Baby fat? Fat around stomach?
I am not seeing it.
Not surprising that you don’t see the ‘baby fat’ in this picture (btw thanks for posting the before/after, very informative). Even pro athletes suck it in when they’re showing off their abs. Go figure. But it’s plain to see when he’s moving around the court. It is not an illusion that has so many people remarking on it.
Do you have a profile picture, by any chance? It would be easier to see the forward tilt in the pelvis, the contents of the lower abdomen spilling forward and down, and the strongly forward curve in the spine in the low back.
‘Baby fat’ sure sounds condescending, but there’s some truth to it, too. That connective tissue layer that lies in front of the abdomen has more fat in babies. On Grant, as is typical of this body type, that layer is pulled down along with the tilt in the pelvis. Making the rectus (‘six pack’) tough and short like that is a typical response to it, but it’s ineffective at reversing the pelvic tilt.
As I said above, dieting will not reduce that fat layer, and as you point out, his overall body fat is already low. ‘Baby fat’ sounds like he ought to work harder or something, but nothing could be further from the truth. Grant is dedicated.
Turning to the 2018 image:
1) The counterrotation at the knees is problematic. Femurs rotate in (predictable with a forward-tilted pelvis), while the tibias rotate out; notice the characteristic bunching. Some degree of this is common; but there’s a lot of tilt, and consequently a lot of counterrotation on him. I’d say he’s got an elevated risk of quad tendinitis, and other knee injuries. Furthermore, you cannot get good joint tracking with so much conflict, so he’s got to do a lot of extra work just to run.
2) The shortening he’s put into his rectus is dragging on his rib cage. The forward head posture is consistent with that, though part of that is just what happens when you contract your abs to show them off. the drag on the rib cage makes more work for his breathing muscles.
Unless he gets to work on his body in a different way than can be seen in this image, he’s headed for back spasms when he’s 35, maybe even chronic low back pain when he’s 40.