Anyone have a husband over 40 with a rock hard stomach?

[Stepharoonie!]

No, my dh has a temptation trophy case for a stomach.... And I love him just the same

 

[Disneyglobegirl]

Maybe he could get in shape while learning how to change a tire.

 

[hrh_disney_queen]

I want him to have a hard rock ab, like on TV. Is it really possible to be middle age and still have flat abs?

My DH has a beautiful 6-pack...I'm not talkin' beer! He is 5'11" and about 175 lbs. He has always been muscular (not body building muscular, just defined) ever since I have know him at 24 years old. He has had a couple of bouts with being a little flabby, but he will not let himself go for very long. He doesn't lift weights much, but he does ride his bike a lot, and just returned from a very strenuous back country back packing trip for a week in Yosemite..Thanks for giving me the opportunity to brag on him a little...oh yeah, he turned 52 this May...he looks good-better than most 30 year olds!! (Now me, I'm a whole nother story.... )

 

[ChrisnSteph]

YOU want him to have rock hard abs??? VERY sad..... I want my husband to be kind, to be gentle, to honor our vows, to be respectful, to help me and show his love for me and for our children - I give him the same in return. How he looks is of no concern to me at all and how I look is of no concern to him at all. We love each other for who we are - not how hard or flabby our bellies may be

Oh good grief. She never said she didn't love her husband or that she didn't admire all the above things about him. Anyway...I know what you're talking about OP. My dh is a fireman, and is in pretty good shape except for his belly. I don't love him any less because of it, but I think it'd be great if he had a fitter physique. I spend time almost every day taking care of myself and making sure that I'm in good shape, not just because it keeps my body looking nice but it's the healthy thing to do. I want my husband to have the same philosophy. He's working on it though - he just signed up to the gym a few weeks ago, he just hasn't gone yet. I worry because his cholesterol is always bordering on high and the more weight you have around your belly, the more at risk you are for heart disease. He is a beer drinker too, so I don't think that's helped. I don't think there's anything wrong with wanting your spouse to look the best they can. So many people let themselves go after they get married, and most of the time it's because we spend so much time raising kids and working at our jobs that it's hard to eat good and find time to exercise. We get too comfortable. I love my dh even more now than I did when we were married, and he was much fitter then. But if he got those rock hard abs again - bow chica bow bow!! That would add a little sumpin' sumpin' to our love life!

 

[Wishing on a star]

I wonder how everyone would respond if THIS were posted.
Below is the original post with one change...

My wife used to be thin when we were younger but now she has a belly. She works at home, taking care of our two young children. She says that no woman over 40 who have had kids will have a flat stomach.

She has made some effort at stomach exercises but that has done nothing to her tummy. She does not drink many soft drinks or beer. She wants to accept the fact that she does have a belly, I want her to look like the women I see on the Victoria's Secrets adds on TV.

It is the last sentence that is the kicker. I want my partner to look like the image that is shown on TV...

The bottom line is that there is no 'ALL' men or women here. Everyone has a different body and different make-up. For some, it may be the reality. And for others, it may not be possible at all, barring drastic measures that may risk overall health, such as surgery, dieting to the point of being undernourished, etc.

As far as the 40+ crowd with rock hard bodies... Just go to a mall on a busy Saturday afternoon and do a little people watching!!!! That will tell you what the real odds are!

 

[CapeCodTenor]

I have a rock hard stomach in my mind...does that count? Seriously, I'm starting to get back into the gym. I'm irritated at myself for getting the belly I have now.

 

[Missy1961]

Any more questions? or do you want to have a conversation?

 

[Dr.Snark]

Anyone have a husband over 40 with a rock hard stomach?

Only when he eats too much. And it only lasts for a few hours till he has to "exercise" again.

As for the 6-pack - Yes - he absolutely has a 6-pack. Usually on Saturday nights and usually only in the fall during NFL season.


Oh and BTW - I have abs like Shakira. And I can wiggle my hips too. (NOT)

I agree with Jenny (but take it one step farther). This thread would be much more amusing if we were talking about our hubbys and asking if legs, thighs, triceps or any other part of the body can still be rock hard after 40.

 

[momomonster]

Hi! We're not yet in our 40's, but both DH and I made some major lifestyle changes last year. His weight was just in his stomach and face, mine was evenly distributed all over, so when we lost 30+ pounds each everyone was a lot more shocked by my transformation. He just lost a little chin and a few belt holes- I went from a size 14 to a 4!!!

