“You can’t spot reduce! Everyone knows that!” This is one of the most common things you’ll hear when asking about burning lower belly fat. The problem is it’s not entirely true, according to some research.
We can’t promise this workout will incinerate all your belly fat, but we think it’s the closest you’ll get. If you’re wanting, check out this lower belly fat workout.
Spot Reduction: Can You Target Lower Belly Fat?
We need to first establish this so you understand what and why your lower belly workout looks the way it does.
While not conclusive, there is evidence that shows that you may be able to target belly fat¹⁻³. This has been shown to occur in several different research studies.
Now, we want to emphasize the words “some” and “may” again, as there is no conclusive evidence. We’re also not saying this is 100% effective. All we’re saying is that unlike many claims online, there are more than a few reasons to believe that you can be successful in targeting your belly fat.
Possible Mechanisms Of Targeted Fat Loss
One reason that gives this validity is that all of the research that has been shown to be successful has followed similar protocols based on the same methodologies.
Here are the main mechanisms and variables that should be used in successful fat loss.
1) Traditional Core Exercises Increase Muscle Mass And Strength.
One problem with traditional efforts is that people do crunches and expect to burn fat. The problem is that this is usually done in a rep range suitable for building muscle.
As you would guess, these exercises are good at building the abdominal muscle but not very effective with targeting the fat over the muscle.
2) Perform Core Exercises In Endurance Fashion.
Studies showing successful spot reduction use a similar philosophy. Rather than doing core exercises to build muscle, you do them using an “endurance” scheme.
This means doing exercises at a low load so you can perform them for a longer duration – it should look more like a cardio session rather than a strength session!
3) This Leads To Fat Oxidation In The Area.
When required, your body can break down fat to provide energy. However, your body doesn’t care where the fat comes from – this is why it’s assumed you can’t spot it.
However, if the demand is great enough, researchers believe that a muscle in need will get energy from closer fat stores.
4) It Promotes Blood Flow To The Area.
Fat oxidation needs adequate blood flow to transport fatty acids to the needy muscle. Under normal circumstances, blood flow to the belly is lower than to other areas, which is one reason it can be harder to lose for some people.
Performing core exercises in an endurance fashion may increase blood flow to the area, thus promoting fat breakdown.
That’s the basic theory summed up! We actually have an entire article dedicated to this topic, so go check that out for greater details!
What are the best exercises to use to reduce belly fat?
So now, let’s get into what exercises you should use to target belly fat. To clarify what the above summary suggests, the most important factor when choosing exercises isn’t concerned with building muscle. Rather, it should be an exercise you can perform for an extended duration.
For example, hanging leg raises are awesome for building core strength and muscle. However, they’re tough, and the vast majority of people can not perform them for extended durations.
Now, we don’t know for sure what would be best. However, after looking at all the available information concerning target fat loss, we would guess that cable machines are the best exercises to target fat loss.
- Cable Crunch W/ Light Weight
- Machine Cable Crunch W/ Light Weight
- Cable Wood Chopper
- Pallof Press
- Planks
The primary variable is that you can perform the exercise for a prolonged duration. By using cable exercises, you can easily use a lighter load that allows you to perform the exercise for prolonged durations, ideally at least 4:00.
And as always, you’re going to need to be in a caloric deficit to make this happen!
Other Variables To Lose Belly Fat
Training while fasted could yield greater results in promoting fat loss.
Remember that we are trying to promote fat loss from the belly area. Fat breakdown will be blunted if your glycogen stores are full, and your body will pull from there instead.
All of the studies relied on this fact and achieved it in several ways, including;
- Performing extended cardio before the core exercises
- Intermixing cardio exercise with core exercises for extended training sessions.
Therefore, ensuring they’re depleted will probably help increase belly fat breakdown. With that in mind, in theory, this would suggest that performing a core workout while fasting would be ideal.
An Actual Lower Belly Fat Workout
As mentioned, all of the studies that showed success at targeting belly fat used similar methods. This includes variations of;
- Using abdominal issues for longer durations than normal (At least 1:00, ideally 4:00-5:00) as part of a circuit
- Using a session of cardio first followed by interval training with aerobic times.
Other than those details, we don’t have any specific information about a core workout that works better than others. From the studies, it seems as though these variations work more or less equally.
Again, your goal isn’t necessarily building your core, it’s simply to activate the muscles so they demand fuel and eat up your fat. How you do that is up to you which gives you a ton of options.
Depending on equipment availability and your fitness levels, sessions could look very different for different people.
Here is what 3 sessions of a lower belly fat loss workout could look like.
Session 1
- Cycle – 5 min
- Treadmill – 5 min
- Crunches – 5 min
- Flutter Kicks – Max Time (At least 1:00)
- Cycle – 5 min
- Treadmill – 5 min
- Core Rotation – 5 min
- Flutter Kicks – Max Time (At least 1:00)
- And so on…
Session 2
- Treadmill – 20-30 min
- Crunches @ 30-40% – 5:00
- Russian Twist – 3:00
- Crunches @ 30-40% – 5:00
- And so on
Session 3
- Incline Treadmill – 10 min
- Plank – Max Time (At least 1:00)
- Cable Chop – @ 30-40% – 5:00
- Front Carry – 1:00
- Cable Crunches @ 30-40% – 5:00
- Incline Treadmill – 10 min
- Plank – Max Time (At least 1:00)
- Cable Chop – @ 30-40% – 5:00
- Front Carry – 1:00
- Cable Crunches @ 30-40% – 5:00
Those are basic templates, so feel free to use them to create a workout that works for your situation.
Burning Belly Fat: Final Word
We want to stress this one more time: This is largely theoretical that’s built on several good studies. Research is still quite limited on this exact method, but we do feel there’s enough to warrant its application to build a workout that may effectively reduce belly fat.
Plus, as we say whenever we mentioned this in other articles, the worst thing that happens is you get a great core workout and burn calories!
References
- Scotto di Palumbo, Alessandro, et al. “Effect of Combined Resistance and Endurance Exercise Training on Regional Fat Loss.” The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness, vol. 57, no. 6, 2017, pp. 794–801, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28497942, https://doi.org/10.23736/S0022-4707.16.06358-1.
- Paoli, Antonio, et al. “Effect of an Endurance and Strength Mixed Circuit Training on Regional Fat Thickness: The Quest for the “Spot Reduction.” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, vol. 18, no. 7, 6 Apr. 2021, p. 3845, https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18073845.
- Mathias Forsberg Brobakken, et al. “Abdominal Aerobic Endurance Exercise Reveals Spot Reduction Exists: A Randomized Controlled Trial.” Physiological Reports, vol. 11, no. 22, 1 Nov. 2023, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10680576/, https://doi.org/10.14814/phy2.15853.
