Exercising against the navel

It's called a beer belly or a daddy belly, whatever, we all know what it is. Let's see what's better if we want to fight the fat belly. More iron workouts or hours of cardio?

As men age, they tend to develop their abs. It happens even to men who are lovers of running or even those who do any cardio. Studies alone prove this phenomenon, but just look at most older guys 35 years old and you don't need studies. Fat bellies are almost everywhere.

A lot of them have come to terms with it. It's often called "beer belly" and has been attributed to beer and poor diet, as well as "natural" muscle loss and subsequent slow metabolism the older we get. Science even has a term: waist circumference increases with age.

DOES IT HAVE TO BE THAT WAY ?

Surely not. Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health have been working on this phenomenon with their 12-year study, directly on 51,000 male health care workers, from dentists to pediatricians. The study was large, but the main thing they examined was the effects of strength training vs. cardio (defined as moderate to vigorous aerobic activity).

The research team did a good job here. They didn't rely on BMI because they knew it was inaccurate in lifters and athletes. For example, my BMI before surgery said I was on the verge of severe obesity and would probably die soon.
They also didn't rely solely on body weight because losing weight on the scale doesn't mean progress if you're also losing muscle. They focused mainly on waist measurements.

The cardio men were better off than the TV slackers (the control group), but not as well as the exercisers. The runners were usually lighter than many of the exercisers, but the researchers cleverly noted that the weight gained through exercise was mostly muscle. In short, the exercise group looked much better without clothes than the cardio group.

The researchers went on to argue that a combination of exercise and cardio is probably best. And they are certainly right when you look at other health indicators. That's why I always recommend both strength training and the inclusion of cardio activity in your diets. I wouldn't avoid cardio in volume either, just reduce its intensity.

CONCLUSION

So what have we learned? Well, if you're trying to avoid a beer belly, lifting weights beats cardio. This still surprises most people, especially the average guy who assumes that cardio would be the most effective form of exercise to combat belly button growth. That's why most people struggle at home on a cardio machine that cost them a few thousand, when a gym would be much more effective.

EPOC after exercise partly explains this. EPOC (Excess Post-exercise Oxygen Consumption) - shows the general level of disruption to homeostasis due to exercise and is mainly about post-exercise oxygen consumption. The more demanding the workout, the greater the load on the body and the higher the EPOC level.

EPOC is a phenomenon where after exercise you continue to have higher resting energy expenditure for up to 48 hours. Cardio may burn more calories compared to some types of exercise, but working out in the gym will ensure you continue to burn calories in the hours following your workout.

So if you only have time for one form of exercise and want to avoid the belly button, then definitely opt for gym workouts. A lot of cardio may slow down the growth of your belly, but as you age, you lose muscle mass, which you need, and you should also take this as an important fact that will affect the overall appearance of your physique.