What’s REALLY going on when you can’t get rid of your belly fat despite doing cardio exercise seven days a week, week after week?
There’s a reason why the fat won’t budge.
And the stomach fat won’t budge even though your cardio exercise could be jogging, “power” walking, cycling or an aerobics class — and you’re even sweating and huffing hard.
But the excess belly fat just doesn’t want to depart from your body.
Something Interesting About Great Abs
Lots of cardio is not the best thing for ripping off belly fat.
Which type of athlete has the most buff body and tightest, trimmest waist? One such athlete is the sprinter.
Not that everyone should want to look like a competitive sprinter, but it’s the point I’m driving at:
It only makes sense that if you want to strip off belly fat, you must do some derivative of what these athletes do in their training.
The core of their training is that of alternating short bursts of output with a slower movement.
Sprinters will sprint hard, then walk around for several minutes before sprinting again.
Soccer players will run hard, and then there’s always that loll in the game or practice.
Rid Belly Fat without Cardio Every Day — but Only 2x/Week
As a former fitness trainer, I recommend high intensity interval training.
This is a form of cardio, though technically, it’s an “anaerobic” type of exercise.
It creates hormonal changes in the body that accelerate the fat burning process.
An example is dashing up several flights of stairs, then slowly walking back down thenm, maybe pacing around in the landing for another minute or two, then dashing back up the steps as fast as you can.
You only need to do this for six to eight cycles to create a significant belly fat-burning effect.
Twice a week will do, and you should strength train three times a week.
If you don’t add strength training to the mix, you’re shorting your body of optimal fat burning.
Stop doing cardio seven days a week, day after day, week after week–even hour-long sessions of “steady state” aerobics won’t do much for stubborn belly fat.
Do high intensity interval training (“HIIT”), and for best results add strength training.
Lorra Garrick is a former personal trainer certified through the American Council on Exercise. At Bally Total Fitness she trained women and men of all ages for fat loss, muscle building, fitness and improved health.
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