You may have discovered that you have to work out much more than your abdominals to get a flat stomach. This is because fat comes off of your body as a whole -- never from one specifically targeted area. However, working out the muscles in and around your belly will tone the muscles, producing benefits that include the illusion of weight loss.
Spot Reduction
Many people still believe that you can target specific body areas for weight loss. According to health and fitness researchers Michael Carrera and Natasha Vani, however, this fitness myth was debunked in the 1980s. When your body burns fat, the fat comes off according to an internal pattern that is unaffected by which body area is demanding the calories you burned. Because of this, a flat stomach demands a combination of cardiovascular exercise for weight loss and resistance training to tone the muscles in your midsection.
Cardio
Burning fat is a matter of applied physics. If you eat more calories than you burn, your body stores the excess calories as fat. If you burn more than you eat, you pull the excess energy from fat. The fat burns off and you lose weight. Cardiovascular exercise like running, cycling and many group fitness options, is the most efficient exercise choice for burning calories. According to Oregon-based fitness trainer Ben Cohn, this isn't because cardio training is more rigorous than resistance workouts. It's because maintaining a cardio workout over an extended period is more reasonable than for example, doing 40 straight minutes of pushups.
Resistance
Resistance training doesn't directly help you lose weight. However, it will support your efforts for a flat stomach in two ways. Resistance exercise for your abs, obliques and lower back will tighten and tone your stomach, giving the illusion of weight loss by creating a more attractive frame on which the remaining fat hangs. Resistance training also builds muscle. According to Harvard health writer Walter Willett, the more muscular your body is, the more calories it burns in all activities. This means that the more resistance training you do, the more calories you'll burn during your next workout, walking around and even sleeping or watching TV.
Sample Training Schedule
The varieties of effective exercise regimen for a flat stomach is literally infinite. Celebrity personal trainer Bill Phillips suggests the following routine to use as-is, or as a basis for your own customized program. Work out six times per week, with one day off. On three days, get 20 to 30 minutes of moderate to vigorous cardio exercise. On three alternating days, do a resistance workout that emphasizes the muscles in your core. You can do simple weights or calisthenics for this, or use any number of ab-heavy group fitness options or workout DVDs.
References
- True Star Health: Spot Reduction
- Ben Cohn; Fitness Coach; Hillsboro, OR
- "Eat, Drink and Be Healthy"; Walter Willett, MD; 2007
- "Body For Life"; Bill Phillips; 2006
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