Excerpt on how to blast belly fat with exercise - Couch to 5K

Couch to 5K

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Excerpt on how to blast belly fat with exercise

Oldgirl profile image
OldgirlGraduate
17 Replies

This is just an excerpt from an email I get about Calorie Counting, its very much based on USA but just now and again I read something that is good to know :) Don't agree with the 5 times a week however. But it is now known that HIIT works and even when the exercise has stopped the body is still burning calories (I like that bit a LOT). :)

Exercise Strategy Between Meals

Physical activity is a huge part of a healthy lifestyle, so it's fitting that you may want to change up your exercise routine. Belly fat won't budge unless you challenge yourself by picking up the pace. Regular high intensity exercise such as sprints or interval training is associated with less visceral fat. A study in the American Journal of Physiology, Endocrinology and Metabolism led by Duke University researchers found before-and-after measurements were lower for those who incorporated shorter higher intensity workouts into their regular exercise routine. Incorporating interval workouts as short as 15-minutes, 5 times a week can help you burn more belly fat.

Break up these interval workouts at least 2 hours before of after meals for an extra belly-fat blast.

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Oldgirl profile image
Oldgirl
Graduate
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17 Replies
Pearsey profile image
Pearsey

That, Oldgirl, is very interesting. I do run before eating anyway, and have lost 2" of belly fat, so far. So all I need to do when I graduate on Friday is carry on what I'm doing, by going onto 5K+-speed and stamina pods should help a lot.

Thank you for this Oldgirl. Was actually looking for the answer how to get onto admin and John R21. Maybe meant to be?? Happy running :-).

Oldgirl profile image
OldgirlGraduate in reply to Pearsey

I use Speed every week and on the 165 bmp I run flat out, this morning I also changed my route and ended up trying to run flat out up hill mmmm ;) The other thing you could do which I try every week is the HIIT in swimming, 1 length flat out, 2 slow/steady to recover, 1 breast stroke fast'ish then repeat. I use the 4 length cycle simply so that I can see the pool clock. This has helped to improve my breathing a great deal.

If your a weight watcher you will lose weight with HIIT I got to my target weight in August but have since lost another 3lbs without even trying, now into a size 8.

DeliaItaly profile image
DeliaItalyGraduate

Thanks for this info Oldgirl, I too have lost over a stone with all I've done so far, so I must be doing something right!

Gridlet profile image
GridletGraduate

I'm sure there was something about this on T.V. a while ago. Congratulations on your weight loss everyone! Great stuff!

eshaz14 profile image
eshaz14Graduate

All sounds good to me, just found my new challenge :) Congrats to all who have lost weight and inches

Pearsey profile image
Pearsey

Yes, I used to swim a lot-then I broke my arm badly and haven't got back into it. I can't do breast stroke-neck injury, but I used to hammer 12 lengths front crawl then 4 back stroke. I was a fast swimmer and used to race against others in the pool. it was a laugh!

Once I'm settled into the next phase of running I will go back to swimming again-got a gym just down the road, so I expect they accept payg.

Very happy with the 10lbs I've lost so far-I even found myself pulling up my trousers when I was walking on Monday afternoon-they are loose,lol!! Good thing they have a tie belt, so had to tie them up a bit tighter :-)

Thank you Oldgirl-if I hadn't lost my way trying to find John I wouldn't have seen your blog.

Pearsey profile image
Pearsey

Would you believe it my next email had this to say:

I’m sure you’re no stranger to interval training. Over the last several years interval training has been proven to be one of the most efficient and effective ways to lose fat.

Well, with a few simple but highly effective tweaks we're able to take this trendy exercise approach to a whole new level with shorter, harder intervals called “Metabolic Bursting”.

Metabolic Bursting has proven to rapidly release powerful fat burning hormones called catecholamines to burn off what’s been termed “stubborn fat," helping you to bust through ANY weight loss plateau.

Catecholamines are "fight-or-flight" hormones released by the adrenal glands in response to stress, such as high intensity exercise bursts lasting anywhere from 10 to 30 seconds long.

So all you have to do is pick your favorite cardio or bodyweight exercise and follow the sequence below:

Ab “Targeted” Metabolic Bursting Protocol

Warm up: 5 minutes (walk, calisthenics, jumping jacks, etc.)

Ab “Targeted” Sequence: Hard as you can go (cardio machine, sprinting, or bodyweight movements like squat presses) for 20 to 30 seconds at a time, walk or rest for 30 to 90 seconds in between, repeat 4 to 8 times.

Cool down: 5 to 10 minutes.

That’s it!

This won’t be easy, but it’s definitely efficient and simple to do.

