Regularly going to cardio classes and following a healthy diet are good for your body, but the annoying belly fat still doesn’t want to go away?
Dozens of sit-ups and endless sessions on the stepper are of course great exercise for the body and are guaranteed to burn a lot of calories. However, this is not exactly the most effective way to burn body fat.
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Fight fat with strong muscles
If you really want to see good results, you should go to the strength area and get some heavy weights that you can use to challenge your body.
Certified personal trainer Eric Bowling explains why strength training is probably the most effective way to combat body fat.
First of all, however, it is important to understand how the body gains and loses fat. There is a persistent belief that fat can be lost in a specific area of the body.
Unfortunately, this is just a myth – we cannot control where we lose fat. In the weight loss process, it is genetics that determine where the body loses mass first.
To reduce belly fat, you need to lose overall body fat.
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Burn fat: strength training is just the beginning
To achieve this body fat reduction, there are five things to consider. Firstly, there is increased non-exercise thermogenesis – the activity you do outside of training.
Ideally, you should do strength training on three days and do one or two HIIT sessions per week. It is also important that your body gets enough sleep – seven to eight hours a night is appropriate.
Last but not least: Eat at a healthy calorie deficit, i.e. consume slightly fewer calories than your body needs.
Cardio sessions are missing from this plan and there is a good reason for that.
Fat burning through increased metabolism
Exercises like squats or deadlifts may not seem to target the core or abdominal region at first glance, but they are actually crucial for reducing belly fat.
“Weight lifting has been shown to do some phenomenal things to improve body composition,” the trainer explains.
Weight lifting helps to increase muscle mass. Since muscle mass burns more calories even when at rest, increasing muscle mass can boost your metabolism.
More muscle mass therefore means a higher metabolic rate and therefore increased fat burning at rest.
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The strength training sessions themselves are also a good calorie burner, so when doing your sets, make sure the weights are heavy enough to challenge your body, but you can still complete your sets.
If the weights become too light at some point, you should either add a few kilos or increase the number of repetitions in the set. This way you will gradually make progress.
Focus on specific muscle groups
Bowlin recommends doing strength training three times a week. “Focus on compound exercises that target large muscle groups and burn a lot of calories. Like squats, deadlifts or leg presses.”
Of course, you can still do cardio and go to classes that you enjoy, but if you’re looking for an effective workout plan to lose fat in the long term, you’ll have to incorporate strength training, for better or for worse.
You don’t have to worry about looking too bulky too quickly – it takes a while to build up such large muscle mass.
You’re more likely to build beautiful muscles that will help you burn more calories even when you’re at rest.
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