Most health-conscious people are aware of the benefits of exercise. We all want to extend our lives and last into old age as disease-free as possible while continuing to maintain youthful appearances. Prevention and Rodale books have been accentuating the importance of losing belly fat, because it’s this form of fat that forms around our internal organs which causes health problems as we get older. The Mayo Clinic, Web MD, AARP and other health-related organizations have been emphasizing this fact for several years now.

If you don’t lose belly fat, you’ll be more susceptible to diabetes, heart disease and even cancer than your slimmer peers. Cardio exercises burn fat and they tone the large muscles in our legs and gluts, but they don’t target belly fat. Strength (resistance) training exercises do target specific muscle groups, and isometric exercise is a form of strength training. Isometric exercise has been called passive exercise, since it can be done virtually anytime and anywhere. It involves contracting muscles over and over in a specific area.

The concept of isometric exercise has been around for thousands of years. In order to get rid of fat, including belly fat, it must be mobilized and burned in the muscles of your body. The more muscle you have, the more fat you’ll burn. By combining fat-burning cardiac exercise with resistance training (through both isometric and dynamic/full range motion exercises), you will be able to target the problem. The more muscles you work, the better your body will burn fat. Isometric exercises can target each muscle in your core where belly fat appears. Every muscle you strengthen takes away from the fat around it, so get to work on banishing your belly fat today!