Weight loss isn’t easy, but you can shed stubborn belly fat with targeted exercise and a healthy eating plan. Genetic factors and hormonal changes like those experienced during menopause contribute to the accumulation of excess belly fat.
High-intensity interval training is a type of workout that combines short bursts of intense exercise with fixed periods of low activity or rest. This type of workout is effective for reducing belly fat because it helps you burn more calories than other types of exercises. For more tips on enhancing your fitness routine and supporting your slimming goals, explore the informative article about Puravive on washingtoncitypaper.com. Discover how their food supplement can be a valuable addition to your wellness journey.
1. High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)
Cardiovascular exercise, or aerobics, is a great way to get your heart rate up and burn calories. However, to target stubborn belly fat, you’ll need to get more intense with your workouts.
HIIT is an exercise that pairs periods of intense exercise with shorter rest periods. The intense activity is typically short bursts of work—like 30 seconds of sprinting followed by 30 seconds of rest—and it’s repeated several times in a row.
HIIT can help you lose more belly fat than a workout at a steady pace, but you’ll also need to add in full-body strength training. This will build muscle, which will replace some of the body fat you’re losing, and also make your metabolism faster, so you’ll continue to burn more calories even after your workout. Ideally, you should aim for 30 minutes of moderate exercise, like brisk walking, or vigorous exercise, like jogging, five days a week.
2. High Knees
High knees are a great way to get your heart rate up and burn calories. The exercise is similar to sprinting in place but requires less space, making it perfect for an indoor workout or when you have limited time and space to work out. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and engage your core as you alternately drive each knee up towards your chest in a marching movement, while pumping your arms.
High knees can be added to a warm-up, as part of a bodyweight circuit, or used to finish off a HIIT session. The exercise will target the entire leg and lower back muscles, and can help you achieve your fat-loss goals faster. Performing the exercise at speed will also increase the intensity, burning more calories in the process.
3. Mountain Climbers
Mountain climbers are a full-body calisthenic exercise that engages multiple muscle groups and increases your heart rate to burn calories. They also strengthen the arms, core and legs while improving balance, agility and coordination. If you suffer from wrist pain, consider holding onto flat-edged dumbbells to avoid straining your hands as you perform the exercise.
The most common mistake with mountain climbers is bouncing on your feet, which can lead to the hips coming up higher than the shoulders. Another common error is to drive the knees up toward the chest too quickly.
To correct these mistakes, start by performing mountain climbers slowly and focusing on good form. Then gradually speed up to get the full benefits of this effective ab-torching exercise. To target the oblique muscles, try adding rotation to your mountain climbers by bringing your right knee toward your left upper arm.
4. Abdominal Crunches
The standard crunch is one of the most common ab exercises, and it targets your core muscles. The more you strengthen these muscles, the easier it is to perform other bodyweight exercises, including the push-up and plank.
Some people swear by crunches, while others warn that doing too many can strain your neck and back. A good rule of thumb is to limit your crunches to two or three sets of 10 to 20 repetitions for each exercise.
This variation of the standard crunch targets your core muscles, especially your obliques. Start by lying on the floor with your knees bent and feet hip-width apart. Use your core muscles to curl your shoulders and torso off the ground, bringing your right elbow towards your left knee (they don’t need to touch). Lower slowly back down. Repeat on the opposite side.
5. Tricep Dips
Tricep dips are an effective exercise to help tone and tighten flabby arms. They help strengthen the tricep muscles and when performed regularly can reduce arm fat in women, even if they don’t have a lot of belly fat to lose. (2)
The most basic and easiest version of a tricep dip involves sitting on a chair, bench or other sturdy surface and lowering your bodyweight by bending your elbows. You can also progress to a more challenging variation of tricep dips on parallel bars or rings, or you can perform weighted tricep dips using dumbbells or kettlebells.
For a more advanced tricep dip, you can use a band to assist your movement, or you can try a chair or floor dip variation. You can also extend your legs out to the side in a plank position for an increased challenge.
6. Calf Raises
Standing calf raises are a great exercise to help target your lower leg muscles and can be easily modified to suit your needs. By adding weight, single-leg variations or using a step, you can increase the intensity of this exercise while still being able to perform it safely and effectively.
Stand tall with the balls of your feet firmly on a step and your heels hanging over the edge, resting against a wall or sturdy object for balance. Squeeze your calves to raise your heels off the step and hold before slowly lowering them back down to the starting position.
You can also perform this exercise while seated to primarily work your soleus muscle, which sits underneath the gastrocnemius and helps define the calf muscles. Sitting calf raises allow you to use higher loads which can promote muscle growth and hypertrophy.
7. Planks
As an isometric core strength exercise, the plank burns belly fat and strengthens your muscles. It also improves posture, balance, and flexibility, and helps prevent injuries. However, it’s important to know how to do this exercise properly to get the most benefit. For example, arching your back shifts the tension away from your abdominal muscles and puts you at risk for lower back injury.
To do a plank correctly, place your body face down on the mat and rest on your forearms and toes. Tighten your glutes and inner thighs. Keep your head in line with your shoulders and avoid tilting it up, as this could strain the neck. If the basic plank is too easy for you, try a forearm or straight-arm plank. You can even do a mountain climber, which adds movement to the plank and works additional muscles, including your chest, triceps, and shoulders.
8. Tricep Extensions
Tricep extensions work the triceps to extend, or straighten, the elbow. This movement also engages the shoulders and core to stabilise the upper body. This exercise can be done standing or seated. If you are seated, such as on a chair, weight bench, or stability ball, it may be easier to keep the elbows in closer during the flex and extension phases of the movement.
However, this can reduce the load on the triceps, Horton says. This is especially true when the elbows float forward to the front of your body during the movement, which increases the workload on the shoulders and chest muscles but decreases that on the triceps. A better alternative is to use a skull crusher progression, which decreases the need for your shoulder muscles to help stabilize the weight and allows your triceps to take more of the load.
9. Leg Lifts
This core exercise targets the hip flexors, the ab muscles in the front of your torso and the obliques (the ab muscle on each side of your torso). As with other floor-based exercises, leg lifts are not recommended for those with lower back pain or who have a history of injury.
Start by lying on the floor with your legs straight and perpendicular to your body, pointing your toes toward the ceiling. Hold for a second at the top, then slowly lower your feet to the ground until they are hovering just above the mat.
To make the exercise more challenging, try adding resistance by holding a dumbbell between your legs or attaching ankle weights. Performing this exercise with weight increases the challenge of your abdominal muscles, helping you burn belly fat more efficiently. You can also lift one leg at a time instead of both, to target your core muscles even harder.
