There are few fitness accolades men seem to value above a washboard stomach, perhaps because it’s living proof that you’ve put time in at the gym, watched your diet and have found time to dish out a one-two punch to belly fat.
Providing it’s done safely and correctly, a toned stomach is an outward sign that you exercise regularly and eat healthily. That said, there isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach to eradicating belly fat and, despite what questionable fitness advice you’ve heard, you can’t target — or ‘spot reduce’ — areas of fat on your body. Much like emptying a swimming pool, you can’t simply grab a bucket and drain one corner, you’ve got to empty the whole pool.
What’s more, exercise alone isn’t a suitable plan to rip up your midriff. To say goodbye to belly fat for good, you’ll have to focus on losing fat across your entire body and the best way to achieve that? A tactical combination of a calorie controlled diet and clever strength training.
Types of Belly Fat and the Dangers
Before we get to the exercises, first of all it’s important to say that not all belly fat is created equal. According to Harvard Health, there are two kinds of fat in your stomach:
Subcutaneous fat
The soft layer of chub that sits directly under the skin – the wobbly bits – and is generally harmless.
Visceral fat
The stuff you can’t see, which forms around your organs and has been proven to increase the risk of heart disease, diabetes and cancer.
The bad news is that belly fat is metabolically active, and excels at pumping out various inflammatory substances that interfere with hormones that control appetite, mood and brain function. It can also impact your cortisol level, potentially sending your stress levels through the roof.
The good news is that it’s easy to get rid off, providing you know what you are doing. And a lot of it comes down to the type of exercises. However, they probably aren’t the exercises you think. Let’s start with the ones you shouldn’t do, but everyone does (or has done).
Exercises That WON’T Burn Belly Fat
Abdominal exercises. Simply put, bashing out endless reps of sit-ups won’t have any real impact on your belly fat, according to a study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning. Of course, these kind of exercises will help strengthen your abdominal muscles, even tone them, but they won’t shift the layer of fat above them.
1. Burpee
If you want to lose your gut, you need to work as many muscles as possible. The burpee does just that. The explosive exercise – which entails going from a push-up position to a jump and back to a push-up position – hits every muscle from head to toe.
DO IT:
- Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart.
- Lower your body until your palms rest on the floor about shoulder-width apart.
- Kick your legs backward into a pushup position, perform a pushup, and then quickly reverse the movement and perform a jump when you stand. That’s 1 rep.
2. Mountain Climber
Think of the mountain climber as a moving plank. You perform a mini crunch when you explosively draw one knee into your chest.What makes this move so difficult, however, is that your core has to work overtime to keep your body stable and straight every time you lift a foot off of the floor.
DO IT:
- Assume a push-up position with your hands below your shoulders and your body forming a straight line from your head to your heels. This is the starting position.
- Lifting your right foot off of the floor, drive your right knee towards your chest. Tap the floor with your right foot and then return to the starting position. Alternate legs with each repetition.
3. Kettlebell Swing
The kettlebell swing might be one of the best calorie-torching exercises of all time. In order to propel the heavy ball of iron, you need to engage big fat-burning muscle groups like your glutes, hips, and quads.
DO IT:
- Bend at your hips and hold a kettlebell with both hands at arms length down in front of you. Rock back slightly and “hike” the kettlebell between your legs.
- Then squeeze your glutes, thrust your hips forward forcefully, and swing the weight to shoulder height. Reverse the move between your legs and repeat.
4. Medicine Ball Slam
If you haven’t used a medicine ball since school, you’re missing out. “Your core is your centre of power, so performing explosive movements like the med-ball slam requires all the muscles between your neck and your hips to work together,” says expert coach Sean De Wispelaere.
And if you pick up the pace and propel the ball with more power and velocity, you’ll elevate your heart rate and burn some serious belly flab, he says.
You don’t even need to increase the weight. A 3-kilo medicine ball will work just fine if you go hard and push yourself.
DO IT:
- Hold the ball above your head with your feet shoulder-width apart.
- Slam the ball on the floor as hard as you can. Catch the rebound and repeat.
5. Dumbell Overhead Lunge
Add a dumbbell overhead during a lunge, and you suddenly have a core chiseler.
“As the load shifts with every rep, all of the muscles in your torso need to work together to keep the weight directly above you,” says Tony Gentilcore, strength coach at Cressey Performance.
The move engages your back and butt, too, because hunched shoulders and weak glutes also contribute to a bulging belly.
DO IT:
- Grab a pair of medium- to light-weight dumbbells. Press the dumbbells overhead so your palms face each other. Be careful not to scrunch your shoulders up by your ears.
- Step forward into a lunge position, pause, and then bring your back leg forward to step your feet together. Alternate legs as you walk forward.
