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Top 7 Exercises To Lose Belly Fat

the 7 best exercises to lose belly fat

Let me guess, you want to lose belly fat, right?

But no matter what you do, what you try and experiment with nothing seems to work.

There are hundreds if not even thousands, nay, hundred of thousands of websites and blogs out there that are dedicated to teach the online community of “how to lose belly fat”.

So why hasn’t it worked yet for you?

The problem is exactly this diversity of information that exists in the modern era of the Internet.

Too much information is not always good, especially when it’s coming from different people. And the worst part is that you, the reader, you are the one that suffers the most.

You feel confused…

One article tells you that by doing cardio early in the morning you are going to lose belly fat and then another ones tells you that it’s total gibberish and will never work.

Another one claims that the best way to lose belly fat is to eat honey before you go to bed (actual thing, look it up), while a third one debunks this as a myth.

And don’t you even get me started on diet fads!

“Why should I listen to you, then?” – is probably the question that is rolling around in your mind right now, right? Because I take a more objective approach. Just keep reading and you will understand what I mean.

But, enough jibber jabber, let’s get to the real talk!

As you can see the tittle of the article is “7 Best Exercises That Will Help You Lose Belly Fat” but before I dive into those 7 exercises, there are a couple of things that I need to explain first.

If you don’t want to listen to my rant just go further down to the actual 7 exercises.

First, you really need to remember that in order to properly lose belly fat, especially without harming your muscle tissue, there are two elements that come into play.

Your nutrition and your training regime. You need to pay equal attention to both of them, otherwise you will not notice great results.

I am not going to fall into too much debt explaining to you how important nutrition is and how are you suppose to construct your diet, because I have already done that. “30 Best Fat-burning Foods” is the article that I wrote recently where I have explained all of that, plus 30 foods that will help you lose even more fat.

And in this article I will talk about the importance of your training and list you specific exercises that will help you lose your belly fat

Second, you cannot target body fat. Fat is stored by your body because of three reasons:

1) You are eating calories in excess – your body requires a specific amount of calories a day in order for it to function properly, do daily activities (walking, thinking) and provide you with the necessary energy to overcome your occasional workouts at the gym.

If you consume more calories than your body can use for energy, you gain body fat.

You know how when you cannot finish your dinner you just put the rest of the food in the fridge as left-overs so you can finish them the next day, that’s pretty much what your body does. Instead of throwing away all of that good energy, it stores it as a secondary source of energy – body fat.

2) You are eating unhealthy food – foods that are high on sugar, high on saturated and trans fats, low on fiber, and with tons and tons of processed ingredients will cause you to gain belly fat.

This is because most of those foods are with a high glycemic index, which causes spikes in your blood sugar and ultimately lead to elevated gains of body fat. Some beverages, most of which are rich of alcohol, are notorious of increasing your estrogen levels, which leads to more body fat.

3) Improper eating habits – eating lots of carbs before you go to bed, not dividing your meals properly, not swapping carb consumption. No matter how healthy your food is you will gain body fat if you do not keep these in check.

Imagine your body as the gas tank of an automobile. When the car needs energy it uses the gas from the tank. In order for the the whole tank of gas to be finished the car needs to use the whole thing, right?

Well your body works similarly. You cannot target specific areas of the body, you need to lose fat in general. The places where your body stores more body fat than usual has genetic purposes and survival purposes (women tend to store more around the waist because of, uhm, baby reasons).

So, how do we lose body fat then? 

You need to be in a caloric deficit (you need to consume less calories than you burn – around 200-300 below the base line) and to keep an elevated metabolic rate.

Your diet, especially the selection of foods, will help you maintain a stead and high metabolic rate. But only to a certain extent. What really packs a punch is your training.

What you are aiming with your training is for it to be of high intensity so that it elevates your metabolism and it keeps it boosted for a long period of time – you can literally burn calories while watching TV or while reading articles online wink, wink.

So, without further adieu I give you:

The 7 Best Exercises That Will Help You Lose Belly Fat

(In no particular order of importance)

the-7-best-exercises-that-will-help-you-lose-belly-fat-deadlifts.jpg

Deadlifts are not only great for building muscle they are great for burning fat as well!

