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Will Performing Situps Result in a Reduction of Abdominal Fat?

Apr 9, 2011 | By Ed Donner
Will Performing Situps Result in a Reduction of Abdominal Fat?
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You want to eliminate your abdominal fat and for good reason. It spoils your profile, stretches your shirts, makes it harder to move around and, worst of all, it poses a significant risk to your health. Those with abdominal fat have an increased risk for various health conditions, including gallbladder disease, diabetes, stroke, high blood pressure, metabolic disorders, cardiovascular disease and certain types of cancer, reports Harvard Health Publications. Performing situps tones your abdominal muscles and burns calories, helping to reduce your abdominal fat. However, situps are not the most efficient way to eliminate abdominal fat.

No Spot-Burning

You cannot spot-burn abdominal fat, or any other type of fat, by doing exercises that work particular muscle groups. When you exercise, you tone and strengthen muscles, but you don't directly eliminate fat in the area that surrounds the muscles you exert. When you exert muscles, they initially use blood glucose to provide fuel for their work. As your blood glucose levels drop, your pancreas releases a hormone, glucagon, into your bloodstream, which causes the release of two types of energy that are stored in different parts of your body: carbohydrates and fats.

Carb and Fat Burning

Glucagon triggers the release of carbohydrates, called glycogen, that are stored in your liver and muscle tissue. Glycogen stored in muscles is used locally for fuel. As you continue to exert your muscles, glucagon also triggers the release of triglycerides stored in fat cells throughout your body. Glucagon, distributed throughout your body by means of your bloodstream, releases fat cells proportionately from wherever they are located. If you have a lot of fat stored in your belly, when your muscles call for fuel, they tap your belly fat, but they also use fat from everywhere else. When you work your abdominal muscles, they use carbohydrates stored locally in the abdomen, as well as glycogen stored in the liver, but they tap fat from throughout your body.

Belly Burning

To burn belly fat as efficiently as possible, do exercise that burns fuel as quickly as possible. So, the way to burn more fat is to use your biggest muscles -- those that use the greatest amount of fuel. You get the best belly burn by doing cardio exercise, such as walking, running, biking or swimming. Cardio exercise works the largest, strongest muscles in your lower body. Also, when you do cardio, you increase your heart and respiration to deliver fuel and oxygen to your muscles. You burn additional calories and enhance your cardiovascular fitness in the process. During cardio, depending on how intensely you exercise, 40 to 60 percent of your fuel will be fat drawn from throughout your body, according to exercise researcher Carol Conn at the University of New Mexico.

Best Belly Burn

The longer you work out, the more calories and fat you burn. Most health and fitness experts, such as MayoClinic.com, recommend that you do 30 to 60 minutes of moderately intense cardio exercise on most days of the week to maximize your health and calorie-burning benefits. A 175-pound person who runs for 60 minutes at 6 mph burns 835 calories, estimates FatBurn.com. Situps also burn calories and promote development of lean muscle, which increases your metabolism, so they certainly help eliminate belly fat. A 175-pound person burns 668 calories per hour of doing situps, according to FatBurn.com. Situps can contribute to your abdominal fat-burning efforts, but you get the greatest health benefits and best calorie burn by doing a combination of cardio and resistance or strength training.

References

Article reviewed by Christine Brncik Last updated on: Apr 9, 2011

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