When you think of workouts for a flat belly what do you think of?
A million crunches, right? Even try Googling Best exercises to lose belly fat. Go ahead try it you will see several articles that will say Crunches.
You will even see articles saying:
“Nothing burns belly fat faster than crunches, which occupy the number one position in fat-burning exercises. Now, it’s time that you start performing this exercise.”
I’m here to tell you that there is a better why!
To lose weight, you need to burn calories. To ensure that the weight lost is fat loss.
One of the best way to ensure you are burning fat is lifting weight!
Weight training is powerful at burning fat and is why it’s especially beneficial for bellyfat.
Weight training is often seen as a good way to build muscle, and is rarely seen as a viable fat loss tool. Studies have shown aerobic exercise or AKA Cardio is unable to provide some of the same fat loss benefits as weight training exercise. To burn belly fat, aerobic exercise and weight training should be combined, but weight lifting should be the primary activity.
This is known as The Metabolic conditioning workouts. The key to this type of exercise is that it combines weight-training AND cardio into one. The pace is faster, the movements more varied, there is an element of sprinting paired with frequent muscle overload, generating muscle burning and cardio breathlessness together. Combination workouts like this have been shown in research to increase fat loss potential, due to the intense nature of the workout and the unique mode of exercise. When talking about fat loss, intensity is the #1 factor to determine the “afterburn” of the workout–in other words, the length of time AFTER your workout when you enjoy an elevated metabolic rate.
That’s one reason I weight training a minimum of 2-3 times per week.
Here is a sample Metabolic Effect Workout:
Squat Press 10 reps
Bicycles 30 Sec
Lunge Row 10 reps
Mountain Climbers 30 sec
Step Up Curl 10 reps
Plank Hold 30 Sec
Repeat for 20 minutes Goal to get 3 rounds in 2 minutes.
Ab exercises do not burn fat on your stomach, they serve to tone and shape the actual ab muscles, making them “pop” once the fat is gone. The way your abs are outlined (the shape) appear naturally is generally genetic. You can use targeted abs movements to add bulk to them, same as you would do Shoulder Press to add muscle to your shoulders 🙂
To make your abs pop more, once the fat is gone, incorporate ab movements into your weekly workout split like you would any other muscle group. Do a mix of heavy moves like planks, leg lowers and scissor v ups at a rep range of 8-12, while also incorporating weight, higher rep movements like bicycles, Russian Twists.
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“I’m not telling you it will be easy. I’m telling you it will be worth it.”
