A personal trainer is coaching a client through a workout.
After a set of deadlifts, the client points to their stomach and says “When are we going to work on this?”
“That’s what we’re doing now” says the coach.
After a set of push-ups and weighted carries the client points to their stomach and says “When are we going to work on this?”
“That’s what we’re doing now” says the coach.
After doing a heavy set of 10 reps of bent over rows with a pair of dumbbells, the client points to their stomach and says “When are we going to work on this?”
I bet you can guess what the coach said.
Strength Training is the key.
The coach is this scenario is helping the client build strength. Unfortunately there is a huge myth that still lives in the weight loss industry that you can spot-target or spot-lose fat in specific areas by dong exercises that work that area. That’s a completely false theory. All you do when you work muscles in said area, is build the muscles underneath the fat that you’re hoping to get rid of.
By building overall strength, you will have a bit more muscle, which will allow the body to burn more calories all day long, even while at rest. The body will begin losing weight in the areas that it most readily stores it. So if you’re doing the right things: Exercising + eating an appropriate diet, you’ll start to lose weight in the areas where you hold the most.
Here’s an analogy. There’s a hot rod with a huge V8 engine and a small 4 cylinder car with great fuel economy. When sitting at idle, the V8 requires (burns) more gas just by being on, even without driving. It in a sense, has “more muscle.”
The human body works the same way. The person with more muscle, will burn more calories because it takes more energy for the body to maintain muscle mass. So it’s a win-win. You do strength training, you get stronger, improve your fitness and turn yourself into a calorie burning machine.
But what about cardio?
Cardio is still beneficial, as it helps you burn decent amounts of calories in the moment – as in, while you’re actually doing the exercise. However, once you stop exercising, there’s little, if any lasting caloric burn due to the exercise. Cardio is like a typical 9-5 job. You’re getting paid only when you’re clocked in. Rather, strength training is like a passive income stream, where you’re getting paid even when you’re not doing any work.
The best ways to build strength fast are doing heavy full body weight training sessions. Compound exercises work best: Things that move multiple joints at once. Think – squatting, deadlifting, and pressing. That’s not to say that bodybuilding exercises are bad, they just don’t give you as much bang for your buck if you have limited time.
It’s not the clients fault that they think they need to be doing planks and sit-ups and side crunches to lose belly fat. It’s years of misinformation fed to the public.
So, if you’re on a weight loss journey, my best advice, in this order, is to 1st hire a nutrition coach that can remove all the guessing from what you should be eating, and 2nd start doing full body strength training at least 3 days per week. Do these 2 things simultaneously and be patient, and you’ll start to see the results you’ve hoped for.