What to do about "Pooch Bellies" or Indented Protruding Abdomens 

Thanks for watching everyone! If you are intereseted in learning more about this, I have another follow-up video on this concept with more exercises here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-IqoR981yJYQ.html - I also have some instructions in the video description with how many sets/reps to do this for.

Adding to all of this: Don't forget the period belly! Beeing excessively bloated, retaining water in your body, swelling of the area around the uterus... perfectly normal but might be a factor to having a belly where it "shouldn't" be

Is this why I have "morning skinny" when I get up and by evening I look like I drank a gallon of soda? 🤦‍♂

When I do the exercice you showed in the video, head upside down, it feels like all the air trapped inside my belly is going away. Very nice sensation, I feel like I gained in mobility.

4:22 The time stamp is for me to come back to this video and quickly see the exercise:')

This video is life changing for me. I’ve been at 17% percent body fat and could not understand why I still had a belly. I knew I had a mildly deformed rib cage, which impacts my breathing. But had no idea these two things could be connected. Thank you so so much for sharing this. Seriously appreciated!

This video is super validating. I have noticed that "pooch belly" for a while (specifically a bit after getting my gallbladder removed) and because I am generally "skinny" everywhere else people kept telling me to stop worrying about it or just do some sit ups and it'll go away. Since noticing the pooch no matter how much weight I list or gained it was present and has made me very insecure about my body and wearing things that I otherwise would wear. I love in hoodies because it hides it. It's very awesome finally seeing something that shows exactly what I've been dealing with and gives some possible solutions. Thanks so much.

I always thought my pooch belly was due to my genetics (body holding on to body fat in certain areas) & the slight lordosis I’ve been working on correcting. I actually do this a lot now when doing headstands lol- so I’ll keep at it and add in a more passive version. Very interesting video, thank you!

Might not have been your goal, but you have NO IDEA how helpful this video is for singers. This is absolutely critical information for the most fundamental aspect of voice pedagogy (respiration, descension of diaphragm and how this is impacted by alignment.) came for washboard abs, stayed to become a better voice teacher 😂 i wish every singer on earth could see this video! Thank you!

Stress and cortisol build up causes lower belly pooch as well. For me,I know that’s the case. When I’m stress free I have a very small pooch but lately it’s been embarrassingly big. Decreasing overall BF% makes a big impact as well regardless of the cause

Just becareful when it comes to hanging upside down. Seeing how the pressure of your blood increases to the head it can cause some issues to your eyes if you do it a lot. It can cause glaucoma to form especially for those who are prone to it via genetic or any type of retinal disease. I work in an ophthalmologist office and when I found that out I was shocked. So I just wanted to pass that along to you guys. Your more than welcome to do your own research as well. God bless everyone!

I've had this stupid lil' pooch for years, since my teens, and I was a stick then. Figured it was genetics, poor posture, and diet, but this just answered so many questions at once. Thank you immensely for the straightforward scientific explanation as well as the appropriate corrective exercises.

i know maybe it’s too soon but i’ve done this exercise twice and my belly feels like it’s half of what it was after doing the exercise. thank you so much for the video!! i’ll definitely include this in my routine

I've been struggling with this for what feels like my entire life, and I have never had this explained to me. Thank you!!

I was a singer for years… in choir with all my friends and we were taught to breathe with our bellies and expand them with air to hit notes for longer. All of us years later have these kinds of bellies. This makes so much sense.

This makes sense. I have a “pooch” and kept thinking it was a small area of fat but it would go away when I flexed my abs and I couldn’t hold it anymore. Gotta get back into my headstands. Engage my core and strengthen it as well as align my breathing.

I have always had a ‘stomach’ even when I was skinny and had thin arms and slim legs of course it didn’t stick out that much back then but it was noticeable and now more so I’m definitely going to try this exercise.

I am 42. I have been wondering my whole life what my pooch is all about! I was born with asthma and I have odd digestive issues! You shed light on a lifelong mystery my friend! Thanks!

