"What ab exercises will get rid of my belly fat?" is one of the most common questions in fitness — and it's built on a premise the research doesn't support.
What the Research Shows
A 2021 meta-analysis pooling 13 studies and more than 1,100 participants, reported on by the University of Sydney in 2023, examined whether training a specific muscle group reduces fat specifically at that location. The finding was clear: localized muscle training had no effect on localized fat deposits. Doing hundreds of crunches does not preferentially burn fat from your abdomen any more than doing bicep curls burns fat from your arms.
A separate 12-week randomized clinical trial cited in the same reporting compared abdominal resistance training combined with a diet to diet alone, and found no greater reduction in belly fat from adding the targeted ab training.
The Physiology Behind Why
When your body needs energy, it mobilizes stored fat (triglycerides) through hormone-sensitive lipase, releasing fatty acids into the bloodstream to be used as fuel throughout the body — not specifically from the muscle you just worked. Your body decides where to pull fat from based on genetics, sex hormones, and age, not based on which muscle you exercised. That's why two people doing the exact same ab workout for months can see completely different results in belly fat specifically, while both lose fat overall.
What Actually Works
Since you can't choose where fat comes off first, the research points to what actually drives total fat loss:
- A sustained caloric deficit — you have to use more energy than you take in, over time.
- Resistance training across the whole body, which preserves and builds muscle while you lose fat, improving your final body composition and shape.
- Cardiovascular exercise, which adds to total energy expenditure and supports heart health.
- Patience — fat loss in stubborn areas (often the belly for men, hips and thighs for women) tends to happen last, simply because of how your body is genetically wired to store and release fat.
The Takeaway
Spot reduction is a myth the research has repeatedly disproven. Ab workouts and other "targeted" exercises absolutely have value — for strengthening the muscle in that area — but they are not a fat-loss shortcut. The path to losing fat anywhere on your body runs through overall energy balance, full-body strength training, and consistency, not through isolating the area you're most self-conscious about.
References
- University of Sydney (2023). Spot reduction: why targeting weight loss to a specific area is a myth, reporting on a 2021 systematic review and meta-analysis of 13 studies (1,100+ participants) on localized resistance training and regional fat loss.
- Ramírez-Campillo, R., et al. A proposed model to test the hypothesis of exercise-induced localized fat reduction (spot reduction), including a systematic review with meta-analysis.
Discussion