Welcome back to my blog, I hope you enjoyed the last post. If you haven't read it, I would really appreciate it if you did.
I have decided to split this topic into two separate blog posts, as I believe there is a lot of ground to cover and I didn't want to have to leave out important points in an effort to keep the post concise.
In this post (and the next), I will be debunking some of Google's most searched fitness questions, as I believe that as a complete gym beginner, it can be very easy to get lost in the seemingly endless pages of Google search results, when each new page you read seems to contradict the prior.
As you'll know already, I am by no means an expert in any of the topics I'll be discussing, so I have ensured to use research from the most reliable sources I could find. I have linked an article at the bottom of the post in case anyone wanted to read further into any topics discussed.
1) "How to get rid of Belly Fat"
When I typed this search term into Google Trends, a pattern was immediately obvious - a spike in searches around the summer months of each year. Thanks to better weather and holiday plans, potentially combined with the increased social pressure to be looking our best, it is unsurprising that this term sees a rise in search frequency.
Unfortunately, spot-reducing fat is a complete MYTH. Hard to hear, I know, as I'm sure many of us wish this were not the case. You may also not even believe me, given that searching the term "belly fat workout" on YouTube advertises a range of fat loss supplements and an endless number of workouts promising super short-term results.
I chose to focus on the first non-advertised video, a workout by Chloe Ting promising visible abs in only two weeks. Funnily enough this was probably one of the many home workout videos I tried during the first COVID-19 lockdown (little did I know). Unfortunately these kinds of videos are far too common - light abdominal-based home workouts claiming to help you lose belly fat - when in reality the creators of this type of content are profiteering from viewers who don't know any better.
It wouldn't be fair of me to completely denounce this kind of content - it isn't entirely useless. However, for this video to be the top search result for "belly fat workout" is ridiculous. The workout is likely to raise your heart rate and help you burn some calories (necessary for fat loss), but so would almost any other physical activity - such as walking the dog or even household cleaning. As well as this, participation in the workout would likely strengthen your abdominals, but no matter how many Chloe Ting workouts you follow, they will only become visible at a low enough body fat percentage (please note that this % varies by person).
Comments
Post a Comment