Does Training Abs Really Burn Belly Fat?

Abs are one muscle group which we can all agree to being among the most popular of them all. Well, they definitely make you look sexy without a t-shirt. In fact most of the fitness articles you find on the internet are regarding abs and how to improve the look of your stomach. But the question is how to get those chiselled abs and flaunt them.

o you’ve probably been working out a lot and regularly doing ab workouts, and each of your other muscle groups has grown, but those motherf**king abs are just not showing up. Basically, abs are something which you can’t see unless you lower your body fat percentage to an appropriate level.

That’s right, you do have abs, the real problem lies with your subcutaneous fat. You may have the best abs in the world, but if your body fat percentage is too high, you just can’t see them.

There is a common saying: “Abs are not made in the gym but in the kitchen.” Honestly speaking, this is not entirely true. You have to have a strong core to have better looking abs, so doing ab exercises are a must if you want to get great abs. Plus, that will give you a strong core, which will provide greater strength to perform other exercises.

Yes, doing ab exercises will reduce your body fat levels like any other workout would, but to properly see abs, they won’t help you in burning much fat. What is important is that you need to speed up your metabolism and look after your macros.

Having said that, exercise is very important as it boosts up the process tremendously. HIIT(High Intensity Interval Training) is much more effective than walking or normal-paced cardio, but it can result in muscle loss if done in excess.

One of the best ways to lose that last bit of belly fat is by doing fasted walking for 30 mins. Before you consume any calories, perform cardio so that your body immediately reaches to your existing fat stores for energy, meaning any sweat earned and fat burned is straight from what’s already part of your make-up, as opposed to calories you might have used from, say, breakfast.

This method has helped this writer in particular and we are immensely impressed by it. But remember, don’t take it too extremely, otherwise you may lose muscle too.

Another thing you should do is stay away from sugary foods. Just don’t eat too many, believe us and you’ll surely benefit from it. One great exercise to clearly show off abs once your body fat percentage is low enough is vacuuming. Have a look at this video by Athlean-X demonstrating how to perform a vacuum pose

Don’t cut back on your sleep too. A16-year study by the American Thoracic Society of more than 68,000 women found those who slept less than five hours per night were significantly more likely to gain weight than those who slept seven hours or more per night. So if you’re thinking about working out a lot and sleeping little, back off; you’ll just hinder your progress.

In the end, we would say “fat burns fat” i.e. to burn a lot of fat, you need to have a little fat. This should primarily be Omega-3 fats and fish, some of the best natural sources of these fats, so try to inculcate these fats in your diet.