Best way to lose stomache flab

[ShipitFMA]

6"
85kg = ~187pounds

Currently play basketball twice a week, eat quite healthy

Started running this week, probably ran about 3kms (2miles)on both occasions. Hopefully will lose some fat doing this, but other than that what are the best exercises i can do at home to tone the stomache?

If this isn't enough information or anything please ask more questions and i'll be happy to answer

Oh and im 18 at the moment, trying to slim down over the next 6 months for a trip at the end of the year

Should probably add that i don't think im THAT fat, just got a bit of a gut type thing. Pictures to come later if that would help anyones answers

[Rearden]

Since no one else has done this yet...

Short answer:

No one will see your abs (no matter how many situps you do) if you have a layer of fat covering them. You have to get in better shape for any sort of ab program to really matter. You can not "spot reduce" fat (magically burn belly fat by doing X or Y or even Z), you have to lose fat in general.

Running is never a bad thing to get into. Pickup Basketball games are fun and a good way to be more active. Overall though can I suggest weight training? If youre interested in looking good for a trip (which I will assume is to a beach) you may also want to work on other aspects of your body. Calorie expenditure through weight training and metabolic benefits in the form of having more lean muscle mass are benefits to weight training outside of the obvious in terms of building muscle.

[ShipitFMA]

I was going to gym 2-3 times a week for around 18 months up until around this december 2005. Kinda slacked off during the holidays and the work load at school kind of picked up.

So you're suggesting the best way to look slimmer is to do weight training, I think another way to look slimmer is to build up the lower pecs, am i right? When your pecs are rounder/musclier looking you reduce the semi manboob type effect yeah?

So running 3 times a week and playing full games of basketball twice a week i wont be seeing much loss of fat around the stomache will i?

[Doug Funnie II]

You're active and adding activity will only help you. I'm interested in this "quite healthy" diet though. Do you know how many calories you eat in a day and how much fat/protein/carbs?

[Colt McCoy]

[ QUOTE ]
So you're suggesting the best way to look slimmer is to do weight training, I think another way to look slimmer is to build up the lower pecs, am i right? When your pecs are rounder/musclier looking you reduce the semi manboob type effect yeah?

So running 3 times a week and playing full games of basketball twice a week i wont be seeing much loss of fat around the stomache will i?

[/ QUOTE ]

Stop looking for tricks to make you look slimmer. You can't spot reduce. Read through some of the diet advice in other threads here. There's a lot of good advice here. Personally I'd recommend a circuit program or barbell/dumbell complex to burn fat and add a little muscle.

[slickpoppa]

The best way to reduce fat, aside from diet of course, is HIGH INTENSITY EXERCISES. Most people think that the best way burn fat is to run for an hour everyday. Although that might help, it is not the best way to burn fat.

Read this article, it will change your whole perspective:
http://www.cyclecambridge.com/Smith-HIIT.pdf

Also, here is a very good article detailing a high intensity routine using sprints:
http://www.t-nation.com/findArticle.do?article=251run2

The bad news is that high intensity exercises can be very painful. The good news is that they are much much shorter than jogging and you get much more bang for your buck.

The bottom line is that if you want to lose fat, focus on short, high intensity exercises.

[anklebreaker]

This thread brings up a good question. Obviously "spot reduction" has been long established to be a myth, and I've told many people that over the years. However, I wonder if that is still 100% true.

I remember reading something about inhibiting alpha-2 recepters topically, through transdermal chemicals that apparently promote fat mobilization. (I'm not talking about the marketing campaign of some fat-loss gel.)

Does anyone have more information on this?