Walking is more effective for weight loss than jogging, while abdominal exercises cannot reduce abdominal fat.

Why is walking more effective for weight loss than jogging?

In most people's minds, jogging is more effective for weight loss than walking for the same distance, speed, and time, because everyone believes that jogging burns much more energy than walking.

However, the opposite is true; jogging is less effective for weight loss than walking and burns fewer calories.

From the perspective of biomechanics, running utilizes the elasticity of muscles. The reaction force generated by the elasticity of muscles allows a person to easily reach the desired position, saving the energy required to move the body to that position, thus reducing the energy consumed.

Walking, on the other hand, relies entirely on body movement and doesn't involve the same level of muscle reaction force, thus consuming more energy than jogging. Everyone has probably experienced this: strolling through the streets slowly is much more tiring than jogging the same distance – that's the reason.

It is estimated that brisk walking consumes 2 to 3 times more energy than jogging the same distance at the same speed. Therefore, brisk walking is one of the best ways to burn calories when exercising to lose weight.

Why can't abdominal exercises reduce belly fat?

In most obese people, abdominal fat is concentrated. Often, as soon as a person gains weight, their abdomen protrudes first. A small belly is not only unsightly but also affects one's figure, so people always try every means to get rid of it. Therefore, many obese people are particularly superstitious about abdominal exercises, such as sit-ups, believing that this exercise can burn abdominal fat and get rid of a small belly.

Actually, this belief has no scientific basis. Abdominal exercises cannot burn abdominal fat, nor can they get rid of a belly. So why is that? There are two reasons.

One reason is that abdominal fat reduction does not occur in isolation; it occurs along with the reduction of fat throughout the body, which requires consuming more energy.

Sit-ups, if done 30 times per minute, only burn 25-29 kilojoules of energy, meaning they can only reduce 1 gram of body fat. To reduce 10 grams of body fat, one would need to do 300 sit-ups, which is obviously impossible for the average person to maintain daily. Therefore, sit-ups cannot reduce abdominal fat at all.

Secondly, abdominal fat is generally located deep within the abdomen, especially in obese men, where fat accumulates between the intestines, making it difficult to eliminate through external exercise.

If you do half an hour of sit-ups and at the same time do more than half an hour of jogging, it may be more effective in reducing belly fat.