advice, muscle shaping?

[litlbit]

I would seriously look at building your arms, shoulders and traps.

Is that second picture you or your "ideal"? If it is not you, you may not have the genetics to have an "hourglass" figure. I know I don't and no matter how "skinny" I get, it will never happen.

Do you have a gym you belong to? I would get with a professional trainer and let them know your current workout and what your goals are and then go from there.

Chemgoddess is right, you need to build some traps but also the taper comes from building your lats! That's how I balance my body out (it gives you that tiny waist appearance)...otherwise I have that no curve look lol, I took some tips from Ava Cowan an IFBB Figure pro.

[Meleania]

maybe your waist didnt shrink, but your underbust/hips shrank making your waist appear to be less hourglassy. Kinda like how when some girls lose weight and their boobs dont shrink at all they think their boobs have gotten bigger, but they havnt they just look bigger cuz the rest of them shrank. Maybe you need to increase your body fat % since your having this problem because you lost fat, if those pics are you.
I think the pics of fawnia of valerie are too masculine looking for my own personal taste, they do look amazing but its just not my preference, I wouldnt want my body to look like that (no offense). Partially because thats not my boyfriends taste either, I have to consider him as well. Its kinda a funny story, I show him tons of videos of the really impressive champion pole dancers, then one day I showed him a video of a girl who wasnt all toned like most pole dancers, and actually had some hips and had some softness to her (not in a shes fat kinda way) and he said thats the most attractive girl youve shown me so far, i was like WHAT? you cant even see her face! he meant her body lol I think it was this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1qz7DppaTE" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[descalzada]

i would rather give this up than have to live each day hating how i look, I do want to progress further, and if someone can give me a way to redefine my waist i'm willing to give it time.

Nothing will ruin your waistline quicker than a baby, and do you plan to forego mother-hood to keep your figure?

Some of it comes down to genetics. I have broad shoulders (size 10//12 jackets) and narrow hips (size 2 jeans). I've never had an hour-glass figure, and never will. Should I hate the way I look?

Rather than focus on this one detail of your body, focus instead on your well-toned muscles, and love the other 95% of your body for what it is able to do. You can visually change the proportion by building shoulders as described. Or you can can cut back on the moves you think are "ruining" your waist-line, eg, more spinning & dancing than lifting moves.

Learn to accept your genetics and make the most of what you have!

[georgiamarie]

You can enhance the curve of your waist line, several ways:

1. Strengthen your obliques so they pull in more (eg. side leg lifts, side plank, oblique twists etc.), and stretch them also they are tight and lean, not stiff or bulky.
2. Put on some fat so your boobs and hips get some 'padding' on them.
3. Build your traps so they will help create the 'tapering' effect as previous posters have said.

I have always been a boxy shape, with very little waist, and I have hated it too. For me, though, pole has helped because of points 1 and 3 mentioned above. I am now finally getting some semblence of a curve, because of muscle tone. However, my boobs have dropped a cup size which has been very disappointing! Haha!

[isisandshiva]

btw Veena: no i think if i had managed to develop abs like that i would have been just plain horified and ran before even checking here, because that's just to scarry.

georgiamarie, do the side excercises help, i've actualy laid off of them as of late because they seemed to be making things worse?

Nothing will ruin your waistline quicker than a baby, and do you plan to forego mother-hood to keep your figure?

Some of it comes down to genetics. I have broad shoulders (size 10//12 jackets) and narrow hips (size 2 jeans). I've never had an hour-glass figure, and never will. Should I hate the way I look?

Rather than focus on this one detail of your body, focus instead on your well-toned muscles, and love the other 95% of your body for what it is able to do. You can visually change the proportion by building shoulders as described. Or you can can cut back on the moves you think are "ruining" your waist-line, eg, more spinning & dancing than lifting moves.

Learn to accept your genetics and make the most of what you have!