Anyway, his tummy isn't perfectly flat and neither is mine. I think we'd have to completely watch what we eat and exercise 6 or 7 days a week, which we could do for short periods of time, but not continuously. To get a six-pack you need lots of cardio (to burn fat) AND lots of resistance or weight-training (to build muscle). One or the other won't do it, unless you're just geneticly gifted in that respect.

I don't like to see you getting bashed for asking the question. Sure, it's a little silly to expect your spouse to look like a model, but *wishing* it were so is very human! My DH has admitted to being a lot more attracted to me as a size 4 than a size 14 and I like the way he feels & looks better now, too. We have more energy and we feel better mentally because we have *control* over our lives more.

BTW, we both work desk jobs. We have to set aside time to exercise and plan healthy meals, but it's worth every second, I promise.

Good luck!

 

[dvcgirl]

My DH has been on a real quest lately to have a six pack....he's almost 38. He works out and is thin, but really wanted to strengthen his abs because he's had back issues from time to time. And so he's really beefed up his strength training routine and added a lot of abs work. After 7 months at it, he officially has a six pack! It takes a whole lot of work to get there. And he's had to lose a lot of weight to even see it! He started this quest at 5'9" and approximately 160 lbs. Certainly not overweight, and he was very fit. Now he's down to 141lbs and about 8% body fat! And yet his upper body and arms are much bigger than before. He's totally reshaped himself. He told me all along that he'd need to get down to about 8-9% body fat to see his six pack, and sure enough he was right. Now he's adding calories and increasing his weights so he'll add about 8-10 lbs of muscle back. He looks great though .

 

[Olaf]

45 and lookin good. They don't let you get tubby when you're in the military. Sickening thing is though, he eats like a pig.

 

[Imzadi]

My XBF who is 49 has a rock hard tummy with a six pack. But he's in excellent shape overall. It is one of his priorities. He's been in this shape since about 16, though.

Your Dh can't just put in some effort to exercise though. He has to put in enough required to firm up his stomach - assuming this is a priority for him, not just for you.

Here's an article I recently read on how much effort it takes to really succeed at doing any task:
Overwhelming Force:

When you want to make a change in your life, especially a big one, you’ll typically meet resistance along the way. An effective strategy for rendering such resistance powerless is the strategy of overwhelming force. This is a military strategy of course, but we can co-opt it for our own personal development as well. Instead of merely dipping your toes into the change you’d like to make, you dive into it headfirst. Instead of undercommitting resources, you overcommit.

Too often when people attempt a big change, they undercommit their personal resources. Instead of a quick victory, they end up with a quagmire, where they have to keep putting in more and more energy just to maintain the status quo.

For example, suppose you want to lose 50 pounds. You make some moderate dietary and exercise changes. For a while they work well, and you lose the first 10 pounds. But then you get stuck at 40 pounds overweight. You keep maintaining the same diet and exercise levels, but because you’ve undercommitted your resources, your total long-term effort is much greater than it needs to be. Exercising while 40 pounds overweight, month after month, perhaps even year after year, is very hard and takes a tremendous effort and discipline to maintain, especially when your results are minimal. Simply going through your daily routine with that much weight on you will make your life much harder than necessary.[...] So even though the strategy of overwhelming force requires a greater up-front investment, in the long run it can save you a great deal of time and energy.

Think of all the personal resources you can use to apply overwhelming force to one of your goals — your intelligence, intuition, skills, talents, time, money, family, relationships, reputation, assets, environment, etc. If you find that you’re stuck in a stalemate vs. the resistance working against you (whether internal or external), then perhaps it’s time to apply to the strategy of overwhelming force and just get the job done. Bring enough of these additional resources online until you reach the point where you not only feel you’ll overcome all resistance — you feel certain you’ll squash it. [...]

Once you figure out what it will really cost to achieve your goal, you can then decide whether you’re willing to pay that price or not. Often we fail to achieve goals quickly because deep down we feel the price is too high, but we don’t want to accept that. So we try to cheat by undercommitting resources, hoping the goal can be achieved with far less effort. In a handful of situations, we get lucky and achieve the goal more cheaply. But in most situations, we waste tremendous time and energy pursuing goals that never get achieved.

Imagine what your life would be like if you could achieve most of your goals on the first try because you applied overwhelming force. Your first diet took you quickly to your goal weight. Your first attempt to quit smoking lead you to become a permanent nonsmoker. Your first attempt to find a fantastic job succeeded. No rework, retesting, repeating, recommitting, revamping, re-anything. Applying the strategy of overwhelming force can even be fun too, such as when you have the goal of getting pregnant.

 

[Independent]

My XBF who is 49 has a rock hard tummy with a six pack. But he's in excellent shape overall. It is one of his priorities. He's been in this shape since about 16, though.

