Do oblique exercises such as: russian twist, side planks, oblique crunches and/or oblique push-ups equal a bigger waist? I'm so confused because they are many conflicting reports about this. The abovementioned exercises are ones I do twice a week, non-weighted except for the russian twist. Can anyone shed some light on this for me? Thanks in advance.

If you have excess fat in the area it can temporarily cause a slightly larger waist as the strengthened muscles push up on the fat, but in the long term, no. In the long term it will give you a better defined waist and possibly shrink it a little.

No, i disagree with the above statement...
in the SHORT TERM, if you have fat to lose, it will shrink as you lose fat, but let me ask you this, what muscle SHRINKS when its worked? NONE!! lol if you work your obbliques and you abs, just like any muscle, they will grow.

Exactly. The muscles will grow as they get stronger. But hopefully you'll be losing fat as you gain muscle and you'll wind up smaller and tighter in the end.

I would rather have a rounder tight/strong waist then a mushy thin one

Actually, the obliques do not work like any other muscle. Their function is to pull you inward, to compress the abdomen. Therefore, training them almost never shows outward growth on a human body. Training the abs in general does not tend to give one a larger waist either. If it did then my 2 trainers (1 does abs every single day and one does abs every other day, both include obliques) would not both wear size 2 jeans even though neither is a young little thing and both have kids.

The reason I asked is because I'm soooo boyish-shaped and my waist is almost non-existent as it is. I definitely do not want to make it look bulky. It would be nice if it would cinch in a couple of more inches but given how I'm built (think like Gwyneth Paltrow - only 15 lbs. heavier) I seriously doubt it, lol. But thanks for the responses. There's so much misinformation out there.

There really isn't an exercise you can do to change your basic shape. Exercise is more about strength. Continue to do the exercises because they are good for you, but look to clothing to deal with your unhappiness at being boyish (though I see nothing wrong with that particular body shape, it's the one I seem to have under my fluffy layers as well). Maybe you can take some fashion inspiration from some of the famous women with this shape, including Gwyneth Paltrow, Gwen Stefani, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kate Hudson, Reese Witherspoon, and Nicole Kidman.

FityGIrl-- im sorry that is not true at all.... the obliques are mucles, made up of the exact same tissue and cells as your quadraceps... they have fast twitch fibers, they have slow twith fibers, and they grow in response to stimuli.
The reason your trainer(s) have tiny waists is because they have no fat over them... remeber the old saying fat weighs more than muscle (and blah blah, no, fat is less dense and therefore takes up more space, a pound of fat weighs the same as a pound of muscle..whatever) well, when you remove the more VOLUMOUS fat around the waist, iit gets smaller. Plenty of figure athletes(women) do NOT work there obliques BECAUSE they do not want to add any size......

FITMOM- one possible suggestion is to work on your upper body, building muscle in your back, shoulders, etc, to balance out your proportions, giving you the ILLUSION of a smaller waiste if you dont have really any fat left to lose over them

I actually do take inspiration from some of the more famous rulers out there as you so aptly pointed out. Unfortunately, we seem to live in a society IMO that focuses on the more sexy, curvy figures like the Kim K's of the world...leaving us rulers feeling decidedly light on the curves, lol. Thankfully, I'm married to a guy who's into the more slightly 'athletic build' but I guess we always want what we don't have. *sighs* Oh well.

I'm trying, God knows, I'm trying to work on my upper body. My friends all tell me my arms look like Tori Spelling's arms (when she's not pregnant, obviously, lol)...toned but not really muscular IMO. My biceps and shoulders are like a thorn in my side. Anyway, I do try my best.

I have an hour-glass shape with big boobs and wide hips and *I* notice the preponderance of skinny, boy-shaped women in the media. They put all the clothes on the boy-shaped people.

Maybe but most guys I know, drool when they see pictures of a more curvy, sexy woman plastered on the television. That's why I'm so conflicted. According to the fashion industry, rulers are mostly what they look for however, most guys prefer an hourglass figure. Oh well, we have what Mother Nature gave us and we should be thankful for that, lol.

mkroyer - We will just have to agree to disagree.

fitmom - There are many men who drool over various types of female body shapes. You probably notice them drooling over the hourglass more because it is the shape you would prefer to have. However, as long as it is your shape that your husband drools over there's no need to worry about what any other men like, right? It is true though about humans frequently wanting what they don't have: a different body shape, hair type, eye color, career, car, whatever. It is difficult to be content. I wish you luck finding a happy place.

IMO, no, not on a woman at least. I used to do tons of ab exercises and only found that they tightened my core. Abs and obliques are not designed to bulk. Particularly on women.