You have a few extra pounds around your belly that you’d like to get rid of, so you should do 200 crunches a day, right? There is a common belief in the exercise community that in order to lose weight around your stomach you have to become best friends with the ab machine. While it may make sense that specifically targeting your stomach will reduce belly fat, it’s not quite that simple. The truth is- you won’t see much progress toward your weight loss goal unless you focus a little more on a good diet and cardiovascular exercise.
In order to really understand this concept, it is important to realize why and how belly fat accumulates. We all know by now that we gain weight when we take in more calories than we expend (in other words, when we eat too much and exercise too little). As your hormones and metabolism are altered with age, a caloric imbalance starts to become more noticeable around your waistline. Fat around the belly is especially tricky because there are two types- subcutaneous fat and visceral fat. Subcutaneous fat sits right under your skin and is what you can feel when you pinch your sides. Visceral fat lays deeper under the surface in the space between your organs and is dangerous to your health, as it is linked to heart disease, diabetes and some cancers. The complexity of these two types of belly fat combined with poor health habits and genetics lead to excess accumulation of fat cells in the midsection. The question is… what do you do about it?
While core work is very important for overall health and strength, losing belly fat requires more than crunches. The real task is achieving weight loss by decreasing the amount of calories you eat and increasing the amount of calories you burn. Cardiovascular exercise, especially walking and jogging, is the best thing you can do to reduce the size of your midsection- you need to work up a good sweat at least 3-4 days a week. Increasing the intensity of your weight lifting program is also important, because the more muscle mass you have, the higher your metabolism is, and the more calories you will burn on a day to day basis. The key is to strengthen all of the muscles in your body rather than trying to “target” one area more than the other. Last, but certainly not least, eat a well balanced diet and keep your portion sizes in check!
Don’t let this information talk you out of doing core exercises. Your abdominals are a complicated muscle group with layers of fibers going in each direction, and they all need to be strengthened. Because they are responsible for keeping your posture, they are active and engaged for more time throughout the day than any other muscle group. It is a good idea to do a little core work every day to benefit your posture and keep your midsection strong. These muscles are equipped to handle it! Here are a few tips to get the most out of your core workouts:
-Keep your core engaged no matter what you’re doing. You should tighten your abs and back while you’re doing cardio and weight lifting all of your muscle groups. Not only will this strengthen your core, but it will prevent injury.
-Vary the core work that you do in order to target each layer of the muscle. Need ideas? Ask one of the exercise physiologists at Saratoga Health and Wellness and we’ll give you some fun new exercises!
-While you’re doing core work, suck your stomach in and keep your abs and back tight. Try to avoid “ballooning” your stomach outward (this isn’t as effective). Instead, imagine that you have to suck your belly button into your spine. And don’t forget to breathe!