Now, I understand that some of the people reading this post are not interested in muscle development, I am looking at you ladies. Keep in mind that just because you are doing this exercise, or any exercise that involves weights, does not automatically mean that you will develop an muscular physique.

There are a lot of other factors that need to be in check, like your diet and supplementation, in order for you to see any muscle growth results.

Deadlifts is probably one of the most compound exercises that I am aware of.

It’s extremely demanding as it activates approximately 9 different muscle groups – quadriceps, hamstrings, abdominals, lower back, gluteus, forearms, shoulders, trapezoids (traps), and your middle back.

Due to the multiple-muscle activation purposes deadlifts are extremely calorie hungry. According to Lifesum (a mobile app designed to tell you how much do specific exercises burn and the nutritional value of various foods), by doing about 20 minutes of deadlifts you will burn 150 calories!

Because of its compound origin deadlifts will also have a serious punch in your metabolism, keeping it elevated for hours after you have walked out of the gym.

However, if not performed correctly you can seriously injure yourself. This is why proper form and knowledge of how deadlifts are performed is mandatory.

lunges-to-lose-belly-fat.jpg

This is probably one of the exercises that I always recommend when trying to lose belly fat and everybody HATES doing.

Another extremely demanding exercise and to a certain extent even more demanding than the deadlift.

The best part is that you can use them to workout from home.

Lunges activate about 8 muscle groups at once – calves, hamstrings, quadriceps, gluteus, abdominals, lower back, forearms, and traps.

Interestingly, even though lunges activate less muscle groups than deadlifts they are of higher intensity. What this means is that you are burning even more calories while performing them – according to Lifesum 300 calories in 20 minutes.

There are also various ways that you can perform the lunge that will really have an impact on the intensity – like for example doing jumping lunges or single-leg lunges.

They are also another great exercise that will keep your metabolism elevated for hours.

jumping-rope-belly-fat-reduction.jpg

Jump roping is one of my favorite exercises as it requires little to no equipment, it can be done literally everywhere that is comfortable for you, develops your stamina and strength, and is a really powerful tool that will help you lose that belly fat.

This exercise is very flexible because it can be performed everywhere. So if you are one of those people that does not have enough time to get a gym membership and visit that environment on a regular basis, then just do jump roping to lose that belly fat.

According to Lifesum the exercise burns the whopping 300 calories in 30 minutes. There are, of course, variations that will help you burn even more calories.

Similarly to lunges and deadlifts, jump roping will leave your heart racing during the process. And will a serious affect on your metabolic rate hours after you left the gym.

push-up-squat-jumps-for-belly-fat-reduction.jpg

There is no actual name to this exercise so I just decided to go with this one. I should probably mention that this exercise should not be confused with the burpee, it looks similar but completely different at the same time.

How to perform the exercise: 

  1. Fall into a push up position and perform one push-up off the ground.
  2. Once you have performed the push-up stand up in a burpee fashion
  3. Once you get up jump and tuck your legs to your body in a bend position. Once you jump you want to bend your legs as if you are squatting in the air (if that makes any sense to you).
  4. Once you fall down on the ground do a squat
  5. Repeat

This exercise, as you can probably, tell is extremely demanding and there is an obvious reason why. It is basically a combination of three different exercises – burpee, squat, and push-up.

It activates about, well, almost your whole body – calves, hamstrings, gluteus, quadriceps, abs, lower back, shoulders, triceps, chest.

And most importantly, it is extremely high in intensity.

Lifesum, doesn’t really have this exercise listed (as it is completely made up) so I decided that by combining the three exercises would give me a close number – 800 calories in 30 minutes. Considering that this exercise is really demanding I would recommend doing it for no longer than 10 minutes – about 260 calories.

I would also suggest easing into it – slowly build up the necessary stamina and strength that will help you perform the exercise for more than 5 minutes.

This is again an exercise that you can use to workout from home, giving you flexibility!

kettlebell-swings-belly-fat-reduction.jpg

I have no idea why but I love doing this exercise and find it completely entertaining. The kettlebell swing is another compound exercise (as you can probably tell all of the exercises listed so far have a multi-join activation, they are compound, they activate more than just one or two muscle groups).

