Do you want to lose belly fat and be healthier? When it comes to losing belly fat, most people think of spot reduction exercises for belly fat, which is not a viable approach. There are strategies combining a healthy diet and physical activity to reduce overall body fat. For example, core-focused workouts engage multiple muscle groups that burn fat all over the body, resulting in a toned and taut stomach.
This article lists various at-home exercises involving cardio, strength, and the core that help to reduce unwanted belly fat.
1. Burpees
Burpees work to strengthen your leg muscles, hips, abdomen, arms, chest, and shoulders. This full-body exercise is a part of a high-intensity interval training (HIIT) regimen — a cardio workout that consisted of short bursts of intense exercise, followed by a short rest period. It combines a jump, a squat, a plank, and a pushup.
How to do a Burpee
- Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart.
- Slowly lower your hips while bending your knees in a low squat position.
- Lower your hands to the floor and place them outside of your feet while pushing your feet back and letting your chest touch the ground.
- Push your body off the floor and lift it into a plank position.
- Jump your feet just away from your hands and push your heels against the floor to jump explosively into the air with your arms outstretched upward.
2. Mountain Climbers
Mountain climber is a beginner-level exercise that works the arms, shoulders, quads, and core. It is an excellent exercise for building cardio endurance, core strength, and agility.
How to do Mountain Climbers
- Get into the plank position with your hands shoulder-width apart.
- Keeping your core tight, pull your right knee into your chest, then bring it back to the plank position.
- Do the same for the left leg, contract and expand your knees in and out as far and fast as you can.
- Keep your back flat, core tight, and head aligned throughout the exercise.
- Focus on your breathing, alternating inhaling and exhaling with each leg change.
3. Russian Twists
The Russian twist is an effective way to strengthen your core and shoulders. It is a full-body workout that engages the obliques, abdominal muscles, hips, shoulders, core muscles, and back muscles. One of the main benefits of the Russian twist is that it helps to burn away side belly fat.
How to do Russian Twists
- Sit on the floor with your legs stretched out in front of you.
- Lift your feet from the floor while keeping your knees bent.
- Elongate and straighten your back at a 45° angle, and create a V-shape with your torso and thighs.
- Keep your hands a few inches away from your chest.
- While keeping your feet in the air, move your torso to the left, then back to the center, and then to the right.
- This movement makes one repetition.
- Do two or three sets of 8 to 16 repetitions.
4. Kettlebell Swing
Kettlebell exercises are intense full-body workouts that help to build strength, tone muscles, burn calories, and lose weight, including belly fat. This exercise targets your major muscle groups such as the quadriceps, glutes, pectorals, deltoids, and abdominals. Engage in various kettlebell exercises at least two non-consecutive days of the week to lose belly fat and overall body fat.
How to do a Kettlebell Swing
- Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, with the kettlebell on the floor in front of you (if you do not have a kettlebell, you can hold a dumbbell vertically).
- Bend your knees, pick up the kettlebell with both hands, and swing it between your legs to create momentum.
- As you swing the kettlebell forward, thrust your hips forward and keep your knees straight.
- As the kettlebell swings downwards, bend at your knees while keeping your back straight.
- Immediately do another swing and bring the kettlebell to chest height.
- Continue swinging for 30 to 60 seconds.
5. Tuck Jumps
Another exercise that helps to reduce belly fat and burn calories is tuck jumps. They improve your cardio fitness, strengthen muscles, build stronger bones, and increase coordination and balance.
How to do Tuck Jumps
- Stand with your feet chest-width apart (less than shoulder distance).
- Bend your knees in a squatting position, then jump up, driving your arms up and pushing off the floor.
- When in the air, try to keep your knees as close to your chest as possible and then land with your knees bent in a squat position.
- Try doing this as many times as possible.
6. Jumping Jacks
Jumping jacks are a vigorous cardio workout that burns overall body fat, including belly fat. They work on your glutes, triceps, biceps, hamstrings, core, calves, and chest muscles. Jumping jacks are a high-impact exercise, offering a great cardiovascular workout that helps to increase fat loss and reduce belly fat.
How to do a Jumping Jack
- Stand with your legs together and arms by your sides.
- Bend your knees and jump with your legs extended sideways, shoulder-width apart, and raise your arms above your head in a V-shape.
- Jump back to the original position with your arms by your sides and legs together.
- Aim for two to three sets of 10 to 20 repetitions.
7. Jumping Lunges
This exercise targets larger muscle groups like quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes, and hip flexors to accelerate the fat loss process. Jumping lunges give the body a substantial cardio boost and burn calories faster.
How to do Jumping Lunges
- Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and hands clasped in front of your chest.
- Take a big step backward and lower your hips. Your back knee should be above the ground with your front thigh parallel to the ground.
- Jump to change the positions of your legs.
- Repeat the movement for five to ten repetitions on each leg.
All the above-mentioned exercises are short and intense bursts of fast-paced cardio that are proven to be more effective than steady-state cardio. These exercises fall under the high-intensity interval training (HIIT) regimen. HIIT is often promoted as a time-efficient strategy to improve body composition and leads to reduced fat-mass deposits, including abdominal and visceral fat mass.
A HIIT workout consists of 10 rounds, with each lasting for 30 seconds. You can choose your favorite exercises but be sure to alternate between exercises that engage various muscle groups.
