Excess belly fat accumulates generally in the omentum,  a fold of the peritoneum, a lining that separates the organs of the abdominal cavity. It may help to think of it as an apron that starts roughly at the bottom of the rib cage at your back and hangs down and ends just above your bladder.

The excess belly fat that builds up here is a type of fat called visceral fat. According to Wikipedea, visceral fat accumulation in the omentum is associated with Heart disease and central obesity.

It seems that everyone wants to know what the best ab workouts are to get rid of excess belly fat. The common belief that working the abs helps you to lose excess belly fat is one of the biggest misconceptions. Almost everyone has at least some extra fat in the abdominal region, and the best way to lose excess belly fat continues to be elusive to them.

The problem is that most people in general are looking for the wrong kinds of workouts to get rid of their excess belly fat. Most people are looking for some miraculous combination of exercises pieced together into the best ab workout ever invented that will blast away their fat faster than you can read this article.

Unfortunately, ab-specific workouts are worthless to lose excess belly fat. They only tone and strengthen the underlying muscles. Instead your focus should be on a full body workout that will build more muscle, tone what muscle you have andthus raise your metabolism which will in turn BURN MORE FAT.

Additionally, cardiovascular workouts by them selves will not create the biggest fat burning response either. What you really need is a well rounded, full body training program. One that focuses on working the whole body with resistance training and multi-joint exercises in a higher intensity fashion. The point is to start at an intensity level that you can handle and then steadily increase to keep challenging your body.

This high intensity full body workout in combination with a healthy balanced nutritious diet on a regular basis, is the real key to getting a hard flat stomach. This is a far better plan than just doing ab workouts and hoping that just doing all of those ab exercises like crunches and leg raises are going to make you lose your belly fat.

Amazingly, the majority of the population still believes that in order to get a flat stomach, you need to do ab workouts every day using hundreds of reps. This is pure folly. I see this type of erroneous advice given every day on the fitness forums. Please do not waste your time with this!

Now don't take me wrong! I do believe strongly that some ab-specific exercises mixed into your routine are a good thing. Ab exercises will not only help you strengthen and tone the abdominal muscles, but are also useful in maintaining a healthy back and posture when done correctly. Just remember that ab exercises are not a magic bullet to lose excess belly fat.