I kinda disagree on this and here's why. If you don't train abs hard enough this can indeed cause them to distend. A weak abdominal core is one of the reasons for bad distention (amongst others). We hit our backs hard and the spinal erectors get developed with a lot of the big lifts (squats, deads etc) and this can cause a gross imbalance. With a strong back and weak abdomen which one do you think is going to give out? For a lot of guys the abs don't hypertrophy a lot to begin with, even with heavy ab work so working them isn't going to cause them to get thick to the point of sticking out grossly. A lot of guys neglect ab work because they get hit with rack pulls, dead lifts, squats, heavy pressing etc but it's not enough work to keep a balanced core.
Just my thoughts.
Both arguments make some sense. I'm not the OP, but I plan to add back in some ab work, but just using body weight, to keep them strengthend adequatley.
To Emmortals point, when I started squatting years ago, I was in Atlanta at a gym owned by Lex Luger and Sting. Lex, seeing my poor form, taught me to squat properly, and I specifically remember him telling me that my ab to back strength ratio was out of whack and that I needed to work abs more often so I wouldn't screw up my lower back.
Now that I mention that gym, do you guys remember "Sable" from the Pro Wrestling world? She used to work out there too and man was she hot in person. Very nice too. I loved Atlanta.
