Will doing core help me?

fivefootfitness
fivefootfitness Posts: 60
in Health and Weight Loss
I do plenty of cardio and eat pretty well, but am just getting around to getting my eating really really clean. I'm in the middle of my healthy weight range, and I've been pretty skinny in the past, but my stomach forever as rolls. I don't do much core just because all of the fat on my body seems to be right on my stomach, and I don't want to make my stomach seem even larger. but, could doing core tighten things up in there and help smooth out the "roll" look? I wouldn't have an issue with the actual size of my stomach if it were just evenly distributed, you know?

Replies

  • vismal
    vismal Posts: 2,463 Member
    Doing core work will help strengthen your core. It will not cause fat loss in the abdominal area. The abs are no different than other muscles. Train them like you'd train anything else. To have a tight stomach you simply need to lose the body fat you carry there. Both men and women hold on to abdominal body fat until they get very lean. Lower abdominal fat especially. While you shouldn't neglect core completely, it will do no good to go crazy with it. Train core like you would train any other muscle group. 2-3 times a week with some form of progressive tension overload. Also, eating clean is meaningless as far as fat loss is concerned. That all comes down to calories in vs calories out.
  • comeonnow142857
    comeonnow142857 Posts: 310 Member
    Bodyfat percentage is too high.

    Doing core work will help tighten up the muscles but won't rid the fat. Yes it will build muscle but you'd have to achieve insane results over years for it to make your stomach noticeably larger (even then, it would still be tight and small when lean)
  • fivefootfitness
    fivefootfitness Posts: 60
    yes thank you perhaps i should clarify that i am well aware that spot reducing doesn't exist and that obviously i have to lose fat, but what i am actually asking is whether or not doing core will affect the appearance of my fat in the way I wondering.
  • WBB55
    WBB55 Posts: 4,131 Member
    (Im assuming you're trying to lose weight) You'd have to build muscle to make your abs bigger, which is tough to do on a calorie deficit. If anything, do core to maintain the muscle you have, since muscles burn more energy, typically, than fat does. Abs (and the large back muscles) are large muscle groups. They can help you burn more energy thruout the day.
  • fivefootfitness
    fivefootfitness Posts: 60
    fantastic! Thank you for the info!
  • comeonnow142857
    comeonnow142857 Posts: 310 Member
    yes thank you perhaps i should clarify that i am well aware that spot reducing doesn't exist and that obviously i have to lose fat, but what i am actually asking is whether or not doing core will affect the appearance of my fat in the way I wondering.

    As I answered, it would take years of progressively heavy training to make the stomach appear noticeably larger, and will tighten up the muscles to an extent (which may have a positive effect on appearance when covered in fat, but insignificant compared to a couple of weeks of dieting).

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