Does anyone know of specific exercises that I could do to make my waist narrower from side to side? In competition shape, my waist is narrow front to back but not side to side which makes my lat spread less impressive. Any help would be appreciated.

Waist size (width) is mainly determined by genetics. The width of your pelvis will largely determine the width of your waist, which cannot be changed. The best way to appear narrower in the waist is to increase your shoulder/back width to create the illusion of a smaller waist. Also, do not do any movements to increase the musculature in the waist area (heavy side bends, to much oblique work, etc).

Hey Mark, going to any Big D comps?

As for the wide waist, I've noticed that they'll widen out with age and weight gain (FAT). A rib belt has been known to taper down. The only draw back is it limits your deep breathing.

Hey Frank!!! Probably Europa and possibly Heart of Texas again. How about you?

I agree with Frank, but I am assuming your waist width is based on the fact that you are already very lean. If you do have fat to lose, obviously you can make an improvement in your waist width.

GENETICS ARE DEFINATELY THE MAIN FACTOR IN WAIST SIZE. I HAD ONE OF THE LOCAL "EXPERTS" TELL ME WHEN I FIRST STARTED BODYBUILDING THAT THE HEAVY POWERLIFTING MOVEMENTS WE WERE DOING WOULD WIDEN MY WAIST, BUT THAT NEVER HAPPENED. IN ADDITION TO MARKS COMMENTS, I WOULD ALSO RECOMMEND TRAINING YOUR TRANSVERSE ABDOMINUS. ARNOLD AND THE BUNCH WOULD ALWAYS PRACTICE THE VACCUM POSE TO TAPER IN THEIR WAISTS AND LEARN TO CONTROL THE TRANSVERSE ABDOMINUS, THEREFORE GIVING THE ILLUSION OF A SMALLER WAIST ONSTAGE.

Thanks for your help guys. I realize that genetics gave me what I got. I was also told that wearing a lifting belt all the time would help by taking my abs out of some of my lifting movements or lessening their recruitment. I need to concentrate on widening my lats and quads to make my waist look smaller.

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I need to concentrate on widening my lats and quads to make my waist look smaller.

That's what I've ended up doing. Lats are much wider.

I too have wide hips and what I did was focus on my intercostals, hip flexors and obliques to create vertical lines and the illusion of a smaller waist. This along with adding some width to my lats really helped with my presentation and drew attention away from my wide hips.
Good luck

please NO SiDE BENDS OR junk like that!
you can train the obliques to be stronger but dont train them to get LARGER!!!

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please NO SiDE BENDS OR junk like that!

Yep, I have watched this woman "flatten" out. Her waist is now the same size as her lats.