A personal training client at my Timonium gym just asked me,
“What exercises should I be doing to lose my belly fat?”
Of course I gave my usual answer:
“You have no more control over where you lose fat than you did over where you gained it.”
Doing endless amounts of crunches and hours worth of planks is not going to burn belly fat. It’s just going to make your belly sore.
(And we’ve discussed here before), soreness is indicative that you did something – not necessarily an effective or useful something.
Fat comes off in a genetically and hormonally controlled order.
Ergo …
Abdominal exercises cannot target abdominal fat.
In fact, most people are wasting their time doing “Core” classes when they could be spending that time re-building their “Cannibal” muscles.
Huh? “Cannibal” muscles?
Look at it this way …
If you were a cannibal, you’d choose the biggest muscles like glutes, quads, and lats.
Ab muscles, on the other hand, are surprisingly thin (yes, I’ve done the dissections – ew) and, therefore, can NEVER add much to your metabolism.
Remember, it’s muscle that burns fat both during your workout and all day long.
Working your bigger muscles with multi-joint exercises and challenging weights will help you burn more calories all day long by adding lean body mass.
And that’s how you burn more fat all over – including belly fat.