This is insane. After doing the position upside down, I could literally feel how my insides "shifted" when I took the breaths. It fellt like a slight relief. I have a hollow chest, flared ribs and just an awful looking upper body structure. I am thin with a "pooch belly". I will try doing it for the next week or so and see if it changes something! /Edit: After a little over 2 days (so about 4x exercises) I can absolutely see a difference. The muscles below my ribs don't protrude as much, everything seems just more "flat" and even. Before that everything was weirdly rounded (even when I had an empty stomach). Of couse the belly fat didn't magically disappear but it surely doesn't look as bad as before and I feel much more comfortable with myself

I'm 56 & have had a sway back all my life (I am also narrow hipped). This really seems to have helped me. I'm so grateful! Thank you so much!!!

I’m so grateful you decided to do this video. I am very certain this is what’s happening with my body. Thank you!

This video has been a total revelation! Recent athletic endeavours have required me to perform complicated overhead movements (despite mild pooch belly), including presses, handstands, overhead squats etc.. I had hit a wall on performance, and was slowly giving up hope on ever getting better. But this video was exactly what I needed to kick-start my growth. The mere process of visualizing Conor’s explanation, and performing mobility work to address these deficiencies, has allowed me to unlock another level of performance. This guy is a stud. Would love to train/learn from him in person, wish he was closer to my neighborhood ☹

Bodybuilders post videos of themselves doing breathing exercises with a coach, this video reinforced and thoroughly explained what I’ve been seeing!

You have no idea how much I have learnt in your video. For the last 2 years I've been active and doing workouts for mmy pcos, and calorie dificit diets and even reducing gluten and going dairy-free. I was still not seeing any improvement in my central body because I have always had a pooch belly since I wasa teen. And it never went away, I lost weight all around my body except for my belly. Doing a lot of ab works I have a more upper ab than my lower belly which never went away no matter whatever I did. Thank you so so so much for educating all of us on how to reduce (withouth rigorous workouts because they didn't seem to work on me), I'll begin soon and I'm so excited! It feels like such a discovery!

This is by far the best explanation I’ve had regarding this issue. Thank you so much 😊.

ladies please remember we are supposed to have some fat on our tummies to protect our organs and reproductive system,

when you showed the photos of the lowered diaphragm I gasped... that's exactly what I've been dealing with as well as the pelvic tilt. My stomach protrudes right under my ribs even though I have an athletic body type and I feel like I'm constantly full of air. This was so enlightening, thank you!!

This helped me so much. I am 15 yrs old, 5’7” and already pretty skinny, but I’ve always had more belly at the bottom than I wanted. I even have an ab line but could not seem to remedy the other problem. I did this for about three days and I could already tell a huge difference. I will say I am a runner who exercises 5-6 times a week consistently, but either way I changed nothing in these few days and the difference was still noticeable!!

After just one day of excercising like you showed, improving my posture and breathing, i see a difference. Thank you so much!

Hey very informative video man. I noticed a change in my “gut” area and I didn’t know exactly why. I workout and do cardio daily. Now I know and been working on the breathing and have seen some relief. You got a new subscriber! 💪🏽

This is shocking for me. I'd had a pooch belly for all of my life and no one could explain me WHY, even though I don't have much fat.. At the same time, I noticed it looks different when I move pelvis back, so I had a thought that this might be conneted.

Omg you are an actual genius ! This works so well, i would onestly never know that it was just air and not fat. Thanks so much !

Thank you I’m 29 and I’ve always had issues breathing that’s contributed to my depression and anxiety. When I figured out the link to depression and breathing I started working on breathing better and saw how much my perspective and approach to situations changed my life. I still suffer with bad breathing, it often times feels like I have a lot of weight in the upper part of my abdomen but the stomach feels so open yet when I try to fill up the diaphragm it feels like a struggle. I’m going to commit to doing these exercises twice a day for 2 weeks and update this comment with my progress. *Update* Day 1- I can finally say I know what it feels like to breathe normally. And it lasted for about a minute after the exercise. That’s enough for me to stay consistent with this. I finally know what I’ve been missing all these years. I felt super capable and productive during that minute as If I could do anything. No annoying lethargic feeling that makes me want to lay down most of the time or anything. Wow. Fix your breathing fix your life. I hope I can fix this permanently. 2 week update- I’ve done this almost every day and I can definitely say my breathing has improved. It doesn’t feel like trying to breathe through a straw anymore. I would have wrote more updates but I couldn’t find this video to post them lol. I’m gonna continue doing this, after about a week or so I switched to doing it once a day and still got good results but I’m going to switch back to twice a day and see what happens.