I don't want kids anyway so that's not a problem to me.

but no of course my opinions how i think i look and how i don't like how i don't look anymore shouldn't affect how you think you look, heck i don't even judge how other people look based on how i like to look. if someone looks good they look good, and honestly i've come accross very few females i don't find attractive in one way or another. however i have a natural inclination to be hourglass shaped that is my genetics, this is the first time in my life that i don't have that shape, 20 lbs lighter hourglass, 80 lbs heavier hourglass, pole dancing aparently not hourglass. that is the only thing that i've ever had to be proud of and i had to fight for that, the first day i woke up with hips my dad told me i was fat, the first 15 min of that day i was so proud, i felt good and that was the last day i ever felt pretty, so I've had a real love hate relationship with my curves but my waist has been the only thing i've ever felt good about.

i know ya'll are trying to help and i apreciate every bit of it, but accept it, get over it, love yourself, if these things worked i wouldn't need the advice in the first place, my fiance is always insisting i'm fine the way i am, but i don't think so, and i would like to think my oppinion matters for something right? but I apoligise for all the drama I'm making this, and if i could just ignore this one thing i would, but that "name one thing" thread this is the one thing i had, i may not like the layer of pudge over it, i may not like how wrinkly it gets when i'm upside down, i may not like a lot of things about it, but i love how it makes me feel girly even when i'm wearing my boyfriends clothes, how it makes me feel protected when he wraps his arms around it, how it would obediantly corset down faster than normal, in a good fitting corset 8" with no complaint. I'm not sure if i'm just that strange/weak because i can't let this go and it seems like ya'll are a lot stronger than me emotionaly to just be able to accept losing things that make you proud. if i'm getting the wrong impression i'm sorry.

[georgiamarie]

georgiamarie, do the side excercises help, i've actualy laid off of them as of late because they seemed to be making things worse?

[...]

I'm not sure if i'm just that strange/weak because i can't let this go and it seems like ya'll are a lot stronger than me emotionaly to just be able to accept losing things that make you proud. if i'm getting the wrong impression i'm sorry.

Yes, they have been helping me, but you need to be doing them 'right' - eg you don't want to build up bulk, instead you want them to be strong, and flexible, so that they pull in. I wrote a little strength training FAQ on my new pole blog recently - and it might help you decide how many sets/reps to do of what weight (or exercise) to avoid being bulky: http://heartofpole.net/health-fitness-b ... g-faq.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Also, you are not weak.

I cried my eyes out when I cut my hair, and was miserable about it for weeks. I still complain about having lost a cup size on my boobs, and that happened a year ago. But at the end end of the day, for ME personally I have seen more pros than cons, with the way my body has changed due to pole. Eg my legs are slim and toned, my stomach is flatter, my posture is better and I have SOOOO MUCH FRICKEN FUN when I pole dance, so I can live with smaller boobs, and some 'manly' looking muscles now and then.

This exercise will help pull your waist in, provided you are engaging your abs (eg. pull your belly button gently towards your spine) whilst doing it AND that you stretch properly afterwards.
Edited to add: Make sure you twist as FAR around to the side as you can go. Also, it's okay to have your feet on the floor, and to bend your elbows as you move through the circle.... the key is to make you obliques do the work.

Oblique stretches: http://www.google.com.au/images?q=obliq ... 07&bih=828" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Good luck gorgeous!

[isisandshiva]

thankyou georgiamarie ok now this is going to sound like a stupid question but how do you pull your belly button in, for some reason when ever i do something that should do it, it doesn't seem like it's getting pulled in at the right spot?

[georgiamarie]

Hmmm - hard to describe.

You need to squeeze or pull your tummy muscles, so that your gut gets a little flatter. Imagine there is a string going from your belly button, or just above it, to the back of your spine... and now imagine pulling on that string from behind you. It sort of makes you tuck your pelvis forward, so your back is less arched.

I don't think I am doing a very good job of describing this haha!

Basically, it's just a gentle sucking in of your tummy. Doing this 'activates' the inner core and abs muscles, so that when you do your oblique twists, you will be using the correct muscles.

If you are tensing or pushing your muscles to the point that it's hard to breathe, that's not what we're aiming for. You can probably tell that you're doing it right if your abs or stomach gets tired or feels a burn - and you can probably tell you're doing it wrong if your back is arching inwards a lot, when you start to get tired.

Hope that helps

[StudioVeena]

Here.... http://ver3.studioveena.com/lessons/view/1199 A vid I did that may help you understand how to hold the abs during exercise. Yes I have had 4 kids and yes I have extra skin...but it was worth it, I wear my mommy marks proud!

[isisandshiva]

ok so a little above is ok, because thats where i feel it and it always confused me because my belly button won't go in right. and thank you veena for that vid, i have watched it before because after i lost a lot of weight i have a extra skin there too, so a lot of the tips were really helpful for that, not only mommy marks.