WHAT'S THE BEST EXERCISE TO LOSE MY BELLY?
If you’ve ever asked or searched this question, trust me you’re not alone.
Many people like you are looking for that one exercise, that will help them shift that gut.
Only to find that countless reps of sit-ups aren’t providing them with the results they expected.
So the question that stems from this approach is, is there more to losing belly fat than just doing a particular exercise?
As you read through this article, I hope to lead you towards an answer that will work best for you as an individual, and provide you with a better insight into the link between training and fat loss.
WHAT CAUSES AN INCREASE IN BODY FAT?
In order to fully appreciate fat loss, it’s important to understand how an increase in body fat occurs.
When you consume more energy (calories) than you burn over a period of time, your body begins to store this as excess energy.
That might be great if you have a marathon coming up in the next coming weeks. However, if you continually consume more energy than you burn, your body has to find ways to store this excess energy.
To do so it either does one of two things;
Enlarges your existing fat cells within the body to make more room.
Create’s more fat cells for extra storage.
Depending on a few variables, where your body predominantly stores most of this fat will differ from person to person.
Some will find that they tend to store more fat around their gut, and be led to believe that performing ab exercises repeatedly will help.
Others may find that they store more fat around the upper body and arms, and also be led to believe countless reps of pushups and pullups will rid them of this excess body fat.
Whilst exercising in general plays a part in helping to increase the amount of energy you burn, thus moving towards a calorie deficit.
This approach alone will not have a direct effect on losing belly fat, due to there still being an excess amount of energy being consumed through food.
WHY EXERCISE ALONE WON’T SHIFT BELLY FAT?
The first thing to note is that whether you can visibly see them or not, you all have abdominal muscles.
Muscles in the abs are a part of everybody's makeup. They provide the ability to move, function, support the core and hold your organs in place.
Here’s a quick way to test this.
Place your fingers at either side of your rib cage, but closer towards the front of your stomach. Whilst your hands are firmly pressed, bend your upper body from one side to the other.
What you will feel is a shortening & lengthening of the oblique muscles, which also make up the outer layer of the abdominal muscles.
WHAT IS ACTUALLY NEEDED TO LOSE BELLY FAT?
This is the bit that you’ve most likely been eager to get into.
So let’s look at all the varying factors that will work towards you being able to decrease the amount of body fat you carry.
As mentioned above, if you're continually consuming more energy than your burning, this will lead to an increase in body fat.
To combat this you will need to be in a calorie deficit (a state whereby you are consuming less energy than you are burning).
Often people tend to go a bit too extreme with this approach leaving them feeling burnt out and exhausted.
To ensure that you can decrease body fat, but still enjoy all the health benefits associated, I’d suggest working at a calorie deficit of about 10 - 15%. If you’re not sure how to calculate this, click this link to use my calorie calculator.
The 2nd thing to point out is that fat loss is different from weight loss. With weight loss you may be solely focused on your scale weight alone, but this won’t tell you whether you are losing body fat mass or muscle mass.
As you start working towards your goal, you want to ensure that the majority of what is being lost is actually body fat.
To maximise fat loss, you want to retain as much muscle as possible throughout the process. In doing so the end result will be a much leaner composition, as opposed to a ‘skinny-fat’ composition (slimmer limbs, prominent stomach).
A better approach to accommodate these changes in your composition, will be a full body strength training programme accompanied with adequate protein intake.
With an increased amount of muscle mass the body becomes more efficient at burning fat, whilst at rest. This is where most people tend to go wrong with focusing solely on ab exercises.
It’s not just about the amount of fat your body burns during a workout, but throughout the entire day. A good way of looking at it is, building your body to be more optimal at using your body fat for fuel, rather than trying to burn as many calories in one given training session.
As you build more muscle mass, the muscles require more energy to maintain them. At this point they begin to use fat as an energy source, hence making fat loss more likely to occur.
If you’re struggling to put together a full body strength training programme, then my 3-day gym programme would be a great starting point for you. Click this link, to find out a bit more about which exercises to include and get your free copy.
HOW MUCH PROTEIN DO YOU NEED FOR FAT LOSS?
As I’m sure you may have heard many a time, exercise is only one part, but nutrition is an even bigger contributor. For many this tends to be the biggest struggle.
So let’s break this down into easily digestible information for you to be able to apply, no matter what level you’re at on your understanding of nutrition.
In order to maximise muscle growth, your body needs a certain amount of protein which will be dependent on you as an individual.
A typical western diet for most people only provides somewhere in the region of 60 - 80g of protein, which is sub-optimal for muscle growth.
Aside from the added benefits for muscle growth and fat loss, protein is also needed to support health and many of the body's functions.
As a starting point for muscle growth, I’d advise having somewhere between 1.6 - 2.2g of protein per kg of bodyweight.
Let’s say Jimmy weighs 85kg and is looking to lose body fat. Here’s how we would calculate how much protein he would need.
Body weight is 85kg x 1.6 (minimum) = 136g of protein per day
Following this amount of protein, coupled with a strength training programme would set Jimmy on the right path to losing body fat.
Keep in mind 1.6 as a multiplier of his body weight is a minimum. So you can see how far off this is, from the average most people are currently getting.
By now I hope that you have a better understanding of why there is no specific exercise alone that will help you to lose body fat, and a better picture of the role it plays in fat loss.
With the tools provided in this article you should now be able to start taking the first steps towards losing belly fat, and creating habits that serve you in becoming your best self.