Your Dh can't just put in some effort to exercise though. He has to put in enough required to firm up his stomach - assuming this is a priority for him, not just for you.

Here's an article I recently read on how much effort it takes to really succeed at doing any task:
Overwhelming Force:

When you want to make a change in your life, especially a big one, you’ll typically meet resistance along the way. An effective strategy for rendering such resistance powerless is the strategy of overwhelming force. This is a military strategy of course, but we can co-opt it for our own personal development as well. Instead of merely dipping your toes into the change you’d like to make, you dive into it headfirst. Instead of undercommitting resources, you overcommit.

Too often when people attempt a big change, they undercommit their personal resources. Instead of a quick victory, they end up with a quagmire, where they have to keep putting in more and more energy just to maintain the status quo.

For example, suppose you want to lose 50 pounds. You make some moderate dietary and exercise changes. For a while they work well, and you lose the first 10 pounds. But then you get stuck at 40 pounds overweight. You keep maintaining the same diet and exercise levels, but because you’ve undercommitted your resources, your total long-term effort is much greater than it needs to be. Exercising while 40 pounds overweight, month after month, perhaps even year after year, is very hard and takes a tremendous effort and discipline to maintain, especially when your results are minimal. Simply going through your daily routine with that much weight on you will make your life much harder than necessary.[...] So even though the strategy of overwhelming force requires a greater up-front investment, in the long run it can save you a great deal of time and energy.

Think of all the personal resources you can use to apply overwhelming force to one of your goals — your intelligence, intuition, skills, talents, time, money, family, relationships, reputation, assets, environment, etc. If you find that you’re stuck in a stalemate vs. the resistance working against you (whether internal or external), then perhaps it’s time to apply to the strategy of overwhelming force and just get the job done. Bring enough of these additional resources online until you reach the point where you not only feel you’ll overcome all resistance — you feel certain you’ll squash it. [...]

Once you figure out what it will really cost to achieve your goal, you can then decide whether you’re willing to pay that price or not. Often we fail to achieve goals quickly because deep down we feel the price is too high, but we don’t want to accept that. So we try to cheat by undercommitting resources, hoping the goal can be achieved with far less effort. In a handful of situations, we get lucky and achieve the goal more cheaply. But in most situations, we waste tremendous time and energy pursuing goals that never get achieved.

Imagine what your life would be like if you could achieve most of your goals on the first try because you applied overwhelming force. Your first diet took you quickly to your goal weight. Your first attempt to quit smoking lead you to become a permanent nonsmoker. Your first attempt to find a fantastic job succeeded. No rework, retesting, repeating, recommitting, revamping, re-anything. Applying the strategy of overwhelming force can even be fun too, such as when you have the goal of getting pregnant.

If only our president .....(never mind, won't go there - do not hijack this thread, do not hijack this thread...)

But in the vein of this thread - Does GW, Cheney, Kennedy or anybody in Upper Management have rock hard abs?

 

[my4kids]

YOU want him to have rock hard abs??? VERY sad..... I want my husband to be kind, to be gentle, to honor our vows, to be respectful, to help me and show his love for me and for our children - I give him the same in return. How he looks is of no concern to me at all and how I look is of no concern to him at all. We love each other for who we are - not how hard or flabby our bellies may be

Yeah, yeah yeah, Blah blah blah.....all that is important, but wouldn't a six pack be nice at the end of the day? Like icing on the cake? My DH and I love each other too....I wouldn't NOT love him over a belly (I'm still married to him and in love with him but not the belly.

I'll tell ya, the last year or so , I have almost been having accidents while driving past some fine runners in our neighborhood. I hadn't gazed in another direction other than my hubby since we were dating...but even though I fully love my husband and am devoted to him, those joggers are looking better and better. My hubby says he's going to start again, I'm hoping......

 

[blanq]

My DH, Age 43, doesn't have a 6-pack, but he has a nice firm stomach. We have been married for 22 years, and I think he has gained all of 5 lbs since I met him. He is 170 lbs and 5'11". Me, on the other hand...well, I have a tummy like

 

[Imzadi]

If only our president .....(never mind, won't go there - do not hijack this thread, do not hijack this thread...)

But in the vein of this thread - Does GW, Cheney, Kennedy or anybody in Upper Management have rock hard abs?

No, their rocks are further up, but like you said, do not hijack this thread, do not hijack this thread...

 

[inaminute]

Yeah, yeah yeah, Blah blah blah.....all that is important, but wouldn't a six pack be nice at the end of the day?

No. It actually sounds uncomfortable to me.

I like my hubby just the way he is--sweet and snuggly.