Last Updated: July 22, 2008
Visceral Fat
Abdominal fat is a lot of things. People use many different words to describe it: protruding, flabby, ugly, disgusting, and unsightly, among many others. However, not everyone realizes that unhealthy should be regularly placed on that list of descriptors as well. While people notice subcutaneous fat (the layer of fat under the skin), most tend to be unaware of, or choose to ignore, abdominal visceral fat. Visceral fat consists of the fat deposits that surround the internal organs of the body. While subcutaneous fat might not be pretty, abdominal visceral fat could kill you.Knowing that an excess of visceral fat can increase your risk of developing diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, sleep apnea, some types of cancer, stroke and other life-threatening diseases by as much as 40% should push you to action in a way that looking great in a bathing suit never could. Of course, people with a large amount of abdominal visceral fat tend to be at a loss as to how to get rid of it. Most people know that a lower calorie diet filled with healthy protein and lots of fruits and vegetables combined with plenty of aerobic exercise is a sure method for decreasing the fat around your organs. However, people with a lot of fat to lose are often easily discouraged by the slow gains made with that approach compared to the amount of work they put in. For those people, there might be a better way.
Many fitness experts can vouch for the effectiveness of a program called HIIT at targeting fat, specifically abdominal visceral fat. HIIT is an acronym for high intensity interval training. Interval training is an alternative to standard low impact cardiovascular exercise. Rather than spending hours walking, jogging, cycling, or engaged in some other form of cardio, HIIT takes less than thirty minutes. And to make things better, you only have to do it three or four times a week. This is possible because the effects of HIIT last beyond the exercise session itself, reportedly up to forty hours beyond.
The basic methodology of HIIT is alternating very high intensity cardio with low to moderate intensity for a period of up to fifteen minutes. Specifics vary, but the essential course of HIIT involves a five minute warm-up doing the cardiovascular exercise of your choice at low intensity. Then you push yourself very hard for about thirty seconds on the same exercise. After that, you spend thirty seconds to a minute at a toned down intensity. This cycle is repeated up to fifteen times. That is it. While HIIT sounds easy, if done properly, it is extremely intense, and most beginners can't reach anywhere near fifteen cycles. Because of the intensity, it is important to talk to your doctor prior to attempting a HIIT program.
There are other ways to battle abdominal visceral fat, but cardiovascular exercise and a healthy diet tend to be the most effective. Whichever method of cardio you follow, be sure to perform it safely, complete with stretching as well as warm up and cool down periods. Also, if you severely cut calories for your diet, make sure everything that does go into your mouth counts. Taking these steps will help ensure your health, and stunning physique, for years to come.