Path to a flatter mid section

Hi

Loving SYSTM and in addition to the cycling workouts, I occasionally partake in the Yoga and strength training.

Overall endurance fitness is good, FTP good, body mass mostly ok, however….

I would like to decrease the mid section girth, a flatter stomach.
I’m not one to join and spend hours at a gym.

Any advice? any specific SYSTM strength workouts or Yoga recommendations to help with my quest?

Thanks is advance
Max

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Consume less food, or do more aerobic exercise.
Girth around the centre is stored fat, you need to burn it away, so you need to give your body reason to.
The core factor for that is simply burning more energy than you are consuming for a short period. The options for that are either burning the same amount, but consuming less, or consuming the same amount but burning more (or a blend).

So, exercise more or eat less.
Plus, if you’re exercising then keep aerobic work in zone 3 or below, because too much above that can stimulate your body into wanting to store more fats for energy.

I would see SYSTM strength workouts as complementing the cycling, not as core strength workouts.
Another good method, though, is to add some muscle because then you’ll burn more fats through work anyway.

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Hi Jon

Thanks and good info especially the zone 3 advice!

I’m probably at my maximum time available for riding (aerobic) with a goal of 10 hours a week outdoor and indoor trainer combined.
That darn job is definitely impacting my time available for riding/training🫤

Maybe more SYSTM yoga and strength

Max

Craig Maxwell

To simplify: if you want to be thinner, the most important to thing is to eat less. Exercise causes you to need to eat more. So, to lose weight, eat less.

My path to losing weight (somewhat inadvertently since I was actually trying to fix a blood pressure issue) was to massively increase the amount of fruits and veg I eat and stop eating sweets. I went from 4 or 5 servings of fruit and veg combined to to 4 or 5 of each every day. Lunch now is a lettuce, cucumber and pepper salad with a teeny bit of vinaigrette and a piece of fruit after. Sometimes I add a small sandwich.

Turns out that all that fiber made me feel full so I didn’t want to eat as much. I lost 12 pounds in a coupe months and have stayed there for over a year. I weigh what I weighed when I was 40 and totally lost my little paunch.

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