Exercises to Burn Off Belly Fat
Updated: Aug 13
Ah yes...the title alone will draw in attention. For some reason there is this belief that we can simply do exercises to specifically target our belly fat and / or other "hard to burn areas" and there will always be someone out there that says "they know how" or perhaps teach his or her audience "exercises to lose belly fat". Let's start with this statement...it doesn't exist and if someone says they can help you lose your unwanted fat in a specific region of your body is lying to you. Why do they do this? Probably because its an "attention-gainer" and will draw more people into their content.
I must admit I was once a believer in the ability of the human body to burn fat in a specific region. I believed this prior to my formal education and training in fitness and nutrition. Even when I started my education with the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) and the Athletics and Fitness Association of America (AFAA), it was hard for me to believe. NASM and AFAA are educational organizations that is specific to science-based learning systems -- key words "science-based." So, they teach fitness professionals about things that work on a scientific level and not from what someone's Social Media Page teaches.
MYTH
Targeting a specific region of the body to lose weight is a MYTH. Yes...I said it. Its a myth and it is not possible. I suppose you can get cosmetic surgery in aiding your "fitness journey" to target those "hard to lose areas" but unfortunately our bodies are not designed to specifically target region(s) of unwanted fat. If you do decide to take a magic pill or have some type of cosmetic surgery to alter your body composition, the underlining problem will still be...a problem. To solve the problem of one's obesity, weight gain, and to lose weight is to change habits. If there is no change, then there will be no change. Remember that...
Trust me, when I learned about how we cannot target unwanted fat loss in specific body regions I was horrified. I was sitting roughly at around 230 pounds, struggling to lose weight. I went to school for fitness for two reasons; 1) to help myself and 2) to help others. I was the typical "all you can eat buffet-type of guy on a 5 year "bulk" plan. The truth was, I just didn't know how to lose weight and accepted the body that I was in. However, I was unhappy because I wanted to be thin and be comfortable in my skin. This, I was not. Once I applied my fitness education to personal journey, I began developing habits to sky rocket me to my goal of losing my unwanted fat. My body composition went from looking like I was a wannabe powerlifter to an actually athletic superhuman. Yup...I referred to myself as superhuman. If you only knew what I knew what our bodies were capable of you would call yourself superhuman too.
SCIENCE
So, how do our bodies lose weight? There's a whole scientific process to it that I won't get into for the sake of keeping this blog post only a few minute read versus a 25 page, APA format, peer-reviewed research paper on fat loss. Losing weight is simple. Change your habits that are keeping you overweight. Exercise daily and when I say "exercise daily" I am not saying to kill yourself in the gym and leaving a piece of yourself on the floor. I am saying simply get your body moving. Do jumping jacks. sit-ups, air squats, and go for a walk. Put down the fitness magazine, get off social media for fitness educational content and for the love of everything that is holy...stop believing what you see on social media pertaining to lose weight and build muscle by doing this [insert hard to pronounce scientific muscle name] workout.
Building muscle...hmmmm....where to begin[?] I think I'll save that topic for another blog post, but I will leave you with this tip. Nutrition has a vital role in building muscle.
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