Belly fat: that stubborn,unsightly beast!
If you want to reduce belly fat then listen up: cutting out carbs or compelling your body through endless cardio workouts wouldn’t be the right answer for removing lbs from your midriff to making abs.
In fact, there isn’t a single formula to reduce a wobbly waist. Everyone shifts weight differently due to genetics and bodily composition. Aside from the conventional “move more, eat less” mantra, here are 16 best exercises to reduce belly fat and beyond. Some of them can be done at your home too!
A warm-up before each workout is a must!
Here Are Exercises to Reduce Belly Fat
1. Squat Curls
The squat part of the exercise works on your lower body and holding the dumbbells for the duration of the set works your grip strength, and the biceps curl adds an extra muscle and cardio challenge to raise your heart rate.
*Note: If you’re doing this at home, you could replace dumbbells with filled water bottles.
2. Burpee
If you want to lose your gut, you need to work on a lot of muscles. In fact, a recent study from the American College of Sports Medicine found that 10 fast-paced reps are effective to burn your belly fat faster than ever before.
3. Mountain Climber
A mountain climber is a mini crunch when you explosively draw one knee into your chest. The challenge is that your core has to work overtime to keep your body stable and straight every time you lift a foot off of the floor.
4. Kettlebell Swing
The kettlebell swing might be one of the best calorie-torching exercises of all time. The explosive nature of this movement skyrockets your heart rate right away, but it also works your core.
5. Sit-Ups
Yes, we know you’ve heard it that sit-ups or crunches can help fight the flab. You won’t see a change immediately and you may need to build up to doing 10-15 sit-ups a day. Always hold your hands by your ears rather than behind your head so you don’t strain your neck or back.
6. The Reverse Curl
If you find sit-ups hard try the reverse curl instead, it’s just as effective but easier on the back. Repeat 15-20 times.
7. Yoga
Yoga isn’t just for celebs like Shilpa Shetty you know! Practicing yoga offers tonnes of health and wellbeing benefits, and a flatter belly is just one of them.
8. Flutter Kicks
Flutter kicks are an exercise that works the muscles of your core, specifically the lower rectus abdominal muscles, plus the hip flexors.
9. Side Plank
Side Plank or Vasisthasana works well for your arms and core strength. So, if you want a strong core and abs of steel, start with Side Plank.
10. Abdominal Crunch
Abdominal crunches are a best form of exercise to tone the core muscles of the body. The exercise aids in strengthening the core muscles, improving the posture, and increasing the mobility and flexibility of the muscles.
11. Roll-Ups
Like crunches, roll-ups work your abdominal muscles and are a great core workout. They promote deep breathing, which increases blood flow and circulation. Roll-ups also help you strengthen your spine, increasing its flexibility and alignment.
12. Toe Touch
If crunches aren’t your thing, try toe touch exercise instead. Lie on the floor with arms straight up, pointing at the ceiling. Slowly curl yourself up and forward so that your hands are pointing towards your toes – and if you can, touch your toes. Then return to your starting position but do it slowly to stretch the muscles.
13. Hold Your Stomach
The best part is that this isn’t an exercise as such but it does engage your stomach muscles in a great way. Hold your tummy in for a few seconds and gradually release it. It’s great to do it while waiting for a bus, sitting in the car or office, or just anywhere.
14. Russian Twist
Russian twists are one of the best ways to work your obliques, the muscles that help rotate your torso. It is a seated core exercise which involves all the core muscles. A twisting motion helps to work the muscles.
15. Glute Bridge
As you can imagine, strong glutes play a vital role in sports performance, injury prevention and day to day body function. One of the great ways to strengthen those muscles is the always reliable bridge.
16. Superman
Superman is one of the best exercises to strengthen your upper and lower back muscles. If done regularly, the Superman works your glutes and your hamstring muscles.
While it’s difficult to slim down in just one area of your body, a mixture of cardio and strength training makes for a winning weight loss formula and a supremely toned abs. So, in the hopes of losing our love handles for good, the above belly fat exercises are the best way to burn belly fat through exercise.