I gotta lose this belly!

[Boricua_33015]

Hey, I want to lose my belly but I just HATE situps or any other ab workouts. First of all, they never seem to shrink my belly at all or burn any fat in my belly, and second they are just too damn hard. I have tried in the past by doing like 50 to 75 situps a day for 3 days a week for a month and I hadnt noticed one damn thing different in my belly only that I found that I could do more situps.

My question is, can I lose my belly by just jogging everyday or doing some HIT everyday? I read something somewhere that to lose that belly I would have to do aerobic excercise AND ab workouts. It said that if currently your body shape is like a pear and you would just do alot of aerobic exercise you would lose weight but you would just look like a smaller pear at the end and to get that pear shape out you would have to do ab workouts.

If thats the case then whatever I dont give a fvck, Ill do whatever it takes, im just writing this because I want to know if I can still lose my belly just by doing aerobic exercise. If this is the case then I have a whole new set of questions.....

Are there any ab workouts you guys recommend? Like which exercise I should do and sets and reps, etc? I read somewhere the best is 4 sets of 25 CRUNCHES and by the end your abs should be screaming. Would you guys recommend any better?

Also, I got some big love handles. Could I lose them by just doing regular crunches or situps or do I have to do them side crunches (however you call it) for each side to lose them?

 

[Mr. Latte]

No amount of situps will make you lose your belly. Unless you're new to exercise, they're not even going to build abdominal muscles. Your muscles only grow stronger (and therefore, larger) when you apply new and difficult stimuli to them. Crunches will do this in the beginning, but after a few weeks, you're wasting your time. And the only way you're going to lose weight is by HIIT (high intensity interval training) and weightlifting. It also REQUIRES a clean diet. Go to the men's health forums, (www.menshealth.com) and check out the Belly Off Club Forums, and ask someone for karocka's post on Clean Eating. Read it, because it's almost the Bible for you from now on. Eating clean is most important of all. Abs are made in the kitchen, not in the weightroom.

 

[PiNkMaGGiT]

I don't think it's entirely true that crunches "stop working" after a few weeks. I always do the same ab workout adn although I don't have a 12-pack but it's not bad. He's right about losing the gut though, if you just do stomach exercises, it'll probably make you look fatter because you're just making the muscle underneath all the fat bigger, hence pushing the fat out more. You have to get rid of that fat $hit before even thinking about trying to get a nice stomach. Abs are one of the most difficult muscle groups to show because you need a really low body fat %. SO before you get all excited you're gonna hvae to lose an ar$eload of fat.

 

[Alpha male Female Catcher]

Originally posted by Boricua_33015

I read something somewhere that to lose that belly I would have to do aerobic excercise AND ab workouts.

Well where ever you read that from got it wrong. Ab workouts have very little value for burning fat (because it is a comparitively small muscle group that is being worked compared to say running). The heart of the "you have to do ab workouts to burn abdominal fat" falicy is the assumption that fat tissue directly feeds the muscles which it lies on top of. This is simply not the case. The result is that you cannot spot reduce fat.

Let me explain - Fat cells like most other cells are either receiving stuff from the blood stream via your ateries (ateries cary blood from the heart) or giving it up to the blood stream via the veins (veins carry blood to you heart). The same goes for your muscle cells. In other words all your cells (are mostly) either receiving stuff from the heart or sending stuff to the heart (not to other organs). Your fat and muscle cells are therefor not directly connected except via your heart. Bye and large your heart is the juction through which all blood going from one organ to another must pass through before it gets there.

So the fat cells that lay on top of your abdominal muscles are actually not necesarily any closer to your abdominal muscles from the point of view of your circulatory system (i.e. in terms of the distance the nutrients have to travel) than the fat on any other part of your body. The result is that you actually loose fat from all over your body when you work out not just a particular spot.

(Well this is not entirely true you do lose fat from and store fat in particular spots - but those spots are determined by your genes and hormones. For example if your man your abdominal fat cells wil be the ones that will most readily store fat but are also the ones that will most readily give it up. On the other hand if your a women your thigh fat cells will be the ones to most readily store fat but least readily give it up).

The bottom line is you lose fat from your abdominal muscles the same way you do any where else and that is by aerobic exercise (though some would argue weights are even more efficient) combined with dieting so that your burning more calories than you are consuming.

