How to lose Abdominal Fat

One of the questions I get asked the most is how to lose body fat around my stomach and begin to see my turtle shell aka – abs. 

Focus on building muscle, big muscle groups, and High Intensity training. I have a sample week towards the bottom, for now here the exercises you should be doing every workout:

1. Squat
2. Hinge
3. Push 
4. Pull 
5. If you are criticizing me you should Lunge and Rotation too.

Muscle burns a lot more calories that fat does. 

Precision Nutrition studied to see if working out is better than dieting.

1. Control Group
2. A group that didn’t exercise and just ate in a 500 caloric deficit each day. 
3. A group that exercised 2 X a week for one hour. Total Body Workouts.

“After 16 Weeks Group 2 and Group 3 both lost 15.4 lbs (7kg) of body weight, decreased their waist by nearly 7 cm (2.7 inches.) The control group saw no changes in weight, waist girth or BMI. 

Group 2 and 3 lost the same amount of weight. However the group that lifted weights and dieted (3), lost the most visceral fat between lumbar disks L2-L3 compared to just dieting. This lost fat closer to the liver.”

Imagine if you worked out three times a week and simply moved for 5 hours a week, what would happen? I have a sample workout week listed below. 

Here are a few tips from RD Franziska Spritzler 

1. Eat Plenty of Soluble Fiber
2. Avoid Trans Fat
3. Cut Back on the Alcohol
4. High Protein Diet
5. Cut Back on Sugar
6. Avoid Sugar Sweetened Beverages
7. Get enough Rest
8. Stop Drinking Fruit Juice 
9. Add Apple Cider Vinegar to Your Diet
10. Do Resistance Training

Bottom Line is 

If you eat 500 calories less for 16 weeks that’s 112 days, that’s 56,000 calories. That’s 16 lbs. 

Determine how many calories your body burns, if you are local in Nashville I can test this for you or use a great app like My Fitness Pal for a simple formula that will give you an idea of how many calories to be intaking. 

Combine your dieting with a fitness plan that focuses on building muscle, your body will burn more calories and you will shred body fat. 

To check out the entire study Precision Nutrition did on the three groups 

Sample Workout Week

Workout 1 (1 Hour)

CORE Warm Up 

A.

3 x 1 Minute Plank

3 x 30 Seconds of Toe Touches – lay on your back with feet up and reach for your toes.

Strength ( 1 of the Big Four Movements )

B.

Spend 10 Minutes working on:

Build to a challenging five squats. If you are comfortable use a barbell or perform Goblet Squats if you aren’t.  Complete 5 at a light weight, increase the weight, and complete 5 more  until you have found a challenging five reps. 

Attempt to complete 50 squats during the 10 minutes would be a good target. 

C.

Cardio (30 minutes)

Depending on how much time you have complete 

30 seconds on 30 seconds off Bike Intervals. 30 Minutes would be a good target. That’s puts you at an hour workout. Increase your intensity as you get closer towards the end of your workout. 

Workout 2 (45 Minutes)

If you haven’t performed squats in awhile you are probably pretty sore. Exercising today will help to flush out the soreness in your legs. Today complete:

If you like to Run or Walk

Two Sets of:

3 Minutes at a moderate intensity running or walking (note how far you go)

Rest 3 minutes then repeat

then..

Four sets of:

2:30 minutes of higher intensity running or walking and trying to cover the same distance you did during your three minutes but in less time. 

Rest 4 Minutes

If you prefer to Row or Elliptical 

Complete Six Sets of:

3 Minute of Rowing or Elliptical 

Rest 90 seconds and repeat five more times. 

Workout 3  (1 Hour)

Complete Monday’s core work or if you have an Instagram check out @getksquaredfit for some great core exercises to implement. 

Strength

A.

Spend 10 Minutes building up to a challenging 5 rep Deadlift (Hinge)

B.

Three sets of:

24 Weighted Lunges 

Men 35-50 lbs

Women 20-35 lbs

Yes I want those to be heavy, we always want to give the body a weight that is challenging. If it doesn’t challenge you it doesn’t change you. 

C. 

10 Minute AMRAP (As many reps or rounds as possible)

5 Goblet Squats with two dumbbells. 

After you squat five times walk for 20 seconds with the DB’s in the front rack position.

After 20 seconds drop your arms to your sides like you are carries groceries (Farmer Carry) walk for 20 seconds. 

Repeat this as many times as possible for 10 Minutes.

D. 

3 x 15 Shoulder Press 

Cardio

7 Sets of:

Men – 15 Calorie Row + 15 Calorie Bike. 

Women – 10 Calorie Row + 10 Calorie Bike. 

Complete 7 rounds of that as quickly as possible

Workout 4 (20-45 Minutes)

Check out romwod.com for a free trial of yoga. I visit there website every, single, day. I can pull up their site from anywhere, and it helps me dedicate 20 minutes of stretching and time to myself. If you do this on a Thursday it will be a 45 minute routine, just a heads up. 

Today is intentionally no weights or cardio. I want you to train hard, then recover hard. 

Take an epsom salt bath, get a good nights rest and with your free hour from the gym make a really great quality dinner or prepare tomorrow’s lunch. 

Workout 5 (1 Hour)

A.

Spend 10 Minutes working on:

Building to a challenging eight squats. If you are comfortable use a barbell or perform Goblet Squats if you aren’t. Complete 8 at a light weight, increase the weight and complete 8 more, etc until you have found a challenging eight reps. 

Attempt to complete 80 squats during the 10 minutes is your target today. 

B. 

3 X 45 seconds Farmer Carry’s with Dumbbells

Men 50-100 lbs

Women 30-60 lbs 

C. 

12 Minute AMRAP

Men – 7 Calories on Bike + 10 Push Ups

Women – 5 Calories on Bike + 10 Push Ups

Men and women, it’s okay to use your knees. I would rather you move through full range of motion, then compromise form. 

D. 

Can be complete on a Day 6 or today if you have the time. (30 minutes)

Option A.

Run or walk for 3 Minutes a very easy pace

then…

Run or Power Walk Fast for 6 Minutes

Run or Walk Moderate for 9 Minutes 

Run or Power Walk Fast for 6 Minutes

Run or Walk Moderate for 9 Minutes 

Option B.

If you prefer to Row or elliptical 

Complete four sets of:

8 Minutes of Rowing 

Rest 2 Minutes between sets. 

If you read this far you are invested in yourself and want to lose lbs subscribe to our page, we provide five free workouts a week. 

Check us out on Instagram @getksquaredfit

Get after it.