Torso Fat Battle

[Poolboy21409]

About three years ago, I decided it was time to get off my ass and start really exercising. Since I had never been in a gym before, I went to a one-on-one place where the session with the trainer was private. Did this twice a week for 6 months and joined a gym for other workouts. Since then I have been faithfully working out and doing cardio at least 5 times a week. See a trainer twice a week. My body fat has gone from low 20% to low teens. I have no or exceptionally little fat on my legs, arms, chest, back etc....but the belly/torso fat is tough to get rid of. Despite heavy ab work, I still have a lovely layer. I joke that I have an extra firm mattress unfortunately with a down filled comforter on top. Trainer says the diet is excellent. Short of liposuction which I am seriously considering, does anyone have any real hints for success in shedding the fat. While I would love abs like the guys posted in the Gallery have, I am rational about that considering my age. All you hunks out there, HELP!!

[+ David-SF]

Muffin top

 

Genetics and diet play a big role here

 

for the mid section

doing exercises that tone work better than using weights to build muscle.

example holding a 15 lbs weight to do crunches

(if you build muscle around the muffin top all you get is more muffin top with muscle under the flab) forget the weights just do the crunches

 

of course arobics is great join a weekly class that offers monday wed friday its fun and you will meet friends and have a balst

 

CCB = cardio, core and balance work best for me.

 

Oblique crunches (slow and correctly) no fun but burn the fat while toning down the mid section,

 

This also requires that you work on all those tiny muscles along your spine (machine)

and do back exercises with care ( very light weights lots of reps)

 

Deit Diet Diet ! and I dont mean not eating

eating healthy lean raw whole foods (I know YUK )

 

I like to drink natural whole food smoothies before I hit the gym then I go have a nice breakfast with the works after.

 

cardio is fine but really how much cardio is good and when is it too much and its boring at least for me.

moderation and patience

 

BREATHE !!!

 

I would work on getting the core exercises down and then build the body around your core.

 

a strong core supports and demands a strong lean body.

 

everything will come together when your core is strong and your endurance is on target.

 

Keep going you must already feel amazing if just by what you posted is taking place

 

Is it really about optimum body or about how you feel.

I say a little of both I am no trainer so this is what works for me and its taken time in the gym to make it happen.

 

and still no perfect body here.

[MichiganMan]

I'm having the same battle as you. I am VERY much considering this procedure....check it out!!! http://newbodyfatloss.com/

[instudiocity]

I'm thinking that as I lost the weight, the parts that lost 'fat' and gained definition were the ones I used in exercise. During the winter, when I went on a maintenance diet and exercise plan, my skinny face filled a little and my 'muffin-top' shrank. Sorta like, "Doesn't fat redistribute after the intense weight loss, not during it?"

[Poolboy21409]

Michigan Man- many thanks. going to investigate this one. I think that at 175lbs and 5'11" I don't need it but the torso fat is just a real stumbling block.

[Diverdan]

Hey Poolboy... part of this problem is genetics and part of it is age. I am down 30lbs now with hopefully another 30 to go, and I will be at the same weight I had in College, but my personal trainer and physician assure me that I will never have the body I had in College or in my 20s ever again. So, I have become a bit more accepting that there may be some fat in places I don't like, but the core is solid, and as David has said, the key is the kind of exercises and cardio you are doing. I highly recommend a book entitled "Core Performance" by Mark Verstegen. It will help you deal with all of these issues.

DD

[leigh.bess.toad]

and still no perfect body here.

 

With the possible exception of Sean Knight, but hey there always has to be one guy to make us all look bad.

 

Thanks a lot, Sean.

 

 

But it's a struggle as we get older. I've talked about it before, but I do a lot of my workouts using the principles of Tabata training which seems to help a lot. And how you eat is damned near as important as what you eat -- 5 or 6 smaller meals a day is a lot better than 2 or 3, even if the calorie totals and the foods are exactly the same.

[ChiTown]

With the possible exception of Sean Knight, but hey there always has to be one guy to make us all look bad.

 

Thanks a lot, Sean.

 

I don't know about that Lee, I hear that David is lookin' pretty buff himself these days. . . . Credit where credit is due, man.

[jawjateck]

<sigh!> I know the battle too. I am 5-10, 170, 33w, look ok in clothes, but those dang side handles......arghhhh! It doesn't matter how much I exercise or how aggressively I diet, those things won't go away. I have thought about doing the fat freeze procedure, to try to reduce 'em, but I have heard mixed reviews on it, and doubt it's worth the 1000s to do it.

