You probably do more cardio than a lot of the muscle heads you see on magazine covers. But one thing they have that you don’t is that they have well defined abs.
That’s right. Doing resistance or weighted training, if done right, will help you to burn fat even up to 24 hours later. It has to be consistent and it has to be engaging.
One trick bodybuilders use to maintain a flat belly is to keep them flex throughout the day. Here is one exercise you can do right now to improve the way your abs look. Let all the air our of your lungs and suck in your belly; hold for five seconds and inhale. It’s called vacuuming. Do this several times each day and you will see an improvement in your ab definition.
Dominique Astorino reinforces this point in the following article.
Start Strength Training: Science Says It Reduces Belly Fat
While we know that cardio is an excellent way to burn fat, we wanted to know how working with weights can contribute to a whittled middle and washboard abs. So how can we blast belly fat with strength training?
Nicole Aurigemma, physiologist at the Penn State Muscle Biology Lab, told us not only how to burn more calories during a workout (in part by doing some weight training first), but she also gave POPSUGAR insight into how we can flatten our stomachs with some deadlifting, leg presses (crazy, right?), and general resistance training.
Here are four major benefits that come with working with weights and training with some resistance!
- More resistance training, more fat burning. “It has been shown that energy expenditure, as well as fat oxidation, increases after multiple sets of resistance exercise, particularly when larger muscle masses are exercised,” said Nicole (larger muscle groups are located in the legs — think glutes, quads, etc!). “Think leg press versus chest press,” she said. Who knew that a flat belly starts with the legs?
- Your body is burning more calories. “Post-exercise, your body is using up more of its fuel stores, therefore burning more calories,” she explained. So even after you’re done with a sweat-sesh in the weight room, your body is burning, burning, burning up the calories!
- Your body uses fat while you’re resting, too. “Since resistance exercise increases post-exercise fat oxidation,” (fat oxidation = your body breaking down fat into energy) “your body is using more fat. This is very favorable for weight loss.” Because, when you say you want to lose weight, you really want to be losing fat and gaining metabolism-boosting muscles.
- You’ll see results quickly. Nicole noted that the fat oxidation and fat loss happen quickly, “even after just one gym session.” She told POPSUGAR that “increased energy expenditure [burning calories] and fat oxidation [burning fat] last at least 24 hours after [even one session of] exercise, so imagine how much fat you could be using and calories you’ll be burning if you have regimented resistance training!”
So let’s get this straight, more fat burning, more calorie burning, burning even when you’re resting . . . and fast results? Let’s grab those weights!
Before you get burnin’, a couple things to keep in mind: “You could actually gain a little muscle mass before you start to lose weight,” said Nicole, “but this doesn’t mean you aren’t losing fat mass.” She also said it’s important to note that “You could lift all you want, but if you eat crap, you won’t see results.” So while a flat belly is made in the weight room, it’s also made in the kitchen.
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P.S. I still do at least twenty minutes of cardio either before or after doing resistance exercises. The type of cardio I do is called Hiit training and I do it three days per week.
P.P.S. I have put together a set of exercises specifically to help prevent pre-diabetes. Get more information about them here.