I was on the bus last weekend heading to a pub quiz.
Glanced up, and on the inside wall was one of those ads plastered next to the window.
Bright colours, ripped guy doing sit-ups, big bold letters shouting:
“Download the Belly Fat App — 5 Moves to Burn Stomach Fat!”
With a QR code like it was a free McFlurry.
Now, I get that it’s meant to look slick.
Quick solution.
Fast results.
Scan this, do some crunches, and your gut melts away like magic.
But come on.
We’ve seen this stuff before.
Used to be in magazines.
Then DVDs.
Now it’s TikTok and bus walls.
It all comes back around in cycles.
Lately, my social media feed has been way fuller of videos, like…
“Top 5 Fat Burning Exercises You Can Do at Home!”
Always someone shredded doing flutter kicks and planks in a bedroom that looks suspiciously like a rented studio.
Then there’s the upsell: a calorie-torching app, some herbal fat burner, or a £7 coaching download that claims to do what 3 years of bad habits haven’t.
A member even asked me last week if they should start doing one of these every night.
And fair play for wanting to do something.
But here’s what I told them.
Doing ab circuits to lose belly fat is like throwing a few ice cubes in the bath and calling it a cold plunge.
Looks right.
Feels right.
Changes nothing.
You can do crunches every day and still carry fat around your midsection.
That’s not being harsh — it’s just how the body works.
People in those videos didn’t get in shape by doing the routine they’re selling you.
They likely:
Trained with weights 4 or 5 days a week
Got their steps up
Tracked what they ate properly
Slept more than 6 hours
Had someone keeping them accountable
And, in some cases, had “extra help” from stuff you don’t buy over the counter.
That’s the reality.
So when someone sticks with these five-move burner workouts and nothing happens, they assume they’re the problem.
They’re not.
The advice is.
You don’t need more fluff.
You need the basics.
Done consistently.
Not perfectly.
Not obsessively.
Just properly.
Train hard.
Move more.
Eat like an adult.
Track your food (for a bit at least).
Sleep.
Repeat.
It’s not sexy.
Won’t go viral.
But it works, and it’ll save you years of jumping between nonsense.
-Ryan
P.S
If you’re sick of spinning your wheels and want something that actually gets results, our next 6 Week Meltdown starts 4th August.
Click below to see if we’ve got space left.
No fluff. No filters.
Just hard work, proper support, and belly inch loss results.