7 Best Cardio Exercises to Burn Belly Fat
Not merely is belly fat an aesthetic issue, it is also a medical risk. Visceral fat, or the fat that surrounds your organs can put you at risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes and other chronic diseases. Another most effective strategy that you can use whenever you are losing belly fat is cardio exercise. Cardio could help you lose some calorie and hype up your metabolism and the total levels of body fat (abdominal fat can be extremely hard to lose).
Now in this guide, we will list 7 effective cardio exercises which can help you burn belly fat, improve your fitness as well as to make you a healthier person.
Why is Cardio so significant to Time to Lose Belly Fat?
Cardio, a short word to mean cardiovascular exercise, increases the rate at which your heart beats and is willing to continue beating during a long period of time. This stamina dictates your body to use calorie to get energy. When you are eventually in a calorie-deficit state (you are burning more than what you consume), your body will then burn your body fat- and this fat includes the fat that surrounds your waist.
Among the reasons why cardio has been so successful in losing belly fat is not only the fact that when performed correctly will engage large muscle groups and turn the entire body into a moving mass. A majority of the cardio exercise builds up what is called an after burn effect; your body continues to burn more calories even after you are no longer exercising.
Jogging or Running
One of the best fat burning cardio exercises that you can run. No equipment is required and it can be found at most times and locations. Running burns 300-600 calories per 1/2 hour though this depends on speed, weight and terrain.
Other than burning calories, running works on your abdominal muscles as well. When you climb mountains or run over rocky areas, it makes your abdominal muscles to strain more to keep your body stable which gives you an extra exercise to your core. This will over time assist in a smaller, flatter belly.
Shake the speed so as to maximize running. When we alternate sprints with jogging (interval running), the fat-burning rate is high in a shorter time span, compared to a steady state exercise training.
Sample Workout:
- Warm-up:5 minutes fast walk
- The exercise: 1 minute running-2 minutes jogging into each other ( 20-30 min.)
- Five to ten minutes walking and stretching.
High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT).
HIIT is a highly modern sport and it has gained a huge popularity over the past few years- with all the justifiable reasons. It is among the most effective methods of shedding weight in a highly short period of time, including belly fat. HIIT is the opportunity to alternate between extremely intensive exercise and active recovery/ rest. This keeps your heart rate elevated, and provides maximum burning of calories in a limited range.
HIIT has the greatest advantage, the afterburn effect, or excess post-exercises oxygen use (EPOC). It would mean that your body burns calories even after exercise done thus boosting your total fats loss.
The other benefit with HIIT is that it increases insulin sensitivity and hormone level that may have a direct effect on the body concerning fat storage and burning.
- Thirty seconds jump squats
- 30 s break
- 30 second mountain climbers
- 30 s break
- 30 second burpees
- 30 s break
- 30 secs high knees
- 30 s break
- Repeat 3 to 4 times
Jump Rope
Jumping rope is another excellent exercise to shed lots of fats, another workout included in the old school. It is a body-wide exercise that improves co-ordination, agility, and endurance of the cardiovascular system. Most importantly it burns a lot of calories-5 or 15 calories per minute, depending on the intensity and speed.
In jumping the rope, your core is being worked, more so when you combine focus in maintaining a straight posture and drawing in your stomach. This frequent movement will ease your stomach and increase the belly fat burning aided by a calorie deficit.
Poor individuals are also very convenient to timely poor. The 1015 minutes per day can only be effective in the long term run.
Sample Workout:
- 1 minute fundamental bounce
- 30 seconds of rest
- 1 min alternating footstep
- 30 seconds of rest
- 1 min jumping with high knees
- 30 seconds of rest
- Do three to five repetitions
Riding bicycle ( Stationary or Outside )
A bike that consumes a lot of calories is another great concept of low powered but powerful cardio exercise. Cycling can work your legs, glutes and, ultimately, core by either riding a stationary bicycle or going out to the streets.
Routine cycling will help the heart to be fit and create a caloric balance that will gradually reduce belly fat. You can also introduce HIIT to the combination to burn fat in a stationary bicycle.
Bicycling with resistance and hill riding also help motivate you to engage more with your core, which further stimulates abdominal muscle activity and belly fat burning.
Sample Workout:
- 5-minute warm-up
- 20 second sprint abuse (high res)
- 40 sec recovery (easy)
- Repeat 10 -15 times
- 5-minute cool-down
Swimming
Swimming is a low impact, cardio workout of the entire body. It is perfect especially to individuals with the injured parts or individuals seeking the burning of fats in a low-impact way. The calorie-burning can vary between 400 and 700 calories per hour depending on the stroke and intensity when swimming.
