I have got back into working out. Need to loose the pot belly I got goin on. One thing that I need to sort though is the area from the belly button downwards. Even if the pot belly goes I know I will still be plagued with this bit under my belly button. Even when I was looking trim the last time I was working out it still had this problem of it sticking out a bit further then the rest of my stomach. Its not a massive deal. Im a slim guy anyway, but it'd be nice to know I can do something about it.
Anyone got any excersises for this area? Im guessing stomach crunches but is that really the best way to get rid of any fat there as opposed to building muscle?

Also, someone said one time they used to wrap bin liners round their waste when they went for a jog as the plastic bags would make them sweat more in that area that was covered by them. Is this true? Will that work or is that bullshit?

Thanks

Body fat starts to accumulate around the belly button, has to due with the ambilical cord I think? (evolutionary physiology). What your asking for is called a "spot reducution routine" which does not exsist! Is it smaller first thing in the morning on an empty stomach? Just continue to train smart reduce your calories from your daily requirment of calories its stubborn but can be reduce. Posture also has something to do with it remain completly upright should help. Gennetics as well!

thanks

Easiest way is to just activate ur abs all day. Conciously flex your abs whenever you can, walking, running, sitting, standing. This should help tighten that up.
Not so much reduce ur calories, reduce ur carbs. Carbs are the enemy when it
comes to bellyfat. Ya gotta cut out all the enriched white flour in ur diet, look at whole grain ( Not whole wheat, its different) options if ur forced to eat pasta or break. Cardio is the next thing thats going to help ya, try running stairs or a big hill, sprint up and jog down. If ur forced to do this at the gym, then do interval training, run hard for a couple of minutes, get ur heart rate racing then slow it down for a couple. Do this over and over and u will see beter results than those girls who just jog for an hour on the treadmill.

Leg raises, Planks and side planks are all good ab exercises that you should add to your workout.

Intra-abdominal/Visceral fat is often a symptom of excess stress. This tends to be where many men with high stress jobs hold their body fat.

I see this a lot with desk jockeys. The problem is our physiology was designed to be moving around all day, not sitting at a desk. When you receive a stress response and your body doesn't act accordingly, you've got a build up of stress hormones running through your system. (cortisol, epinephrine) These hormones are meant to get your body moving, it's a primordial response we needed 200,000 years ago when you needed to get the fuck out of trouble.

The problem; because you have no outlet to vent this your body thinks it's in trouble all day long. As a protective mechanism the first thing your physiology wants to do is protect your vital organs. The best way to do that is to cover them with fat.

Sorry for any other phys experts reading this. I tried to simplify that a lot.

Bottom line: you need to reduce your stress and eat properly. Try meditation, getting up and walking around as much as possible at work. Really be mindful of your thoughts and make sure they're not getting out of control when you're not paying attention.

Absolutely NO SPECIAL EXERCISE exists that is going to alleviate this issue for you.

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Posture and Fat Loss is my specialty. http://www.thebuffgeek.com

As a guy said above there is no such thing as spot reduction. So you can't just lose the fat on the belly, it's impossible. To the guy said crunches and so on, this will sort of work, eventually he'll have rock hard abs, but that layer of fat will not remove it, so they won't be seen.

For your workout, do some full body compound excersises - Squats are probably the best. Things like barbell roll outs, deadlifts, dips, press ups, chins ups, you get the idea. You can do a bit of ab work, but they won't make much difference at first.

Do HITT running or HITT swimming are probably the best things you can do. If you do some swimming after your workout you'll just die, it's a killer trying to swim for long after a workout
Don't just get on the treadmill or whatever and run for a long period of time, better off doing a shorter one but getting the intensity up and down (read what HITT is)

Weightlifting is better than cardio for it. So a better weightlifting routine would be more beneficial.

Start eating right too, your calorie intake doesn't matter as much, maybe cut it by 300-500 calories. Just make sure it's good food your eating and not junk.

Remember your rest days are as important as your workout days.

Like others have already said, its literally impossible to spot reduce (without surgery anyway). Your body simply doesnt work that way. Strength train, eat less carbs, and perhaps a little bit less overall, and you will lose weight.

Also, dont focus on over training your abs. Do weighted crunches, or use resistance machines, dont over do it with 27 different movements, completely unnecessary.

-Dream

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What some fitness trainer told me

Losing belly fat / getting 6 pack is:

80% diet,
15-19% training other body parts (squats, dead lifts etc)
1-5% ab workout

Hope I helped

You're basically saying that you want to remove that belly, and you think that doing a certain exercise will do it.
Well, no, there is no such thing as spot fat removal. You just have to burn fat, and your body will decide where it comes off, sadly, the belly is the last part for the majority of people.
The thing about putting something in your belly, to make you sweat more is just useless. Sweating doesn't necessarily mean you're burning fat.
Your best bet is to do overall cardio, and watch your nutrition. If its not a really obese belly, it should be gone within a week of daily 30 min cardio and good nutrition.
And also do some crunches to get the abdominal muscles stronger, just while you're at it =)

A week??? Belly fat is what every pro struggles with, its the first place u put on weight and the last place you loose it. Its in our phisiology, belly fat can be cause by a whole bunch of reasons, but the main reason is stress. People in ancient times, when they were in times of war or poverty, they became very stressed. This lead the body to store fat in the belly to help protect internal organs. There is no quick fix to belly fat and it will def take more than a week. The problem with belly fat is that once its gone, u have to work just as hard to keep it off, because as i said its the first place the body stores fat. Do lots of cardio, but make sure u do interval training, just jogging for half hour wont burn nearly as many calories as doing two hard minutes followed by two easy minutes and repeat.

Saw this on a shit at the gym the other day, thought it was hilarious: Cheat on your girlfriends, Not on your workouts

Good Luck
Cheers