one of the few areas on the body you can’t keep small by heavy amounts of exercising.

I can’t stress this enough, for best results in developing a thin waist line, limit your direct ab and oblique work. If you must do ab and oblique exercises, keep your reps high and your weight low. FYI, many compound exercises such as squats, step-ups, deadlifts, and lunges work the abs and obliques already, so direct ab and oblique exercises aren’t even necessary. If you want better results in developing a thin waist line, remember to keep your diet clean and add in some cardio sessions. Sometimes when you’re working towards that perfect body, less is more.

-Tom