What makes swimming a good exercise to lose the belly fat is because it keeps on working on your core muscles. With every stroke and kick, your body will stay still in the water challenging your core muscles and tightening the abdominal.
In addition, your cardio is accompanied by water resistance that will make your swimming session something unusual and an effective fat-burning experience.
Sample Workout:
- Freestyle average freestyle 4 x 50 meters.
- 4 x 25m freestyle sprint
- 1 minute rest between sets
- Repeat twice or thrice
Rowing
Rowing is a secret in itself, as far as fat-burning cardiovascular activities are concerned. A proper workout that consists of rowing exercises will address every part of your body: legs, core, back and arms when completed. The higher calorie expenditure and effective fat burning which this full body activity results in generates more effective fat burning.
The best thing about rowing is that it works the core and, simultaneously, possesses the cardiovascular benefit. Rowing requires you to be in the appropriate position and also in rhythm and you are always utilizing your abdominal muscles to keep straight.
It saves 300 to 500 calories of energy in 30 minutes, and is a combination of optimum strength training, as well as endurance training.
Sample Workout:
- 5 minutes Air-row warm up
- 30-second high intensity row
- 1 minute slow recovery
- Do this 20 minutes
- 5-minute cool-down
Zumba, Hip Hop and Aerobic Dance Cardio.
Dance cardio is fun, tasty and can be highly adaptable according to any fitness level. Whether it is Zumba, step aerobics, hip hop dance classes, your heart will be racing, body in motion, and core active.
Dancing also burns 300-600 calories per hour in aid of body flexibility, coordination and stamina. These are dynamic cardio moves that are natural to dance cardio and keep your abs and obliques burning as you spin, twist and jump.
Dance cardio is enjoyable, something that causes people to stick to it a quality that is necessary in the long-term fat loss. The better you feel having done this exercise, the more chances you have to continue with it.
Sample Workout:
- Warming (light dancing steps) 5 minutes.
- 3 zippy tunes
- 1 minute water break
- 2 medium-paced songs.
- 5-minutes cool-down and stretching.
The Benefit of cardio and Strength.
Despite the fact that cardio is excellent in burning fat, the combination of cardio and strength training is actually the best long time strategy when losing belly fat. Muscle gain Strength training builds lean muscle, and thus your resting metabolism rate escalates--that is, you use more calories at rest.
Muscle is also less bulky than fat hence you would be appearing leaner and more toned as you lose body fat and gain some muscle.
- Exemplary Weekly Schedule:
- Monday: HIIT + General strength.
- Tuesday: Do dance or light cardio
- Wednesday: upper body strength training (core, too)
- Thursday: Skip rope + mobility muscle-wise.
- Friday: Biking or swimming
- Saturday: Strength + body walk
- Sunday:Yoga/stretching/ rest.
Nutrition Tips to achieve the most fat loss in your Belly.
Exercise does not make you flat stomach. Fat loss diet is a highly significant factor in fat loss- more so, belly fat loss.
Bring your body into a state of calorie deficit using foods that make up a slightly smaller amount of calories than you expend in your everyday activities. Nevertheless, do not starve yourself as it will turn against you in slowing down your metabolism.
Nutrition Tips:
- Eat plenty of low fat meat (chicken, eggs, fish, tofu)
- Choose natural, raw foodstuffs.
- Minimize carbohydrates of sugar and white flour.
- Aberate trance mutants and high end processing trance snacks.
- Consume lots of water
- Limit alcohol intake-they are directly related to additional belly fat.
- Take into food high fibers as a way of promoting digestibility and satiety.
- Measure More Than Your Weight.
The scale does not always determine fat loss. Muscle weighs more than fat, and therefore you might not think that you have lost weight at all but you are losing inches. To gauge the performance, follow a number of ways:
- Measure the waist line circumference.
- Take some of the progress shots after every couple of weeks.
- Check the clothing fit Track your clothing fit.
- Check energy level, and physical performance.
- Fat vs muscle can be measured by body composition tools (where possible).
Final Thoughts
Belly fat loss requires time, effort and consistency, and with the right cardio activities and routines it will come true. The above described seven cardio exercises consisting of running, HIIT, jump rope, cycling, swimming, rowing, and dancing cardio exercises are all quite viable alternatives in training belly fat and in improving your overall health.
Choose exercises that will work into your routine; seek an exercise program you can commit to, enjoy and at the same time pose challenges. Include the balance of nutrition, proper sleep, and resistance training in your exercises and you will realize the long-term outcomes that will prove to sustain in the long term.
Start Today
You do not have to wait till Monday or a new month. Each of these exercises can be selected.
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