subject: Is Spot Training Effective? [print this page] It really seems that it is harder to remove the fat deposits in the belly than in other parts of the body. This is why a lot of people are turning to a lot of exercises that target the abdominal muscles primarily. But will exclusively doing a stomach exercise really help in eliminating or at least reducing belly fat? No. Why is this so? That's because of a flawed logic that misinformed people have about the workings of the human body.
What is this faulty logic? A lot of people think that just because bicep size can be increased by doing exercises that train the muscle, like curls, so if you follow the same logic you can achieve washboard abs by just doing plenty of sit-ups and abdominal crunches or any other stomach exercise. That reasoning is false because the human body just doesn't work that way. It's true that you build up the abdominal muscles but you still won't see them underneath the layer of fat.
You cannot just focus the fat burning process on just one particular area; in order for your belly fat to be eliminated the other fat deposits in the body have to go first. So in order to trim belly fat you need to train your whole body, not just the midsection.
The real method to eliminate and keep belly fat away is to do exercises that can increase the body's rate of metabolism. Increase it so much that even when you are resting you are still burning up calories. You can achieve this by doing exercises that will make your body exert so much effort that it will go into metabolic shock. This is the state in which your body will go into overdrive burning the calories you get from foods. Exercises that require you to lift heavy weights like, dead lifts, clean and jerks, bench pressing, all induce metabolic shock to your body.
And if that's not enough, an added benefit is that you will also build-up your muscles. And more muscles means you need to burn more calories, and this increased muscle mass will prevent fat deposits from ever coming back.
