Training tips to get rid of your gut

2 mins to read

An important goal for men is to maintain a healthy level of body fat, especially around the stomach. Online personal trainer Andrew Cate outlines the best training strategies to trim tummy fat.

Mens health

Because men tend to store fat around their mid section, losing abdominal fat is a common health and fitness goal. Achieving a strong, lean and defined abdomen can also help to improve posture and may prevent back pain. However, you can’t determine specifically where fat comes off your body. But you can follow some core principles of fat loss and weight control that will maximise your chances of removing abdominal fat. Healthy eating and physical activity are central to those core principles.

The research on exercise and abdominal fat

There is research to show that exercise can play a significant role in removing stored abdominal fat and help to prevent it from accumulating. A study published in 2005 examined four overweight groups that included a combination of both men and women and which also established a control group who did no exercise. The three exercise groups were defined as

a low amount /moderate intensity group (equivalent to walking 19 km a week)
a low amount/high intensity group (equivalent to jogging 19 km a week)
a high amount/high intensity group (equivalent to jogging 32 km a week).

Scans were performed both before and after the study to monitor changes in visceral fat, subcutaneous abdominal fat and total abdominal fat.

Subcutaneous abdominal fat is located just underneath the skin, while visceral fat is located under the abdominal muscle and around internal organs. Visceral fat is considered a significant contributor to a variety of weight-related health problems.

After six months, the researchers found that the inactive control group increased their visceral fat levels by 8.6 per cent. Both the low amount exercise groups experienced minimal changes in their visceral fat levels, while the high amount exercise group experienced a decrease of 6.9 per cent. The high-amount exercise group were the only ones to experience a change in their subcutaneous abdominal fat, which decreased by 7.0 per cent.

This study shows that even relatively small amounts of moderate exercise can prevent an increase in abdominal fat. However, there is a dose-response relationship between exercise amount and the removal of existing stores of abdominal fat, with consistent exercise required to get results.

Training tips to trim your tummy

There’s no single “one size fits all” strategy to target your spare tyre. But there are a number of strategies you can adopt to increase the chances of burning abdominal fat.

Include interval training – Intersperse short, all-out sprints with brief periods of rest to really boost your metabolic rate. You can incorporate this type of training into running, cycling, swimming, paddling and on exercise machines. As your fitness improves, increase the intensity, frequency and duration of your sprints, and reduce the duration of your rest periods. Just make sure you are warmed up and have been training for a month or two before including intervals in your workout routine.
Perform whole body resistance training (not just sit ups) – To trim fat off your tummy, you might expect a resistance training program loaded with sit ups and abdominal exercises. While these can strengthen your abdominal muscles, they do nothing to get rid of the subcutaneous and visceral fat. Perform whole body resistance training to boost your strength and metabolic rate, which can improve your body’s ability to burn kilojoules.
Be consistent – Try to perform cardiovascular exercise at least four days each week, trying to cover at least 32 km in distance if you walk or run. Perform strength training at least twice a week. Plan your workouts around your schedule, and try not to miss two days in a row of exercise.
Exercise before breakfast – Exercising on an empty stomach may help your body use a higher proportion of stored fat as fuel. It also gets your metabolism going for the rest of the day.

References available on request