Belly fat is the most obstinate fat that can be shed with a structured exercise regime. Lack of physical activity combined with our sedentary jobs can be cited as the major cause for belly fat. Not only does belly fat look ugly, but it is also the cause for weight gain, obesity and its related diseases like diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. Exercise is the magic cure for losing belly fat. When combined with the right diet, you can definitely flaunt your flat tummy. With any form of exercise for achieving weight loss helps to lose belly fat too; it is essential that you perform specific exercises that help you to lose belly fat.
Here we list some of the exercises that effectively help to lose the belly fat.
Abdominal Exercises
Belly fat is the fat accumulation in the abdominal region. Hence exercises that target the entire abdominal muscles are effective in losing belly fat. Such exercises give a total workout to the belly region, involving the upper abdominal muscles, lower abdominal muscles as well as the obliques, helping you to have a flat tummy. Such exercises can be performed both by men as well as women. While women can feel great with a surfboard tummy and be comfortable in any type of dress, men can flaunt well defined six pack abs with the effective toning of the ab muscles. The advantage with abdominal exercises is that you do not need major exercise equipment and these exercises can be performed right in the privacy and comforts of your home.
At the most, you can probably invest in an exercise ball to provide you the resistance. Some of the abdominal exercises are abdominal crunches, reverse crunches, bicycle crunches, leg lifts, captain’s chair, squats, pelvic lifts and tilts, flutter kicks, reverse curls, vertical leg crunch, Russian twist, windshield wipers, v-ins and v-ups.
Cardio Exercises
Cardio exercises have become a popular way of losing belly fat. When you perform cardio exercises, your heart rate increases along with your breathing rate. This results in an increased metabolism. The increase in metabolism helps to burn fat faster. Thus, people opt for cardio exercises in their quest to lose belly fat. Your regular activities like walking, jogging, running, cycling, swimming, aerobics, skipping, stair climbing are forms of cardio. The flexibility with which cardio exercises can be interspersed into any exercise regime makes it more popular with fitness enthusiasts.
Cardio exercises can be performed both by men and women of all age groups. If you have medical problems or have suffered a heart attack, ensure that you keep the intensity low, so as to not overstress. HIIT, High Intensity Interval Training is a form of workout that combines cardio and interval training. In this form of workout, highly intense cardio exercises are performed in short bursts at intervals. Such workouts have been proved to be very effective in getting rid of belly fat.
Strength Training
At the very mention of strength training, all of you would think how exercises undertaken by body builders help in losing belly fat. Well, the fact is strength training helps to build muscle and the more muscle you gain; more energy is needed to facilitate their movement. This energy requirement is sourced from the fats in our body. Thus, increased muscle mass results in more fat burn, thus helping you to lose the stubborn belly fat. While performing strength training, they need to exert themselves only to their endurance levels, lest over exertion leads to injuries. Generally, women tend to stay away from strength training with the wrong presumption that they would bulk up. You can set this myth at rest as women’s physiology does not let the muscles to bulk. So, they can safely undertake strength training for well defined muscles.
Yoga
The ancient form of yoga has many exercises that help to lose belly fat. There are certain asanas or postures in yoga that specifically aim at burning away the belly fat. One can benefit from performing the following asana; Tree pose, downward dog pose, boat pose, bow pose and sun salutation. Deep breathing exercises in yoga like pranayam which induces contractions of the ab muscles while inhaling and exhaling help to tone the abdominal muscles. Yoga is a universal exercise that can be undertaken by all. Yoga helps to unify the body, mind and spirit and thus helps to alleviate stress, which is one of the causes for acquiring belly fat.
Pilates
Pilates is fast gaining popularity as an effective means to reduce belly fat. In fact, the Pilates 100 is the most effective workout for your abs giving them a total workout. Like yoga, anybody can perform Pilates. A newly coined exercise, yogalates combines the positive aspects of both yoga as well as Pilates to help you benefit from both in trying to lose the belly fat.
Resistance Training
While indulging in resistance training, the more resistance you offer, the greater will be the fat burn. When a person stretches to his maximum endurance levels, the muscles are made to work harder to counter the resistance. This overworking of the muscles leads to more energy being consumed, which in turn leads to fat burning. Resistance training can be performed by both men and women using free weights or resistance bands or elastic bands.
Dance
If you chicken out at the very mention of strenuous workouts to lose your obstinate belly fat, here is an easy and enjoyable workout. Dance in any form gives you the necessary workout and helps to lose calories. The leg raises, the twirls and the swaying movements workout your muscles and help to burn away the fat. Dance is equally therapeutic. Various Latin American dance forms like Zumba, Salsa, Hip Hop, Batuka, and Jazzercise are very effective in helping you achieve a flat tummy.
Belly dancing can help you lose 700 calories in an hour. The rhythmic swaying movements help to tone the stomach muscles. Akin to cardio, belly dancing pushes up the heart rate and speeds up your metabolism, helping to burn fat faster.
By following a combination of the above mentioned exercises and following the regime regularly at least over 5 days a week will surely reward you with a flat tummy.