Aerobic exercise is your best bet when it comes to losing that dreaded belly fat, a new study finds. When Duke University Medical Center researchers conducted a head-to-head comparison of aerobic exercise, resistance training, and a combination of the two, they found aerobic exercise to be the most efficient and most effective way to lose the belly fat that’s most damaging to your health.
This isn’t the fat that lies just under your skin and causes the dreaded muffin top. Belly or abdominal fat — known in scientific communities as visceral fat and liver fat — is located deep within the abdominal cavity and fills the spaces between internal organs. It’s been associated with increased risk for heart disease, diabetes, and certain kinds of cancer. “Resistance training is great for improving strength and increasing lean body mass,” says Slentz. “But if you are overweight, which two-thirds of the population is, and you want to lose belly fat, aerobic exercise is the better choice because it burns more calories.” Aerobic training burned 67 percent more calories in the study when compared to resistance training.