Do I Have To Lose The Belly Fat Before Doing Ab Exercises?

Abdominal exercises provide numerous health benefits, but if your goal is to develop stomach muscle tone, additional efforts beyond completing regular abdominal exercises are required to reach your goal. You will receive the same benefits from completing regular abdominal workouts regardless of whether you have excess belly fat, but your efforts may go visibly unnoticed unless you lose body fat.

Benefits

ExRx.net states that your abdominal muscle, which anatomically is called your rectus abdominis, performs spinal flexion, and also controls the tilt of your pelvis and the curvature of your lower spine, improving the positioning of the muscles that run along your vertebrae. According to MayoClinic.com, performing strength-training exercises that develop your abdominals and other core muscles offers numerous health benefits, including improving your balance and stability, as well as your physical capabilities, and the strength and tone your abdominal muscles. A strong stomach decreases the risk of lower-back injury.

Muscle Versus Fat

According to Columbia University's Health Services, fat and muscle are two separate tissues and are completely independent of each other. Therefore, developing your abdominal muscles with strength training will make direct impacts on your stomach muscle tissue, but will not affect any excess belly fat. The American Council on Exercise states that it is not possible to spot reduce your body fat by participating in strength training.

Effective Abdominal Exercises

According to a 2001 study by the American Council on Exercise, the bicycle crunch, straight leg crunch and crunches on an exercise ball are among the most effective exercises for recruiting your abdominals that can be completed at home. To develop abdominal muscular tone, complete two or three workouts per week, with sessions landing on nonconsecutive days. Perform two or three sets to fatigue of each exercise.

Considerations

Most fat tissue is located on the outside of your muscle tissue. Therefore, if you develop your abdominal muscles by participating in a consistent strength-training program, but have excess belly fat, the muscle tone you create will be covered up and go unseen. With that said, Columbia University's Health Services says it is possible to simultaneously focus on both fat loss and muscle development. If your goal of performing abdominal exercises is to develop a muscularly toned stomach and you have excess stomach fat, make efforts to lose body fat with cardiovascular exercise and healthy eating while simultaneously completing your abdominal workouts.