The beer belly, the spare tire, the love handles, whatever you want to call it it's at the centre of your body and it's often the first place people notice getting larger when they put on weight. This is even more true for men who genetically carry more fat around their abdomen, whereas women typically store most of their body fat on their hips and thighs. Never the less regardless of gender if there's one area that people want to work on 9/10 its their stomach.
As part of my bespoke Personal Training service I tailor my programming to every individual client that I work with. It's vitally important to recognise that no one is the same and different people respond to differing training and dietary techniques. That being said according to research from the University of New South Wales in Australia, if your goal is to reduce the amount of subcutaneous fat (fat stored under your skin) on your stomach, then the best form of training is probably High Intensity Interval Training or HIIT.
For those that haven't heard of it before HIIT involves short bursts of very intense exercise interspersed with periods of recovery and can involve almost any form of exercise from sprinting to weight lifting - as long as it is done at, or close to maximum effort. From personal experience I can vouch for the effectiveness of HIIT and I use it on a regularly basis with many of my clients.
Moreover, the pros of HIIT extend beyond the fact that it may help you burn more stomach fat. The other primary advantage is that it doesn't take long to complete a HIIT session because you can only work at the required intensity for around half an hour or so. Given that one of the main reasons that people give for not exercising regularly is that they don't have the time - this is very handy.
The mechanisms behind HIIT training's effectiveness at reducing abdominal fat aren't clear. But experts do know that HIIT is great for developing both aerobic and anaerobic fitness, plus it also increases your insulin sensitivity. This is really important for regulating your blood sugar levels thereby reducing your risk of developing type 2 diabetes. With the UK facing a looming public health crisis due to rising obesity levels and the prevalence of lifestyle diseases such as diabetes, prevention is a far more effective solution than treatment of these conditions.
However, despite it's advantages HIIT is not going to be right for everyone - for example if you haven't done much exercise in the last year or so, then you probably want to start off with something a little easier to begin with, or you're going to risk overdoing it. Trust me despite what some other trainers might say, working yourself to the point of vomiting is NOT the way forward. Always remember that CONSISTENCY TRUMPS INTENSITY every time and at the end of the day finding a training regimen that you can stick to should be your number one priority regardless of your goals.