Fascinating anatomy lesson! As a tightlacer this was even more information than we use to determine proper fit for each unique corseter. I do believe the thoracic region may be narrower in most AFAB bodies although torso build is quite individual and many women have very deep or barrel-y ribcages with wideset infrasternal angles that flare outward in a large curve. I also thank you for not treating anterior tilted pelvis like a posture deformity, a small percentage of us just have wide short squat hipbones that jut out at odd angles which doesn't follow the common ideal of what posture 'should' look like.

Happy this came up on my suggested videos. Even when I was just 17% body fat I always had this same style belly. I could never figure out why there was an indent and it doesn’t seem like it can be fat because it changes how it looks (how far it extends) daily, which fat alone wouldn’t do.

This has been life changing! Truly.

I clicked not being familiar with your channel and thinking this would be click bait nonsense, but it was helpful and informative. Thank you, sir.

I had a breast reduction recently, and all my life up until recent I've had to do deep belly breathing cuz the pressure on my rib cage hurt so much. Thankfully I was able to get that surgery that I medically really needed. I am skinny everywhere except my pooch, and it's all connecting now. I'm still young so I'm sure I'll be able to correct this and breathe properly! Thank you so much!

I have been researching why my belly are was like this inspite of the rest of my body being skinny. My abdomen changed after the baby. But now I’m noticing my upper belly area protruding inspite of the slim figure. I’m quite petite and this video clearly explained the reason. Thank you!!

I don't think i have this issue, it just feels so good to watch! u give good vibes to me

We always called the "one-pack" a keg. Thanks for this valuable information! I've had asthma forever (long story) and along with it, a pooch. I'll try these moves later.

After three days of doing Physique 57 core exercises (Dancer Abs, Ball-anced Core, 30 minute core), my lower ab is in slight pain (muscles that haven't been worked for a time), but the belly that was once protruding is flatter. It also improved my digestion (being post-menopausal and with hormonal imbalances, I tended to be constipated. I didn't have that problem during perimenopause. The minute I hit menopause and post-menopause, that's when I had problems with the pooch belly. Physique 57 helped flatten my belly. Also, when I do Physique 57, I don't get the urge to binge eat like I do when I do exercises other than Physique 57. I'm 61, by the way.)

Amazing video! Everything makes sense. This explains why I forget to really breathe when I workout

Thank you for making this information known to me backed with scientific data. Highly appreciated !

This actually gives me hope, thank you

I have had this for awhile now and it caused a line going across my belly. One day the doctor asked what it was and I told him I didn’t know. It’s crazy after 20 years I find this video.

I've always thought that I was "fat". But, after seeing this video I've become more educated. And I'm trying to do this exercises as much as I can. Thank you, so much 😊

Man. This is some underestimated information you dropped here bruh. Goodlookin out.

This explains so much! I can't wait to try the workout suggestions to see what changes occur!

I’m 15 and trying to work on my belly for a while now, I’m skinny my whole life but to think this amount of fat accumulated on my belly is concerning and giving me sm anxiety about how I look. Thank you v much!!!

I’ve had this happening to me recently especially since I’ve had car accidents where my ribs and neck are injured, and I believe my mattress is pushing my ribs even further out. Some days it feels like I can barely exhale or breathe in. I also have vertigo so I can’t go upside down like that but I will try the other one. Thank you for explaining this so perfectly and it totally makes sense with what I have been feeling! Because no matter how many planks or crunches I do, Even if I’ve cut out all gluten, mostly all sugars etc.I have this weird stomach thing going on.

Makes perfect sense to me now thank you. I'm a size 8, but still have a pooch belly. When I was pregnant the medical team informed me that I had a tilted pelvis, which contributed to a difficult birth in both children. I'll be sure to follow the exercises in this video.

this is so unbelievably helpful, thank you so much!!

I have a slight "pooch belly" and I've always wondered why. I'm kind of curvy, but I've always just considered it stubborn fat. It doesn't really limit ny range of motion or affeft me in any way, but I will try these exercises! I never realized that people didn't always breathe through their stomach. Very interesting.

