Exercises for Reducing Belly Fat
In my work as a personal trainer, I get asked a lot: “What are the best exercises for tightening up the abs?”
The truth is that no *one* exercise is going to help you trim fat from your belly and tighten it up. You could literally do crunches every single day for months and not see an inch go away from around your torso. There are a few reasons for this:
👉 First, if you’re not in a calorie deficit, you’re not likely going to see much fat loss anywhere on your body, much less in your belly. Remember that fat is your body’s battery packs, and to burn through it you need your body burning more energy than what you’re taking in through the food that you eat. When your body uses more calories for things like daily activities and exercise than what you eat, then your body will tap into its fat stores.
👉 Even if you are in a caloric deficit, another reason you may struggle to lose inches around the belly fat is that visceral fat around your organs burns a little differently than the subcutaneous fat under your skin. Belly fat serves the important purpose of protecting your organs and regulating your core temperature and hormones. So it’s the last place that your body is going to want to take fat from when you’re in a calorie deficit or when you’re experiencing high stress. That’s why visceral fat in general responds much slower to a caloric deficit than subcutaneous fat in your legs and arms.
👉 Also if you tend to drink alcohol frequently or eat a lot of refined sugars, then your body is more likely to hang onto visceral fat in your midsection. Both alcohol and sugar create an inflammatory response in the body. When that happens, you’re more likely to store fat in your belly.
The good news is that there are some strategies that can help you burn your belly fat—but crunches aren’t going to do it for you.
First off, you need to make sure that you’re in a calorie deficit—meaning that your body is burning more calories than what you’re taking in through your food. To do this, you’ll need to first manage what you eat by tracking your calorie intake, meal planning, or following a meal plan. Unless you’re in a caloric deficit, you’re going to have a really hard time seeing your overall body fat go down over time—including the fat around your belly. If you need help with this, check out my meal prep guide and nutrition coaching program.
Another thing you can do is increase the amount of vegetables, fruits, and whole grains that you eat every day and boost your dietary fiber intake. Visceral fat responds much better to a high-fiber diet than just a calorie deficit alone. If you’re following the Healthy Plate model, then you already know that half of what you eat at every meal should be vegetables (or vegetables and fruit) and that most of the time the grains products you eat should be whole grains. Aim to eat 25-35g of dietary fiber per day to improve your health and to boost your visceral fat burning.
Also, make sure to keep your consumption of alcohol and refined sugars to a minimum. Cutting out alcohol will not only help your body prioritize burning fat for energy, but it will also have a host of other benefits for your health. Cutting out refined sugars will reduce the frequency of insulin spikes in your body. This will, in turn, reduce the amount of sugar your body moves from your bloodstream to your fat cells.
In terms of exercise, the best way to work out to burn belly fat is to increase your body’s daily calorie burn. This means doing cardiovascular exercise (at least 150 minutes per week) and muscle-building resistance training (2-3 times per week).
Cardiovascular exercise is a great way to get your body to burn as much as 200-300 calories in a single workout. Any activity that gets you moving and your heart rate pumping at a moderate intensity counts. This can be as simple as going for a brisk walk, bike ride, or taking a group fitness class at your local gym.
Remember that building muscle is a calorie-expensive activity—so you can increase your daily calorie burn by doing resistance training on 2 or 3 days each week. Resistance training can be done at a gym, with hand weights, bands, or even your own body weight. Check out my Body Sculpt programs for all levels and I’ll teach you how to build muscle and boost your metabolism with resistance training.
You can also ask your questions live when I’m streaming on my Twitch channel Tuesdays and Fridays. You can also ask questions live during this week’s private Coaching Call in the Discord if you’re one of my clients, a training program subscriber, or a Tier 3 subscriber on Twitch.
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ABOUT JAYD HARRISON
Jayd Harrison is a personal trainer and content creator. She helps people to build muscle, burn fat, and clean up their diets with her online coaching programs and social media content. Check out some of Jayd’s coaching videos on Youtube, or join Jayd live on Twitch and follow on social media:
