Belly fat is bad news. While researchers debate the real health risks of a higher body mass index (BMI) or carrying a few extra kilos, everyone agrees that wearing too much weight around your waist is largely detrimental to your health.
Research shows that a waistline over 40 inches for men and 35 inches for women puts you at risk for heart disease even if you’re not technically overweight and otherwise in good health. Belly fat has also been linked to high blood pressure, high cholesterol, high blood sugar and diabetes. Again, bad news.
The good news is that you already own the best tool for shedding that bad-news belly fat: your bike. The key is performing a variety of workouts that build your fat-burning engine, rev your metabolism and the production of fat-burning hormones, suppress your appetite, and help you burn more fat and calories all day long. Yep, your bike can do all that. Here’s how.
Go hard
Do interval training once or twice a week (no need for more; stick to one day if you race or go hard on weekends). Numerous studies have found that high-intensity training significantly reduces total abdominal fat, including dangerous visceral (belly) fat more effectively than lower-intensity exercise. There are endless ways to do interval training. One simple example:
• Warm up: 10 to 15 minutes
• Pick up your effort so you’re working hard (a nine on a One-to-10 scale; you’re breathing hard, but not gasping) for 30 seconds to one minute. • Go easy for one minute. • Repeat a total of five times.
• Cool down for two to three minutes.
Research shows your body also unleashes human growth hormone, which helps you burn fat and maintain muscle, after just 10 to 30 seconds of high-intensity exercise. High-intensity exercise also appears to help curb your appetite and trigger hormones that regulate feelings of hunger and fullness better than lower-intensity exercise, so you’re less likely to overeat.
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