Everyone wants to lose belly fat, right? The problem is, you can't choose where fat loss happens in your body every time you work out. Or at least, I didn’t think you could… Until I came across this new study, which suggests that targeting belly fat may not only be possible, but also much easier than we all thought. I’ll share exactly what researchers have found about belly fat loss and how you can apply it to your own training, so you burn that belly fat off.

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Why is belly fat so “stubborn” in the first place? You see, to burn fat, your body first needs to “release it” from the ‘fat cell’ — a process known as ‘mobilization’. But how exactly do you mobilize it? Well, when you strength train, you don’t just strengthen your muscles; you also increase blood flow to the fat that surrounds the muscle you’re working. And this is one theory why belly fat can be so hard to get rid of: compared to the fat in other areas of your body, it tends to receive very little blood flow. Not to mention, we tend to train our abs less frequently than other muscles.

So, this got researchers thinking: if you can boost blood flow to your abs, could you then specifically target and lose belly fat during exercise? After digging through endless research papers, I’ve come across all sorts of funny and, in some cases, just weird experiments researchers have tried to get to the bottom of this question. But none found a notable difference in fat loss. And because of this, most researchers, including Bill, were skeptical about the idea of spot reduction.

Remember how I said you need to “mobilize” fat before it can be burned off? Well, there’s 2 parts to this process: first, mobilizing it and then burning it off. The issue with past studies is that while they may have mobilized belly fat, this doesn’t necessarily lead to fat loss (i.e., burning it off).

But this is where a 2023 study comes into the picture. They wanted to test a routine that could do both. Basically, researchers divided 16 overweight men into two groups: 1) spot reduction focused group and 2) control group. Both followed a 4-day workout plan for 10 weeks. The control group did 45-minutes on the treadmill each session. Meanwhile, the spot reduction group had a shorter, 27-minute treadmill workout, followed by two ab exercises: torso rotations and machine crunches.

After 10 weeks, both groups lost a relatively similar amount of body fat. But what was surprising was that the spot reduction group lost almost 2.5x more fat from around their belly compared to the control group. That’s quite a bit more belly fat loss.

But of course this study doesn’t come without its limitations. E.g., although the workouts were tightly controlled, the nutrition wasn’t. Personally, I don’t think this is too big of a concern given that both groups lost a relatively similar amount of overall fat, but it is something that would’ve made this study a lot stronger. But hey, it’s not just this study. Other recent studies on spot reduction have also shown promising results.

So how can you target belly fat? Quick disclaimer: if your goal is to burn belly fat, then you need to be in a caloric deficit to get the best results. What the studies do suggest is that, if you’re doing ab work, you should probably combine it with some form of cardio either shortly before or after to get the most bang for your buck. The other thing is that, if spot reduction does work, then it seems like some abs exercises are better than others. So if I was designing a routine to better target belly fat, I’d use direct, weighted abs exercises combined with low to moderate intensity cardio.

Which could look something like this:

4 sets of 8-15 reps of weighted crunches
4 sets of 6-15 reps of hanging leg raises
20-30 minutes of low to moderate cardio (for example, cycling, jogging, or the elliptical) done before or after the ab exercises

I’ll be honest though, I’m still not 100% convinced. And neither was Bill when I spoke to him. These latest studies have definitely opened my mind to spot reduction being possible, and it seems like future research could be promising. But it’s definitely not enough for me to go about planning spot-reduction into most people’s routines. That said, on my recovery days I have been using those 2 ab exercises and slapping on some cardio either before or after. Who knows, maybe this is spot-reducing my belly fat.

But even if it’s not, I still highly recommend that you regularly train your abs, and with weight as well. After all, they’re just like any other muscle group; and growing them can help with definition. But remember, most of your results will still come from the basics, and losing belly fat heavily depends on your diet.

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