It is a great exercise that works your lower and upper body and will burn anywhere from 200-400 calories in 30 minutes worth of repetition.

It will also have a powerful kick to your metabolic rate and keep it up for hours after completion.

And for all of you girls that are interested in developing a good looking butt, this is the exercise for you!

boxing-belly-fat-reduction.jpg

Oh man, I love this one.

Boxing is probably my favorite type of cardiovascular exercise and the reason is not only does it help you burn fat but it also helps you develop your body. It’s a really good way to develop those abdominal muscles and really make them look impressive.

This is caused from all of the twists that your body goes through just to perform one proper punch.

According to Lifesum, 30 minutes worth of a boxing session will burn off approximately 400 calories!

I understand that not every gym or home has a boxing back. This is why instead of using one you can go ahead and try out shadow boxing. It won’t have as a serious impact on your body fat reduction but it will sure as hell help you achieve some great results!

battle-ropes-belly-fat-reduction.jpg

Have you ever walked into your gym and wondered why are there a couple of thick lengths of rope lying across the floor? Well, chances are that these are battle ropes.

Battle ropes has got to be one of the most demanding exercises from the list, even though it does not seem like that.

According to the personal trainer Justin Yule who noted that the calories that you would burn during a battle rope session are similar to those that you would burn during a sprint workout.  Ten 100 yard (91 meters) sprints can burn about 500 calories, according to trainer Phil Campbell in an interview with Men’s Fitness.

Battle ropes are classified as a high-intensity interval training (HIIT). In other words you train with maximum effort for a specific period and then you rest. The main advantage of this type of training is that not only is the calorie burn per minute higher but also your metabolic rate skyrockets for hours and hours after you’re done – you burn more calories and fat for up to 24 hours after finishing.

Even though it might not seem like it, you can perform battle rope virtually anywhere you wish. The only downside is that you will have to purchase the ropes to do so.

Conclusion

As I mentioned in the beginning of the article there are two elements that come into play when attempting to lose body fat – nutrition and training. Contrary to popular belief (30% training and 70% nutrition) it’s more of a 50/50 thing.

In other words, you cannot achieve great results if you are lacking in your nutrition but have a great training regime and vice versa.

The exercises that I have listed for you in this post will truly help you achieve your body fat reduction goals. Please make sure that above everything you care for your own safety! Make sure that you have studied these exercises properly and that you do not rush into it – don’t start with extreme intensity, or extreme weight as you are increasing your odds of injury.

Tell me what you think

In the comments bellow let me know what you think about the exercises on the list. Do you like them, do you hate them?

Or even better, are there any other exercises that you believe would do a much better job?

Let me know!

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9 thoughts on “Top 7 Exercises To Lose Belly Fat”

  1. Great article, thanks! I suffer from lower back pain and I was wondering what exercises you would recommend to burn body fat while being easy on the back. Btw, just subscribed to your mailing list!

    1. Hello, Alex! Glad you enjoyed the article. First things first, I would strongly recommend you consult a professional physician on the matter as he/she will provide you with a far better answer than I will considering the fact that I am not a professional and do not deal with back pain myself. On that note, however, what I would recommend doing is doing some research on Swimming and Bicycling as formats of cardio exercise to burn extra body fat. Those two apply little to no back pressure. Swimming, specifically, is a great full-body exercise and will help you burn a lot of calories. Again, Alex, consult a professional on the matter! Hope that shines some light on your query.

  2. Pingback: Top 14 Best Ab Exercises | THEBODYBUILDINGBLOG

  3. This is amazing and VERY motivating. Thank you for changing my mind. With the gazillion posts on the Internet about fitness, this is concise,straight to the point and not confusing. It’s really a good one.

    1. Thank you, Ezinne! I cannot the words to express my gratitude! I put a lot of effort in writing and designing the blog posts. The amount of joy and happiness I feel when somebody expresses their satisfaction from my articles is out of grasp to explain. Thank you for comment!

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