Alright, so I took a little time off in the spring, but I've been running a while. I'm back in shape and doing all sorts of running/ab work. But I have a tiny bit of flab below the belly button. To the normal person it may be nothing, but to a runner, it is noticeable. For some reason, I just can't get rid of it. My abs are strong and defined elsewhere, but not that spot. Any ideas how to work that spot specifically when doing abs?
You cannot spot reduce fat.
At least not through exercise
True, you cannot spot reduce fat absent medical procedure.
Distance runners actually have a high percentage of body fat. That's why a lot of them have that "skinny-fat" look. For some people, that fat is around the mid section.
If you're having trouble reducing fat in a certain area, then you have to change something. Maybe it's your diet. Maybe it's doing more intense exercising such as HIIT. The reason why you rarely see fat on a sprinter is often times explained by the way they train.
This wikipedia entry has a link to a study on HIIT.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-intensity_interval_training
actually wrote:
Distance runners actually have a high percentage of body fat. That's why a lot of them have that "skinny-fat" look. For some people, that fat is around the mid section.
What are you talking about? Distance runners do not have a high percentage of body fat. Fat people have a high percentage of body fat.
What are you comparing them to? Body builders? Body builders will go to extremes to have super low body fat for a competition. If you're comparing distance runners to that then yes, but Geb, Meb, Ritz, Hall, Fleshman, and on and on, none of them have a "high percentage of body fat".
Go on the Christian Bale diet. Have you seen the movie "The Machinist?" This guy is built pretty solid. You have to see it to believe it. He is 6'-2" and went down to like 120 something. Insane! You would lose the flab below your belly button. You'll just have to stop eating for a while.
Yes, he ate a can of tuna and one green apple everyday.
I don't think Bale is 6'2" though, I think he is around 6'.
You never know with actors.
I wouldn't have been surprised if he were under 100 in that film.
Pic:
Just so you can compare, here is a pic of Bale in American Psycho:
no picture from that second link ("American Psycho" one)
compared to who??? what does 'high' mean?this is a silly statementevery runner i know is about half the size of your average person - i don't care how little muscle they have they would not be considered to have high body fat by any measure
actually wrote:
Distance runners actually have a high percentage of body fat.
many of the runners on my team have had their body fat % tested in the human performance lab at our school. all of them were under 10%, most around 8
Compared to no one.
Straight from a Running Times article:
"Keep in mind that runners perform successfully at a wide range of leannesses. One study of 70 elite women distance runners found their average body fat was 16.8%, with a range of 6% to 35.8%"
Now, go look at sprinters and tell me what their body fat percentage is. Tell me if you see any belly fat. I promise you a distance runner has a much higher percentage of body fat.
I'm not using the comparison to sprinters to justify my point that distance runners have a low percentage of body fat, but to show that HIIT is a good way to reduce belly fat and body fat overall, which is the subject of this thread.
Distance runners and endurance athletes do have more body fat than sprint athletes in general. However, this body fat is usually not the subcutaneous (visible) variety, its usually deeper around muscles and the organs to be used as fuel. The reason many people test real real low is because skin caliper tests can't find this.
I'm not saying real distance runners have 15% body fat or anything, but many don't have 4% either.
I'm at work now, but I'll post a source later.
bad link wrote:
no picture from that second link ("American Psycho" one)
It works for me.
Just Google Bale American Psycho
actually wrote:
Compared to no one.
Straight from a Running Times article:
"Keep in mind that runners perform successfully at a wide range of leannesses. One study of 70 elite women distance runners found their average body fat was 16.8%, with a range of 6% to 35.8%"
You have to keep in mind, women usually have higher %'s of fat than men. When they get to too low of a %, they lose their period; it's better for them to have a higher % of fat.
on my college cross country team we had regular body fat testing, 4 of the guys had body fat under 6%. almost everyone was under 8% and everyone was under 9%