When you perform this sequence specific catecholamines are released, which convert to dopamine, then to norepinephrine, and eventually to epinephrine, which ultimately forces the release of free fatty acids (i.e. bodyfat) into the bloodstream.

In other words, these hormones break apart stubborn body fat.

This is just one of the many reasons why these strategic shorter intervals are so much more effective for fat burning than traditional intervals or old-school, slow-go cardio.

But that’s really only the tip of the iceberg.

This approach has a ton of other hidden benefits such as:

1. They lower insulin while simultaneously increasing Growth Hormone – GH, which means even MORE fat-loss.

2. They provide the greatest “after burn”. Strategic high intensity metabolic bursts have the potential to increase your metabolic rate for 38 to 48 hours after doing just one 12 to 20 minute session. Pretty amazing.

3. They can be completed in as little as 4 minutes, so they save you a ton of time.

4. This type of exercise has also been shown to increase blood flow for faster fat loss in those hard-to-get-rid-of stubborn areas like lower abdomen fat and cellulite.

As you can see, the benefits of this approach go way beyond the scope of traditional cardio

Oldgirl profile image
OldgirlGraduate in reply to Pearsey

I forgot to add another exercise I have started doing HIIT is but only done it twice was the rowing machine at the gym. Very good for legs/arms and because its HIIT the rest of the body too. I did a warm up of 500m then 100m fast, 200m slower to recover and repeated until I had covered 2000m. Its quite a boring exerciser so that distance was quite long enough.

Pearsey profile image
Pearsey in reply to Oldgirl

Yes, I used to do this one when I paid to go to the gym.

Pearsey profile image
Pearsey

Yes, I used to do that many years ago when I paid to go to the gym.

vengadriver profile image
vengadriverGraduate

Thank you all so much for these inspiring posts!

I have been so fed up after weighing myself this week as no weight loss since I started runnning.I also haven't run this week as full of cold and a painful knee :( didn't want to push myself and regret it later.

I am now wondering if my training is wrong.I exercise 3 times per week.2 running sessions plus a spin and body pump class (45 min spin and 1 hour pump) I have recently been concentrating on increasing my distance from 5 to 10km on the B210K plan twice weekly,currently on week 3.I must say I do like running this plan at my pace throughout.Maybe I should leave this for a while and do some serious interval training twice per week instead especially as I may need to use the treadmill if the weather is bad.I may then achieve my goal of weight/fat loss.As the sessions are short I could maybe add some swimming/rowing work too.

Do you think this would be a good idea?

Oldgirl profile image
OldgirlGraduate in reply to vengadriver

I think the HIIT (high intensive interval training) is so good as you don't need to spend that much time doing it. You can of course entend the time period and just run for the enjoyment side after it. I have found though that when doing the HIIT if I put everything I have into the fast section I can't do that much (I am older though) but I never ever dreamed at 62 years old I would sprint which is what I'm doing now. Give it a try once a week instead of a long run and see how you get on.

The other thing I'm doing is hill training which is hard work but also builds up strength and stamina. Oh dear there aren't enough days in the week for all this and the gym, zumba, pilates, swimming, aqua gym - Phew need a lie down :)

Nevertoolate profile image
NevertoolateGraduate

Hello Oldgirl, I had a look at the advice and it does seem a lot, 5 times a week, doesn't it? I'm quite enjoying the Speed podcast because it's a short, sharp, shock compared to the long runs. I only run three times a week, otherwise I can't fit in my rest days. How are we supposed to be able to do it more often?

In short my question is this, do we stop having rest days? I thought it was important to allow muscles to recover?

Oldgirl profile image
OldgirlGraduate in reply to Nevertoolate

I never run more than 3 times a week Nevertoolate but I do sometimes do an exercise class on the same day as a run but a bit later on. I also swim HIIT after my Pilates class and my zumba class is mid afternoon so I would have had a rest from exercise for several hours in between. I'm not suggesting others do this but if you can do a mix of exercise between running it helps. The excerpt just says interval training 5 times a week but it doesn't state running interval training it could be any form of exercise which can be adapted i.e. run/swim/rowing/cycling/cross training there could be more too. Hope this helps.

Nevertoolate profile image
NevertoolateGraduate in reply to Oldgirl

Yes that explains things clearly. I've yet to find what other form of exercise I want to do! I wish I could run every day but thats not an option. Oh well, I shall concentrate on doing my best on my running days. Thanks again - not so Old Girl - from a mere slip of a girl at 51!

GoogleMe profile image
GoogleMeGraduate

The 'rest' days are more accurately 'non-running' days so you could do a different form of exercise eg swimming, workout.

JadeLong profile image
JadeLong

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