Allowed too much pizza, burgers, and beer during Corona? This can quickly lead to a few pounds more – especially around the core. According to surveys, almost every third German is dissatisfied with their stomach. So it’s no wonder that so many dreams of deliberately losing belly fat. Unfortunately, here comes the bitter truth: It is impossible to lose weight or lose fat in just one part of the body.
But here comes the good news: With targeted abdominal muscle exercises and the proper diet, it is quite possible to optimize individual areas of the body and lose belly fat. The way there requires a little patience and, of course, a lot of discipline, but the dream of tough washboard abs doesn’t have to remain a dream.
Health risk: That’s why you should declare war on your belly fat
It is not only beneficial for aesthetic reasons to reduce the circumference of the abdomen. According to doctors and health experts, belly fat, in particular, is the one that wraps around the organs. The so-called visceral fat is considered the trigger for heart attacks, high blood pressure, strokes, arteriosclerosis, diabetes, thrombosis, Alzheimer’s, and is even associated with cancer.
For your control: For men, a waist circumference of over 94 centimeters is considered unhealthy – if over 102 centimeters is dangerous.
That is why fat accumulates on the stomach
The main causes of belly fat are quickly explained and are made up as follows:
- Genetic predisposition
- Unhealthy/wrong diet with a lot of white flour, sugar, fat, and finished products
- Too little (everyday) movement
- Diseases, e.g., hypothyroidism
- stress
Reduce belly fat with diet, fitness & stress management
To reduce belly fat, the following things will help:
- Balanced diet: rely on lots of fresh vegetables, fruit, whole grain products, meat, fish, legumes, eggs, tofu, low-fat quark, avocados, nuts, and seeds.
- Exercise: Incorporate more movement into your everyday life, ride your bike more often, get off the subway at one station earlier or go for a walk in the fresh air. In addition, you should do a combination of endurance and weight training.
- Reduce stress: When stressed, the body releases cortisol, which supports the increase in abdominal fat. So try to avoid stress as much as possible. Build specific breaks and recovery phases into your day; make a schedule for the next day the night before. Good organization is half the battle in avoiding stress.
Fitness against belly fat: These 3 exercises ensure washboard abs
Exercise against belly fat: Plank
Here’s how: Take a push-up position. Now lean on your forearms. Your elbows should be parallel below your shoulder. Your body forms a straight line from your shoulders to your heels. The view goes towards the ground. Firmly tense your stomach and buttocks.
The plank or forearm support is one of the most effective exercises for shaping the entire body. The static exercise effectively trains the entire trunk, at the same time the back, leg, hip, shoulder, chest and gluteal muscles are strengthened.
Exercise against belly fat: mountain climbers
This is how it works: Start in the high plank. Your hands are right under your shoulders. Hold your head in line with your back and keep your eyes on the floor. The feet are hip-width apart. Now alternately pull your knees towards the middle of your body in the direction of your elbows in a jumping movement. One leg is always straight while the other is bent.
The Mountain Climber is a great full-body exercise that places a special focus on the abdominal muscles. But other parts of the body are not neglected either. Because by holding the high plank, there is increased tension in some of the muscles. The following are trained: straight abdominal muscles, hamstrings, quadriceps, glutes.
Exercise against belly fat: Jack Knife
Here’s how it works: Lie on your back with your arms stretched backward. From there, you try to bring your arms and legs together in the air. Make sure that your arms and legs are always straight. After folding up, you move back to the starting position at the same speed.