Can’t get rid of that potbelly? There are truly best ways for women to get rid of their potbelly, even if they have been trying for a long time to trim that gut. I’m a certified personal trainer and have helped many women lose their potbellies.
I’m not talking about obese women here, but rather, smaller women who just happen to have a potbelly — a midsection that’s out of proportion to the rest of their body, one that’s just too plump, given the size of the rest of their physique. A major mistake that some women make, when it comes to dreaming of getting rid of their potbelly, is blaming their paunch on pregnancies.
I don’t mean soon after a pregnancy. Obviously, recovery time and “rebound” time are necessary following giving birth. But I’ve known women who blame pregnancies of well over a decade ago, even several decades ago, on their potbellies.
Interestingly, these women’s potbellies have grown in the years following their last pregnancy! Don’t blame pregnancies.
A woman should review her exercise habits, especially if she’s over 30. If a woman has not been strength training, then beginning at around age 30, she starts losing muscle mass. This slows the metabolism, and guess what the result is: increasing amounts of fat in the belly. And often elsewhere, too.
The more muscle a woman has, the faster her resting metabolic rate, and the faster the resting metabolic rate, the less stored fat there will be in the belly.
Thus, the most important thing a woman can do to get rid of the potbelly is to strength train — and hard. Light weights and high reps won’t cut it. I have my clients use weights heavy enough to create “muscle failure” within 8-12 repetitions. Muscle failure is when the muscle being worked, just plain poops out and can’t budge for even one more repetition. The strength training set is very difficult, right from the start.
Whatever amount of weight this takes to achieve this level of effort, is what I assign my clients, and is what you should experiment with. Strength train all the major muscle groups, with emphasis on the upper legs, glutes, back and chest, because the largest muscle groups will burn the most fat — including fat in the belly.
This means hard leg workouts will burn fat in the belly; hardworking legs need fuel for recovery from hard exercise. Body fat is unused fuel. If your belly is loaded with fat, your legs will take from that fat, and hence, you will start losing your potbelly.
Spend minimal time on abdominal exercises. Please, the myth is over: Lots of crunches and sit-ups will NOT get rid of a potbelly.
In addition to intense strength training, do cardio — high intensity interval type. This creates an “after burn” that regular long duration cardio doesn’t. On your favorite cardio machine, instead of setting the controls for a steady duration for 60 minutes, blast out your fastest effort, or use the hardest pedal tension, for one minute.
Then go easy for one minute. Do this back and forth for 25 minutes straight, three times a week on non-strength training days. A woman will start losing her potbelly this way.
The best ways for a woman to lose that potbelly are to strength train with heavy enough weights to make more than 12 repetitions impossible; engage in high intensity interval cardio; eat a nourishing breakfast; don’t go more than three hours without food; and drink plenty of water throughout the day.