Wow, this was so enlightening! I never had this issue until I had my baby - post baby the actual shape of my belly changed tremendously. And I started wondering if it was pregnancy fat that never went away. My general posture has shifted dramatically, my baby is now a toddler and I've been carrying him in my arms for 3 years. To compensate I usually tilt my pelvis forward so that I can "sit" my kid on my hips while standing up. This video has not explained it all!

Very glad to have come across this video! Love to keep learning how the body works and what we can try to do for our own health. When I saw the Quadruped position it reminds me of one of my favorite positions that I do for pilates! I will try to incorporate that with my excercises :) Thank you for this video.

Thanks for making this! Wow I studied fitness for a year and had no idea about this

I have been exercising so much for my belly, and I’ve been trying everything but nothing has worked, until this! I know it might be a little soon but this already seems to be doing something. That you.

A pooch belly in women (often after childbirth) is also often caused by separated abs (diastasis). The connective tissue running down the middle of a “six pack” gets stretched and weakened. Because of this, the ab muscles that normally withstand the pressure of what you eat and drink throughout the day simply can’t and the “pooch” becomes more pronounced throughout the day. Doing crunches or any exercise requiring a prolonged horizontal downward position of the abdomen makes it worse and gives you more of a “pooch”. There are self tests to check for the separation. And exercises recommended to strengthen the transverse abdominal muscles beneath the six pack and improve the separation. If you have this separation, the upside down “stacked” method of breathing would be better than the down on all fours position.

Wow I didn’t even realize just being in these positions would help so much with my breathing 😭 tysm!

This video was so informative! I used to be skinny (and I still am) when I noticed that I have suddenly gained a “pooch” belly. No matter how much I lost weight, it was just still there. I noticed it after a couple months of having T12 spinal cord injury because I had started to walk pretty much like a penguin due to lack of strength of my core muscles. I guess that created a new posture for my body and affected my daiphragm in a way that it made it look like I had a “pooch” as you explained in the video. It just makes so much sense now. Thank you so much! I’ll definitely try this 👍🏻.

These exercises felt really good

This makes so much sense, as I have an anterior pelivic tilt with posterior sacral tilt! I will do the the upside down chest breathing. Thank you!!

Thank you so much for sharing this with us ! Hope I find this video sooner

This is absolutely amazing insight! Thank you for sharing!!!

Wow…that actually worked! Thx, and I do weight lifting and kickboxing 4 days a week. This helped more with that little pooch ❤️

Wow 🤯. I eat very healthy and exercise regularly, but I don't seem to lose the belly fat. I've been also gassy 😒. I've been trying to figure out if it's something in my diet. I'll implement these in my exercise routine. Thank you, thank you, thank you for this golden information. 🤗

This video is something I needed! Thank you!

You are so precious! Thank you for this great information!

I'm glad this was recommended to me. I've always been self conscious about my stomach because no matter what I did, my pooch belly wouldn't go away. I'm gonna give this a shot.

OH MY GOD PH MY GOD THAT WORKED WHAT im about to finally purchase myself a pair of low jeans. they're so adorable but i've always felt so insecure about my stomach. it's still there but i notice a difference

This is the first video I’ve seen from this channel. I had no idea about any of this! Not sure where to start.

You got a new subscriber! Thanks for this info❤️

Your videos on protruding belly & apt are really helpful..I'm suffering my whole life..I have subscribed

I hav lived with a pooch belly all my life! Followed all sorts of diets n hv trained most of my life n yet I cldnt understand why my tummy didn't look good in a bodycon dress. Thanku so much for this. God bless u. Will try these first thing tmoro morning n let u knw hw it turned out. I really am hoping this will change things for me.🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

I started breathing in an inverted position for asthma after I learned one of the issues with asthma is heavier gasses settling to the bottom of the lungs. It really helped reduce my asthma symptoms. Now I have another reason to do it!

You are so incredibly intelligent!

Also, to all the momma's who've carried babies, love your belly as the sacred space where your child grew. It will rarely go back to whatever it was before, and should we even want that? In all honesty, it's something I have struggled with and still do from time to time, but HELLO! ...I grew a human being in there...twice! And I'm grateful for it. ❤️ also, how you feel in your body is important! I hope you have (many) days where you feel proud of your body. Much love to you! ❤️

I have been trying to look for this explanation since forever but I didnt know what to search for and the term for this. What a coincidence

As someone who had fibroids in the past & adenomyosis I appreciate this . Before my myomectomy I looked pregnant . Also working in hospitality my pelvis was pushed forward carrying heavy plates etc. I didn't even know until I went to a chiro.