 

[PiNkMaGGiT]

Yup, the post above pretty much put it in a nut shell. Nice work.

 

[drixsa]

if you want that tight 6pack there are tw basic things you need to do:

do cardio to lose fat

and

eat a healthy, low saturated fat, low simple carb diet

 

[Alpha male Female Catcher]

Originally posted by Boricua_33015

It said that if currently your body shape is like a pear and you would just do alot of aerobic exercise you would lose weight but you would just look like a smaller pear at the end and to get that pear shape out you would have to do ab workouts.

That's partly true actually except for the bit about ab workouts. As explained above ab workouts wont do anything for loosing fat specifically from your abdominal muscles. Rather you will loose fat from all over your body so the only way to get ripped abs is to have a very low fat level. To solve the pair shape problem you need to inccrease the size of your cheast by increasing the amount of muscle on your cheast, ie latts and pecs, deltoids etc.
With a large enough chest you can actually have a fair bit of fat on your stomach and still have an excellent V shape and still look really good (with clothes on). Bottom lines is you need to work your chest more if you have a problem with being pair shaped (as well as diet).

 

[Boricua_33015]

so that means im doing well. Im currently weight training, been weight training for the past 4 weeks and today I just started doing aerobics. As for the eating right thing, man its hard when my parents buy junk food and munchies for the whole family and they are just lying in the cabinets tempting me to eat them. The only way I can stop eating munchies (yes I used to be the biggest pothead) is to eat them until I get tired of them (i happen to tire of same food quickly) and then I wont eat them for about half a year because the taste is disgusting to me. But I guess its all willpower and I DO have the power to stop munching. If I have the power to quit weed and cigarettes after smoking for 2 and half years straight nonstop in less than a week than I can do this.

 

[PiNkMaGGiT]

Dude seriously you'll get cravings and withdrawals and ****. It's gonna be pretty rough especially if you have junk food lying around. Just warnin ya

 

[Boricua_33015]

is it healthy to wake up early in the morning and then jog on an empty stomach? or do I have to eat something before I jog? Will a simple granola bar do the trick?

 

[jive]

You HAVE read Diesel's cutting guide right...?

 

[tx_xp]

I have a gut I am getting rid of now as well, and yes I have read the post. I'm working on cutting now and I never really made it to the gym on a regular basis before. For me the biggest thing is that I used to drink Dr. Peppers non stop, wow 150 cal per can no wonder I have a gut.


You can see my gut pretty good in this pic (same pic posted to the post your pic thread)

click here

Remember you have to burn fat and build muscle. I do crunches also, a lot of them.

 

[Boricua_33015]

ive scanned through it but I havent read the whole thing

 

[jive]

read this too

Elite Fitness Discussion Boards - Eat Well. Stay Lean. Feel Great.

 

[OddTech]

I want to add something and this is from my own experience. Your own experience may be different. I realized that the longer the fat has been around my gut, and we're talking YEARS here, the longer it takes to take them off. The more recent layer of fat are the easiest to take off. My lowest pair of abs, where the belly is, has been layered with fat for over 6 years, and after 5 months of intense work-out, it's still there. I think it'll be there for another 3 months, hopefully. Good luck.

 

[Boricua_33015]

you cant be fvcking serious man. I hope its only you. Ive had this belly since I wuz like 6 years old and Im 17 now. I was planning to do intense cardio everyday for the next 3 months until school starts hoping that it would change me for when the new year starts. Whatever, doesnt matter, it wont stop me!

 

[jive]

Seriously, I don't think you guys are getting it. Exercise is only part of the equation. Your diet is JUST AS IMPORTANT at getting rid of fat. So read the cutting guide and plan your diet approprietly if you really want to see results.

 

[PiNkMaGGiT]

That elitefitness board post is quite good. Nothin fancy but quite good

 

[BrWnSugaMan]

I'm going to make this easy:


1. INTENSE CARDIO + INTENSE CROSS-TRAINING

2. EATING RIGHT

3. WEIGHT LIFTING/CRUNCHES



*Note: You have to do these 3 things EVERYDAY!

 

[Boricua_33015]

this might be a stupid question but.... what is cross-training?