Tips

Steyr

Hey guys whats the best way to tighten your stomach and lose the flab that exists? I went from 18 stone to 12 stone now and am wondering how do i tighten it up? Sit ups? I cycle everywhere and swim alot, any help is welcome.

Happy New Year!

caff

Running would help I think

Sit ups build the muscle there but it won't "tighten" as I understand it to let your abs show unless the fat is reduced

others here would know more than me though

tribulus

Lose some bodyfat to get your abs to show through, exercise diet and diet for that of course.

Doing the usual 100 situps a day thing will neither build much muscle or lose fat from that area (you can't choose to lose fat from a specific area).

Transform

Steyr wrote:

Hey guys whats the best way to tighten your stomach and lose the flab that exists? I went from 18 stone to 12 stone now and am wondering how do i tighten it up? Sit ups? I cycle everywhere and swim alot, any help is welcome.

Happy New Year!

Start doing a weights program - aerobic exercise i.e. cycling, swimming etc will make you smaller and help to drop fat but IN NO WAY WILL HELP TO TIGHTEN YOUR ABS OR OTHER SUCH AREAS.

Hit the weights in a gym and that will pay off in a huge way

t-ha

Steyr wrote:

Hey guys whats the best way to tighten your stomach and lose the flab that exists? I went from 18 stone to 12 stone now and am wondering how do i tighten it up? Sit ups? I cycle everywhere and swim alot, any help is welcome.

Happy New Year!

What age are you? If the weight loss was quick you will need time for the skin to adjust, the younger you are the better. Also, getting into a resistance programme will build some muscle which can take up some of the slack and help your metabolism. Just mentioning this because some people who lose alot of weight quickly mistake skin looseness for fat, and also many people kind of starve themselves doing it and slow their metabolisms.

Boru.

tribulus wrote:

(you can't choose to lose fat from a specific area).

Not strictly speaking true apparently. The Danich reseachers led by Dr. Bente Stallknecht from the Panum Institute in Copenhagen proved spot reducing DOES indeed occur. The study was published in the American Journal Physiological Endorcrinology Metabolism in press, Sept 19 2006. It has since been independantly peer reviewed and verified.

Specific exercises cause an increase in adipose tissue utilisation due to increased blood flow around adjacent muscles.

However that doesn't change anything - LIFT very heavy weights, very often and you'll be firm everywhere, not just on your stomach. Two of the best exercsies are compound movements, meaning they use many muscles at once, called hte dead lifdt and the squat. These two exercises use the stabilising muscles of the abs to great effect and often produced greater contraction in the muscle than a simple crunch. Get proper instruction in those two movements and you'll be fine.

tribulus

Interesting, could only get the abstract though, did the full article give any detailed reasoning or hypothesis for the observed results?

Article

I can see studies such as these being brutally abused by companies bringing out spot reduction creams or something! Unless there's evidence for these as well

Boru.

It did in did trib, and it was surprisingly basic. I'm sure if you emailed them they would be happy to forward you a copy of their findings. Essentially they found that in localised specific exercises such as knee extentions mwentioned in the article that the muscle being engaged and the surrounding stabilising and supporting muscles would expand and contract resuting in increased blood flow. As a result of energy loss and use in multiple rep movements the muscle made use of existing adipose resources. Of course the result is negligable and in no way is comparitive to healthy diet and exercise.

You're right it will get completely abused:rolleyes:

mloc

tribulus wrote:

Interesting, could only get the abstract though

far as i can remember your in 3rd pharm right? you should be able to get the full article through the conway institute subscription, which is automatic when you log in on a campus pc.

iregk

Running will help you loose body fat all over and does it quite quickly too once you get your fitness up and can run good distances. I tend to go through phases during the year. For instance during the winter months I will build and come march start to tone. This is due to a couple of reasons. By toning then I get the beach look (no im not saying i have the arnie body!) and by then the weather is starting to get better so your running adn cycling is the sun!

quozl

Plus running provides a positive reason to watch your diet. It's the only reason I'm not a 5 fry a week man anymore

tribulus

mloc wrote:

far as i can remember your in 3rd pharm right? you should be able to get the full article through the conway institute subscription, which is automatic when you log in on a campus pc.

excellent, thanks