Working at a fitness facility I get asked a lot of questions, but there is one question in particular I get asked the most. It typically starts with an overweight individual coming over to me, grabbing their mid section, then they continue to shake it violently and ask, “what exercises can I do to get rid of this?” Aside from having that image scarred in my mind, there is unfortunately no miracle exercise you can do to magically make that area go away. The fitness industry would like you to believe that you can blast belly fat away with their amazing gadgets and gimmicks, but this isn’t true.

The cold hard truth is that you can’t “spot reduce” fat, be it your hips, butt, or stomach. Your body stores and removes fat in the areas of its choosing. Furthermore, being able to see definition in areas such as your abdominal muscles is based on the amount of body fat you have. Doing one hundred sit ups isn’t going to make your abs any more defined under that belly fat. It will however help strengthen your abdominal muscles and help with your core strength.

Doing an exercise in an area you want to make smaller could actually be doing the complete opposite. If you go over to a machine and start doing an exercise for say your stomach and you already have a big stomach, you potentially run the risk of making your stomach bigger because you increased the muscle size without reducing the belly fat.

If you want to target a specific area on your body go right ahead, I wont try and stop you. But, for optimal results consider creating a workout that includes both cardiovascular and strength training. Combine that with a proper diet and you will see the results you are looking for, not from something you buy off a cheesy commercial!

-Scott