Blast belly fat with these 5 ab exercises – The marketing myth that keeps on giving

A popular myth that I used to be a firm believer in was the idea that you can lose fat in a specific area, known as spot reduction. I actually used to do 100 sit ups every night before going to bed, in hopes that it would melt away my stubborn belly fat and show my perfect abs.

Unfortunately, the body does not work that way. In fact, I saw literally no difference at all; I still had the same layer of fat that I’d always had and those abs I’d always dreamed of? There were still just that – a dream.

Advertisers use spot reduction to market their products. You might have heard about belly wraps, vibration belts, and other devices that claim to burn fat from specific areas. Unfortunately, nothing could be further from the truth.

Fats get broken down all over the body during exercise, making it impossible to target a single area. Don’t believe me? There was a 1971 study on tennis players that found both their arms had no significant difference in the thickness of subcutaneous fat (fat stored directly under the skin) despite the fact one of their arms was used more often to play.

So, now that we know that spot reduction isn’t possible and targeted exercise won’t help you shed your fat any faster, how do we actually shift that extra fat that we hate so much?

Since your body controls its own fat storage, to lose fat in a specific region of your body, you will need to lose body fat across your entire body. Simply follow a balanced diet and exercise regularly. Make sure you are eating slightly less calories than what you are expending.
Remember that the slower it takes you to lose weight, the longer you will be able to keep if off for, so be patient and be consistent.

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