Thanks so much for this video, I have been exercising more and eating healthier, so I didn't know what was wrong. Some days my stomach is flat, then gas starts building in it, which causes pain/bloating and fatigue due to bloating.

Omg it all makes sense now. I was a singer growing up and went to vocal lessons with an opera singer, I was trained to breathe from the bottom of my stomach to let in as much air as possible to hold long notes. I’ve been breathing that way ever since, I can’t believe my stubborn belly is from that. I’m gonna try this and see if there’s any changes!

I am glad i found u! will try the second exercise

This is amazing! Thank you for sharing this info. I really appreciate it. ~N

I have always had a six pack until I got pregnant with twins at age 35. After the C-section I’ve always had a lower pouch. I exercise and I eat healthy. It just will not go away. I’m 46!!

For postpartum moms, nothing helped me as much as the Every Mother program. It healed my separated abs (I didn't even think they were that separated until I learned how to properly check) and I'm getting much stronger.

I don't know if you'll see this but you made me cry with happiness, since I was little I've had a very big problem with things about my "air" and "breathing": 1. I don't expel gas, so I tend to bloat with pain from time to time since I was little because my body stores air. 2. I am very thin (1.70, 52kg) but every day during the day a tummy like the one in the image in the video appeared on me until it disappeared at dawn and reappeared the next day an hour after waking up. 3. I always wanted to sing, but I could never sing well because of my breathing, I always felt that it was impossible to breathe properly, the volume of my singing voice is very low and I had many problems, in the end I gave up and did not want to hear from new about singing. I think this video totally fits what has happened to me and if I can fix it I will be very very happy.

Thank you for sharing this. It’s so helpful.

where he actually tells you how to get rid of it 1st exercise 4:44 2nd exercise 5:35

BLINK PLEASE

Thank you for the explanation, I have always had a pouch belly, even when I am slim and very shredded. I accidentally understood what you are explaining while doing belly dance. I am very thankful for your exercises and advise. Be bless and I send you all my blessings!!!

i have had issues with breathing since the day i was born and have always had a belly and apooch that only got worse after 2 c sections. this is amazing simple information that i feel as soon as i align.

Thank you so much ! I've been exercising regularly my entire life but I never understood why I had such a weird crease above the belly button and why it would not go away. Having a name for it and the reasons helps a lot ! Ill try to do the exercises and see if it works :)

I think this might be my issue, even when I was at my smallest (100-120lbs) and well toned, I still had issues with this, I have an anterior tilt, a retro uterus, severe chronic asthma, mouth breather at night, chronic snorer AND overweight haha. I do proper diaphragmatic breathing during the day, thanks to my past in yoga and now as an RMT. Another thing to note is athletes and especially dancers/skaters -- trained to to shallow breath 🫁 --deep inhales but drawing the belly button inward (causing over exertion of ribcage - essentially backwards of proper breathing in order to keep tummy flat. (Ex dancer) This was a fantastic video and a solid reminder, so fascinating the human body and how most of us don't function optimally within it.

can't say enough good things about the information in this video!

Thanks! I'll try these out, I know mine is mostly fat rn but I've been working out lately and my belly literally gets in the way of vigorous movements. So hopefully this + exercise will help me out a little overtime

Holy shit I've this along with anterior pelvic tilt and I'm a male. From what I recollect, I did not always have this. I wish i could correct this. Thanks for the knowledge

This man doesn't blink enough, his stare is burning my soul. but still, great video :)

oh man thank you, ive always felt like my belly is nonsensically big to my body fat but this makes perfect sense, thank you so much wow!

I am a slim and fit female with a pooch belly and I hate it! I’m only 105-110 pounds at 5’1 and have been trying to figure out why my tummy isn’t flat when I exercise regularly. Just tried the upside down pose and as soon as I was upside down I was able to release so much trapped gas I didn’t know was even in there! That was crazy. I’ll be doing this again for sure. Hopefully it gets rid of the awful pooch. Thank you!