Squats causing bigger waist?

My waist seems to have been growing recently, even though my BF has stayed pretty constant. Could this be due to more squating/deadlifts?
Is it possible that these excersizes “push” fat out? If not, anybody got any other possible explanations?

Thanks

Steve,

What type of training have you been doing for your abs? I ask because I started competing in Highland games (lots of throwing events) and had to train my abs and obliques explosively with heavier weight and fewer reps, which made my abs and obliques thicken. If you perhaps have started ab training this way that could be the cause of your growing waist.

Yes, your waist can grow from squatting if the raw materials and adequate stimulus is there. This is especially true if you squat with a weight belt for the majority of your lifting career and then switch over to commando.

Robert: I used to squat with a belt a while ago when I first
started training, but haven’t been for a while. What do you
consider to be the right stimulus (i.e. is this related to
squating technique at all?)

Harley: I generally do very slow, concentrated ab training,
although I also include some back extensions in my “ab
routine”. I also do some weighted crunch machines. But you
hit it on the head - the concern is with the obliques. Anybody
have any ideas on how to reverse this to look leaner?

From what I understand both exercises cause a thickening of the waist, but most specificaly deadlifts. Many bodybuilders avoid the deadlift because of how it thickens the waist. As for the fat being pushed out, exercises would not push it out, when you aquire fat first your muscles absorb or become filled with it, then it expands beyond the muscle. You have most likly aquired more muscle in the waist area. From my own personal experience the thickening of the waist was never very extreme, and the fact that squat and deadlift are such good exercises I don’t think you should stop doing them. My way of working around that would be to thicken the chest, shoulders and back, specificaly the shoulders.

Your increase in waist girth can be due to squats/deadlifts. Why? Performing these lifts in good form require a trunk-torso stability, and such tight form would mean having your abdominals and all such stabilizing muscles contract, albeit indirectly against such weight, but such contraction all the same is stimulus enough to stimulate muscle growth. So your waits gets thicker due to the muscles in that region growing, thus your stable bodyfat percentage BUT increased waist size. To wrap up, it is not possible for these exercises to physically push the fat out for great internal pressure is required for something like that to happen, and such pressure would also cause your body to burst.

Great answers everyone. Thanks alot! So, the question now becomes how do I avoid this more and hopefully reverse it (if thats even possible). I really like the effects that the squating and DL’s have on my legs - are there any alternatives that are effective that won’t have the same waist thickening potential?