Does cardio cause belly fat? & bull; hello healthy

Many people are determined to get fitter and lose body fat. The most commonly chosen exercise is cardio (running or cycling, for example). But what you don't know is, moderate to high intensity cardio exercise ("chronic cardio") can actually be ineffective at losing fat, especially belly fat. How did it happen? Check out the full explanation below.

What is cardio training?

Compared to other types of exercise, cardio exercises are most commonly used to help with weight loss. The reason is, this one activity is very effective in burning fat. Cardio training itself is an exercise to increase your heart rate. The heart is made up of muscles that have to move to get stronger and stronger. When your heart muscle is strong, your blood vessels can circulate more and faster blood around your body.

This of course can flow more oxygen into the muscle cells. In addition, adequate oxygen intake also allows cells to burn more fat during exercise and at rest. Examples of cardio exercises are walking, jogging, aerobics, and swimming.

Is it true that cardio exercise actually accumulates fat in the stomach?

Cardio exercise does have many benefits for the body. Unfortunately, cardio exercise that is done excessively can actually lead to accumulation of fat in the stomach. However, that doesn't mean cardio training will make you fatter, but it may negatively impact your cortisol levels (a catabolic stress hormone), which in turn makes recovery more difficult and will be dangerous for those of you looking to maintain or improve your body shape.

What is not understood or considered when doing cardio training is the hormonal or metabolic effect it has on the body. If you do the wrong aerobic exercise, it will increase cortisol levels. As a result, the condition actually causes your body to store fat in the body, not burn it. Well, high cortisol levels have been shown to increase visceral fat (fat that surrounds organs / fat in the stomach) and inflammation in the body.

Furthermore, visceral fat is actually a metabolic tissue that secretes chemicals (called adipokines), which damage muscles and create more belly fat. This is one of the reasons why belly fat is difficult to lose.

Doing too much cardio, aka "chronic cardio" is not necessarily detrimental because it stimulates cortisol (cortisol is produced whenever we are under stress). But also because "chronic cardio" does not stimulate an anabolic hormone response to counter the catabolic process of cortisol. For example, when an individual lifts weights or sprint, they put their bodies under stress, producing cortisol, but this activity also results in the production of anabolic hormones that promote growth, repair, and fat burning.

Therefore, the best exercises you can do to get rid of belly fat maximally are those that make your body produce Human Growth Hormone (HGH), testosterone, and adrenaline. These anabolic hormones will boost the body's natural anti-stress system and bring it back into balance.

Additional research on the issue of cortisol shows that there is no improvement in continuous aerobic exercise after 6-8 weeks of training. This means, there are limits to doing aerobic exercise. Therefore, for those of you who are thinking of doing an hour of cardio with the aim of getting rid of your belly fat, you may actually be wasting your energy.

So, are there other methods that are effective at burning belly fat?

There are far more efficient and effective methods for leaning and toning than doing "chronic cardio". It is best to do sports that will at least maintain muscle mass, such as Compounds, sports like squats, deadlifts, push-pulls, bent-over-rows, and plyometric movements, for example. This type of exercise should be performed at high volume and brief periods of rest in order to maximize beneficial hormonal responses and optimize genetic expression for the best results for fat burning and cardiovascular fitness. Furthermore, when these exercises are performed correctly, they will help build muscle unity, joint stability, coordination and athletic competence.

It's important to note that when discussing optimal fat loss methods, nutrition and lifestyle factors have a big impact. The point of this article is to emphasize that you can train your heart, increase your metabolism, and improve your "aerobic fitness" without doing excess cardio. You should ideally adapt your training methods and lifestyle to produce a lean and healthy body.