[leigh.bess.toad]

I don't know about that Lee, I hear that David is lookin' pretty buff himself these days. . . . Credit where credit is due, man.

 

Trust me ChiTown -- I've seen David's body up close and there is not a damned thing wrong with. Not one damned thing.

[ChiTown]

Trust me ChiTown -- I've seen David's body up close and there is not a damned thing wrong with. Not one damned thing.

 

Up close? . . . I intend to get up close and personal, my friend. lol

[Epigonos]

When I graduated from high school, at age seventeen, I was 6’ tall, weighed 145 lbs., had a 33” inch waist, and had 11¾” arms. At thirty-five my measurements were exactly the same. At that time I decided the change my look completely. I started spending 4 to 5 hours 6 days a week in a down and dirty body building gym. Two years later, age 37, I was, still 6’ tall, BUT weighed 217 lbs., had a 32” waist and had 17½” arms. Yes, of course, I used steroids.

 

I continued to work out and maintained the 37 year old body until I was 55. At that time I became tired of the body building routine and, cold turkey, stopped going to the gym. When I retired at 61½ I was still 6’ tall, still weighed 217 lbs. BUT my waist had ballooned to 35” and my arms had shrunk to 14”. What had really happened is that my chest dropped to my gut and my lats dropped to my ass.

 

I retired in June of 2002 and went on a crash diet because I didn’t have the nerve to meet my first escort looking as I did. I started going to the gym again but only for 1 hour 5 days a week and all I did was cardio. I dieted strictly and lost 45 lbs. in 5 months. I am still going to the gym for 1 hour 5 days a week, my diet is a disaster,and I have gained about 20 lbs. and currently weigh about 197. I am trying to lose 20 lbs. but just can’t seem to get serious about the whole thing.

 

The point of all of this is that when one is young and motivated it is amazing what one can do with exercise and diet. I, however, have found that it is much more difficult to make major changes as one ages. The main reason, at least in my case, is that it just isn’t all that important anymore. I keep telling myself that I going to lose those twenty lbs. but just don’t get around to it BUT damnit to hell I am going to lose those 20 fucking lbs.

[leigh.bess.toad]

Unfortunately, it was PS weekend with very strict no poaching rules. I could only get as personal as the slightly less stringent rules at Barracks allowed.

 

Mores the pity.

 

[instudiocity]

BUT damnit to hell I am going to lose those 20 fucking lbs.

Go ahead, I double-dog dare you to lose that 20 pounds and keep it off 1 year.

[nate_sf]

With guys midsection seems to be the last to disappear when getting in shape, and the first to reappear when falling out of shape. To David's comprehensive list (and impressive bod) I'd add that minimizing booze and sugar goes a long way, perhaps even more so than fat or calories.

[Diverdan]

Nate,

You are right on about the booze and sugar. Alcohol is very dense with calories, and when not "burned up" as it is hardly ever in our bodies it turns to sugars which are then stored as fat. Unfortunately so many foods these days contain added sugars (just read the labels and you will be astonished) which when the body does not use, again gets stored as fat. The one variation in booze seems to be in having ONE glass of red wine a day, which seems to promote the digestion of food and contains other antioxidents too. But, there again, the key is ONE, not the whole bottle!

You are also right on with regard to the midsection being the last to go and the first to return for men. David's list was great, and his bod is impressive too... I can speak from first hand experience !!!

[Steven_Draker]

Genetics do play an important role. I know a few people who haven't been at the gym in their life time and they do have a body like David's.

 

Cardio and Diet:

Poolboy, I'll put you on one of my drastic non-carb diets and see how long you'll survive ...

 

Metabolism slows down with age: to check how fast your metabolism is: when you start exercising e.g. running on the treadmill; how long you need to break a sweat?

 

Steven ~

[nynakedtop]

My trainer likes to remind me that "...abs are made in the kitchen, not the gym". It may be a bit of an overstatement, but there is much wisdom there. According to a battery of tests run by my doctor, my biological age is 10 years younger than my chronological age, and I think I give much credit to getting myself to the gym regularly and working hard there, keeping a reasonable diet, avoiding apparent toxins like tobacco, and... being as vain as i was when i was 30 years younger, hehe!

 

What I would like to ask here (if it is allowed), is whether or not people use any testosterone supplementation (naturally under the care of and with the consent of one's doctor)... someone here had suggested that i look into that option as a way to take my workout to the next level.

 

Any ideas?