What exercises work to get rid of belly fat? I get this question a lot. It makes me feel more like a plastic surgeon than a Clinical Exercise Physiologist 😂
What is the solution to belly fat? It is a valid question. The media is full of information about how to get a flat stomach through #CoreExercises. Often the clients asking this question have tried to do a sit-up or plank challenge and all they got was #BackPain
Sigh... 😔
First, I empathize that I too wish the solution was that simple. Its not easy to live in a body you feel uncomfortable in and worried about.
But doing core exercises to burn belly fat is just not how our body works.
So what does work? is the next question. So I give them the whole-person science-based answer:
There are two places fat is stored in your body. One is just below the skin (subcutaneous). This is the kind you can pinch. Visceral fat is the kind that makes up a “beer belly”, that is hard and round but very little you can pinch. Visceral fat sits close to your organs and is the kind we want to reduce because it affects your body's ability to protect the systems in your body from disease.
Studies show there are several ways to “target” this visceral fat.
1. Cure chronic stress. Cortisol increases the body's fat storage close to organs. Chronic stress means cortisol levels are chronically high. Use mindful, science-based exercise to interrupt the stress cycle in small bouts during the day to cure chronic stress and reduce cortisol.
2. Cardiovascular exericse that is not stress-producing. Do a mixture of different intensities but only intensities that lower rather than raise stress levels. If high intensity is stressful, it won't work, no matter how many calories the machine or your activity monitor says you are burning. Each time you do cardio, choose the intensity, duration, type, and location that releases stress energy and puts you back in the Well State.
3. Functional strength exercises: Learn a functional approach to strength exercises rather than a bodybuilding muscle group approach. This has two benefits: it increases metabolism in less time and lowers the stress of moving in daily life. Skip the core workouts! Since your core is at the center of this strength, incorporating your core into these movements, doing it mindfully is the way to use your core to help your body raise metabolism and to move with more confidence and less fear of injury in daily life.
4. Reduce processed foods. Clear the ready-to-move tension caused by emotions through mindful, science-based exercise in small bouts throughout the day. This treats the root cause of cravings so you are ready to respond to emotions rather than react by distracting with food engineered to make you crave them when feeling low.
Exercising Well provides a whole-person solution to the overwhelming confusion caused by misinformation about how your body works. Learn how here https://www.exercisingwell.com/