Exercise to Lose Belly Fat

If you are really trying to lose the fat around your belly, doing endless crunches or “amazing ab” machines is not the answer.

Your abs may be strong and developed even if you can’t see definition because a layer of belly fat is covering them up. Achieving that amazing coveted 6-pack, takes amazing work. Most of the fat around your belly is a result of poor nutrition.

Far better than independent ab exercises is to focus on high intensity combinations of full body exercises which more effectively increase your metabolism and burn more calories. This will work your abs and overall core strength at the same time.

You will definitely feel your abdominal muscles when you do exercises such as crunches or leg-raises. However, if you are looking for the best workout to lose belly fat, full body exercises like squats, dead-lifts, lunges, push-ups/pull-ups or other push/pull exercises, will be far more beneficial to lose belly fat. Make this the primary focus of your workout. You really don’t need more than 5-10 minutes working on ab specific exercises.

The full body exercise routines need not be time intensive, but they should be intense. In other words, perform two or more non-competing exercises as a circuit back to back without rest. Non-competing means that each of the exercises use different muscles, so in effect, the muscles from the first exercise are resting while you are performing the next exercise.

Get strong as you focus on building lean muscle. Don’t be afraid to lift heavier weights as long as you are not sacrificing your form. You will create a greater demand on your muscles, which will increase your metabolism which burns fat. If you are a woman, this will not cause you to bulk up, it will cause you to get stronger and more toned. Also, post-partum moms might try some more gentle ab exercises first before moving on to these more intensive exercises.

Here is an example of a quick high intensity full body combination workout. By the way, if you like what you see, you may be interested in purchasing the e-book from where these exercises came, “Women’s In Home Workout” This book features not only the exercises but beginner, intermediate and advanced routines as well.

Perform all 5 of these exercises without rest. Do 8-12 repetitions of each exercise. When the circuit is complete, rest 1 minute and repeat 2 or 3 more times.

“Single Dumbbell Workout”

1-      Single Dumbbell Squat- (you will really feel your abs/core work the further you hold the dumbbell away from your body)

2-      Dumbbell Lat Row- Keep your back flat, if your core is strong you can do this exercise without resting your arm on your knee for a greater ab challenge, but keep the back flat and abs tucked in tight at all times.

3-      Single Leg Dead-lift- Keep your back flat, abs tucked in and “spot” something out in front of you to help keep your balance. Try to perform these without putting the other leg down.

4-       Uneven Push-ups- Do half the repetitions with your right hand on the dumbbell and the other half of the repetitions with your left hand on the dumbbell. If you need to you can do these as “knee push-ups”.

5-      “Super-mans” – hold on the ‘up’ position 3-5 seconds and keeping arms and legs straight, reach up as high as you can.

1- Single Dumbbell Squat

2-      Dumbbell Lat Row

3-      Single Leg Dead-lift

4-      Uneven Push-ups

5-      “Super-mans”

Lauren Miller is both a Professional Life/Wellness Coach and Certified Personal Trainer and writes about fitness, nutrition, fat loss, and motivation. She coaches healthy behaviors focusing on the root cause what may sabotage weight management success. The outcome of her coaching can give back control of one’s health and life, restore self-confidence, and achieve desired body shape safely, naturally, and manageable for a lifetime. You can get her Free Best Body Makeover E-book and learn about more of her programs at her website www.yourpartnerforchange.com.