Belly fat can be difficult to get rid of. A balanced diet and regular exercise are the best ways to burn belly fat, but they don’t always work as well as you want them to!
If you’re looking for exercises that will help you target your belly fat, try these five options that our personal trainers recommend most often to their clients: jogging, Pilates, yoga, strength training, and running.
What is belly fat?
Much of your belly fat is made up of visceral fat, which is a deep layer of abdominal fat between your organs. But what you want to know about first and foremost is subcutaneous fat.
This is when triglycerides are stored beneath your skin, specifically under your abdomen, back, hips, and thighs. This type of body fat can be melted away with moderate exercise.
The best exercises are focused on these areas and will target calories from these areas only. Jogging, running, aerobic exercise or swimming are great choices for burning calories and eliminating belly fat.
You can also build muscles with weights or bands; you’ll just have to add more calories than usual to keep muscle mass up while losing pounds in that area.
How to get rid of belly fat
The best exercises to burn belly fat are those that use your entire body, incorporate as many muscle groups as possible, and include movements that use large muscle groups.
You can combine weight training with aerobic exercises to get rid of belly fat. Lifting weights burn more calories than aerobic exercise alone. Aerobic exercises such as running or jogging are great ways to burn calories and lose belly fat.
However, they aren’t a good way to build strong muscles because there is little resistance involved when you move. If you want to tone your abs and obliques, combining weight training with aerobic exercises will help you shed belly fat.
Lifting weights and doing cardio together is a total-body workout that helps you lose belly fat quickly.
physical activity
If you’re looking to get in shape or lose weight, research has shown that physical activity is one of the most important habits to develop.
Trying to live a more active life can also have positive psychological effects, like better self-esteem and less stress.
What Are Weight Loss Exercises?
A Personal Trainer Explains:
Here are a few of my favorite exercises to help you burn belly fat:
Aerobic exercises Cardio helps to build endurance, burn calories, and tone your entire body. It is also great at fighting belly fat because your tummy is more susceptible to fat when you have lower body fat.
My favorite aerobic exercises are running, fast walking, and jumping rope. Just a half-hour of cardio a day can really make a difference in your weight loss routine.
For best results, do aerobic exercise four days per week with one rest day each week.
Top 5 Workouts for Reducing Abdominal Fat
1) Running
Running is one of, if not, the best exercises to burn belly fat. Running burns calories and keeps your heart rate up, which makes it more efficient at burning calories than jogging or other aerobic exercises.
The fact that you have to move your body so quickly to run at a fast pace causes you to burn even more calories. Additionally, running helps strengthen and tone your muscles, in addition to aiding in weight loss.
When you first start out running, try sticking with just running instead of incorporating other aerobic exercises into your routine as well; doing too much can lead to injury or exhaustion.
2) Walking at a Fast Pace
Walking at a fast pace is one of the best exercises to burn belly fat.
Start out with a brisk walk and gradually increase your speed until you’re jogging or running.
Try to work up to 30 minutes of fast walking or jogging a few times per week. If you are just starting out, start with two 10-minute workouts per week and gradually increase from there.
3) Aerobic Exercise
Aerobic exercise not only helps you burn calories but also improves your heart and lung health. Running is a great aerobic exercise that burns plenty of calories.
Jogging or running can help to tone your lower belly muscles and relieve back pain caused by poor posture.
A treadmill is a great option for at-home aerobic exercises because it allows you to control how hard you run with just a few buttons; if you want an easy workout, simply reduce your speed.
When purchasing a treadmill, make sure it comes with preset speeds so that it's easier to start off slowly and ramp up as needed.
4) Resistance Training
You can also try resistance training, which is any activity that requires you to push or pull against a weight. Resistance training helps build muscles and bones, helps prevent osteoporosis, and increases overall strength.
Start slowly with light weights and work your way up as you get stronger. Push-ups, planks, lunges, and squats are all examples of resistance exercises that burn calories and help tone muscles at the same time.
Personal trainers are available in most gyms or exercise facilities if you need a little extra guidance in getting started. It's best to talk to them before you start an exercise program so they can figure out what kind of equipment would be best for your level of fitness.
5) Yoga/Pilates
Yoga and Pilates are great at targeting your core muscles. These exercises work a variety of muscles and help tone you up.
Yoga involves controlled breathing, so it can be effective at burning fat. Pilates includes simple movements to help strengthen your core and target belly fat. Both yoga and Pilates can be done in groups or one-on-one with a personal trainer.
They both focus on exercises that require attention to form rather than heavy lifting, so they are often lower impact compared to aerobic exercises such as running or jogging, but they are still great ways to burn calories while toning your muscles!
The worst exercises to avoid if you want to lose belly fat
Many abdominal exercises are simply not effective. Abdominal crunches, sit-ups, leg raises, and even weighted abdominal lifts do little to improve your waistline or reduce belly fat.
Moreover, they’re easy to overdo; a lot of people do hundreds of crunches with light weights while neglecting other muscles that could use attention.
Building up your abs requires hard work and sweat; if you focus solely on ab exercises, you may end up looking bulky rather than fit.
Foods that help burn belly fat
Carbs are not entirely to blame when it comes to belly fat. Some experts also suggest that certain foods may be contributing factors.
Consuming too much sugar can lead to an increase in triglycerides, a type of fat that is especially harmful to your health when located around your middle, as opposed to other parts of your body.
A high-carb diet may also increase levels of insulin in your body, which has been linked with increased belly fat and higher levels of dangerous blood fats called lipids.
Lastly, too many empty calories from sugary drinks and processed foods can cause weight gain and water retention, which can make your tummy look bigger than it really is.
Foods that make you gain belly fat
Just as there are foods that help burn belly fat, there are foods that cause weight gain in the stomach area.
Fast foods, such as burgers and fries, pizza, and ice cream, all have a high fat content and can make you gain weight in your midsection.
To burn belly fat fast, avoid these foods and instead choose healthy snacks such as apples with peanut butter or carrots with hummus.
Work out more to increase muscle mass: When you start exercising regularly, it can help keep your belly fat by increasing muscle mass.
Muscle helps you burn calories while at rest, so working out will give you faster results when it comes to losing belly fat.
How Can A Type 2 Diabetes Lose Belly Fat
For most people with type 2 diabetes, their belly fat is mainly visceral fat. However, there are a number of ways that a person can lose belly fat when they have type 2 diabetes.
The best way to do it is by being active and eating right. Workouts like jogging, running, and other aerobic exercises are great for burning calories and eliminating fat.
Yoga and Pilates also help tone your abdominal muscles. And if you want to build muscle at the same time as you’re trying to burn off that belly fat, then try weightlifting!
With weight training, you can start seeing real results in your body within a few weeks or months of starting an exercise program.
Conclusion:
If you’re looking to shed belly fat, it’s important to find exercises that work for you.
There are many different techniques and routines that can help. Pilates, yoga, running, aerobics, weight training, and strength bands are all great ways to burn calories and belly fat.
Pick one or more of these exercises today. Commit to them regularly and get started burning belly fat!