Q: Hi, ive begun to do some weight training in the last few weeks to help work on my flabby chest and stomach areas. Ive been doing bench presses for the chest but have been put off as it appears to me that it is making matters worse by pushing the flab out, making it look more unnatural. I was wondering if I should stick with the bench presses or if this will it continue to emphasise the fat?

I am only really having this problem on the right side of my chest (where as right handed i presume i was already more built up) - i am quite happy with progress on the left side. is it normal to have this unevenness and are there any tips to even things out? Many Thanks

A: I recommend that you continue with the bench press but even more importantly make sure that your diet and your other weight-training are appropriate for your goal of losing fat. If you're not sure, check out my Fitness Guide -- it will give you a full weight training program, cardio, and sample diet recommendations.

The bench press is an excellent exercise, but it works maybe 20% of your entire muscle mass which means that you're losing out on 80% of potential fat-burning. Remember: your body will not burn only chest fat just because you do bench presses -- the fat loss will be from all of your body and exercising as many muscles as possible will ensure that all of that fat, including the chest and stomach, is gone as soon as possible.

As for your second question, such asymmetry (one side bigger/stronger than the other) is quite common. It will even out with time and weighttraining and you can help it along by doing more dumbbell exercises than barbell exercises while making sure that both sides lift the same weight the same number of times. So for the bench press, do it with dumbbells most of the time and throw in barbell occasionally for variety.