If I do a ton of sit ups, will I lose more fat around my waist than I would if I jogged? I've heard that your body has its own system of where to lose fat from in order, and each person is different. But then I've also heard people say "do a lot of sit ups if you want to get rid of that belly. I've found that since I've started doing situps, I haven't added any fat (body fat %) but my stomach actually looks a bit bigger which is what I worried would happen. Long-term, I do want a six-pack. The part of my body which I definitely need to drop some inches is around my waist. But what's the most efficient way to drop those inches?
Doing a ton of sit ups won't help you lose stomach fat. It'll help build muscle underneath all that fat. If you want to reveal that six pack, you got to burn that fat. Usually from cardio ( running, riding bike, etc.)
Cardio loses the fat all over your body. You can't target fat loss. Ab work outs build up your ab muscles. You have to do both for the six pack.
You can't do one thing to be fit. You need a combination of aerobic and anaerobic exercise, and drink a lot of water. Also, if you havent been working out recently you need to start back slowly or else you are just going to burn yourself out too quickly. I guess...
Question: How does diet Sodas work into the diet thing? While the calories are cut .. will the Carbonation etc be an issue Rocket River
The caffiene will kinda screw up your metabolism and energy levels (keeping them steady is key) it wont hurt you that bad, but if you must have them, go diet. try and cut them down gradually. and all the other people in this thread are correct (sit ups wont burn stomach fat,you need to do cardio and watch your diet to lose body fat, then do proper crunches for a 6-pack)
There is the positive that doing a lot of sit ups builds up muscle mass in your abdomen...the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn, the easier it is to lose weight. Its just not targeted.
cardio cardio and cardio. No way to spot decrease in fat unless u are gettin lypo and if in that case ur a B!tch. j/k U will lose weight around ur belly if u do situps not because of where u are concentrating, but more because ur just developing more muscle in general. keep doing cardio, because thos situps are worthless unless ur body fat percentage is low enough for ur abs to become visible.
Abs are made in the kitchen. Cardio will only get you so far. Take a look at your diet and clean up all the fried foods, sodas, junk food etc.
So what exactly falls under the category of 'cardio' workout? I.e, what are some exercises etc that would qualify? I read jogging and cycling in a prior post. Are there other examples? Which is the most effective?
If you want to get abs first you have to lose all the fat. The easiest way to lose fat is as soon as you wake up, go running. Don't eat or drink anything just start running. This way there's no glycogen to burn off and immediately your fat begins to burn. Run uphill if possible, it's very strenuous but in the long run good for you. Put on a sweatsuit if you want to lose water weight.
Anything that elevates your heart rate to a certain (high) level (varies a bit depending on age, resting pulse rate, etc - but usually somewhere north of 120/min). Jogging, swimming, cycling, stairs, jumping rope, rowing, even walking if you maintain a good pace, etc. How effective each is depends on how long/hard/fast you do each one. if you want to burn a lot of fat go at lower intensity for longer periods, if you want to whip your heart & lungs into shape go at higher intensity for shorter periods.
Exactly. Also, if you want a six pack, you need to watch what you eat as well. I had a personal trainer and he told me that losing fat is 30% exercise and 70% what you eat.
I found H.I.I.T. High intensity interval training to work the best for burning fat. That's where you go all out (sprinting) for 30 seconds and jog or walk for 30 seconds. Keep the cycle going but each go around build the time up.(for ex. 30 Sprint than 30 walk, next 40 sprint and 20 walk, etc.) You could do this with cycling, swimming, jogging,etc. Just do something that will get your heart going. I found running to be the best cardio for me.
Agreed. Also to add to this, glycogen usually burns off around the 30 minute mark. So if you stop at 30 minutes, you won't be burning off the fat. So its better to run a bit slower, and try to run at least 50 minutes. I learned this the hard way, as I used to run about 2.5 miles in about 20 minutes, then I would rest a little and then run another 2.5 miles. I wasn't seeing any major gains. Then I switched it up to a slower pace and start doing 5 miles continuously which took about 45 minutes. The results I got after the switch were astounding. But if you are someone who never has run more than a mile non-stop it might be very hard to run more than 10 minutes non-stop. Just start slow, and run 5 days a week at least. Then gradually push yourself to higher and higher levels. When you start seeing gains it is the most motivating factor to exercise more. The initial parts of when you first workout are the hardest since you might not see much gains, but keep at it.
Since I consider myself a bit of an expert I'll weigh in. Spot reduction is a myth. You can do any number of crunches untill judgement day but unless you change your diet and mix in some cardio you'll never get that elusive six pack. Consider that the first place the male species gains fat is in the abdomen area; so the last place your gonna loose fat is gonna be in the 6 pack region. Might I also add that unless you hit the gene lotto and burn calories at a furnace like pace, reaching the 6 pack goal is unbelievably hard (depending on age and wieght). You must be totally commited. So unless you can drop 3,000 on lipo -evan than your not gauranteed a 6 pack, your only other option is excersise. let me know if you need more detailed advice.
