The first thing I ask our new clients when they enter the gym is “what
is your goal?” Most will say they just want to lose their belly and ask
me for abdominal exercises. Let’s get this right straight away, if
you’re carrying extra weight around the mid section no matter how many
sit-ups you do you WILL NOT lose that belly.
Abdominals come by hard work outside the gym, IN THE KITCHEN.
By concentrating more on nutrition than crunches you will start to see
results. The reason we get fat on the midsection is due to the amount of
food sources we convert into fat in times of famine but the thing is, we
are very far away from famine and have very, very easy access to foods
these days. Putting it in the most simple way, without being too
scientific…
When we eat carbohydrate foods such as a potato (for example) we use the
sugars from the potato to give our body energy (carbohydrates). Our brain,
eyes, cells etc use this sugar or’glucose’ to survive. This glucose raises
our blood sugar levels (that energy you get after you eat something sweet
for example) and also the blood helps to pump the glucose (and other
nutrients) around the bodily system sending it to the right places.
Glucose, after a short time becomes toxic and needs to be taken out of the
blood before it cause more harm than good.
Our Pancreas (small organ by the liver) releases insulin, a hormone that
pulls the sugar from our blood and sends it to the liver to be processed.
Now, the Liver can take this sugar and convert it to another type of
stored sugar/energy called glycogen and it places this in the muscles and
in the liver in small doses, BUT if the liver is already full from the
chocolate crossiant and sugary milky coffee you had for breakfast it’s
‘storage space’ is now full and the liver will store this as fat and it
will store it in your midsection (to protect vital organs)!
So, what do we do to stop this?
Choose you carbs and food timings carefully! I always suggest eating
carbs/ fruit before and after your workout only. This will give your body
some energy before you train and then replace it after stocking up those
depleted glycogen stores but for the rest of the day stick to fibrous
vegetables such as broccoli and asparagus.
Things like grains, pastas, potatoes and sugars should be avoided unless
you’re training for a competition or sport, again, carb timings are vital.
Secondly, train to burn fat with the right exercise. Lift
HEAVY weights (including women, I will write another
article on this) to increase muscle mass and help burn more calories.
Sprint to attack the stored fat and use this for energy rather than
running on the treadmill for 40-60mins at a time burning precious muscle
mass. Look at the difference between a sprinter and a long distance
runner. Who would you rather look like? When running for long periods of
time (45 mins to 1 hour) you put the body under too much stress, which
releases a hormone called Cortisol which will store fat! The same happens
when lifting weights for long periods of time in the gym.
Thirdly stop doing loads of crunches, if you carrying a six pack of flab
over those abs all your going to do it make them stronger and build them
up then push the fat on your belly out further, not a good look!
And the fourth and final thing is STICK TO YOUR PLAN.
Many of us give up after a month without seeing results but forget you
have spent the past six months putting yourself in that position!
Time, hard work and dedication is what it takes!
Brian Talbot
Brian Talbot Training @ M Wellness Ibiza.