How To Burn Belly Fat

May 21, 2010 by Alex Chris, Reviewed by our Editorial Board 

Unfortunately, it’s not possible to perform exercises that specifically burn belly fat. There are exercises you can do, however, which burn a greater amount of fat all over the body than others. This article will describe some of the most effective exercises for burning fat and hence losing weight.

Before you begin exercising it’s important to remember that it takes time for the benefits of exercise to become apparent. You should schedule exercise sessions into your daily routine and reward yourself when you complete them. This will make it easier to stay focused and hence burn more calories in the long run.

You should also keep in mind that the exercises which generally burn the most fat are the ones which work on the body’s larger muscles. This means that exercises focusing on the thighs and back will be effective while those working on the upper arms may not when it comes to losing weight. To burn fat an exercise needs to be performed for a reasonable period of time – usually at least twenty minutes. Even the best calorie burning exercise won’t provide much benefit if it’s only performed for a few minutes at a time.

Running

Running is a great exercise for burning calories because you’re using many different muscles in the body – especially the thighs. The problem with jogging to get fit is that it puts a large amount of stress and strain through your ankle, knee and hip joints so for this reason you need to start slowly.

Typically, you should begin by running for around ten minutes a few times a week before increasing your mileage. This will help to reduce the chances of getting an injury. If you start to feel any pain then you should stop immediately and rest until it disappears.
One way to stay motivated whilst getting fit by running is to enter a race. There are many 5k, 10k, half marathon and marathon events all year round. Knowing that you have a race coming up is a big motivator.

For a low-impact version of running you should use an elliptical cross trainer.

Power Walking

Power walking isn’t just an easier version of jogging – it’s a completely different exercise. The great thing about power walking is that it allows you to work out for much longer and burn more calories. It also helps to increase your body’s metabolism which is important for burning belly fat.

The other advantage of power walking over jogging is that it’s a much lower impact activity. Even so, you should still ensure you wear the correct footwear to avoid any excess force on your knees.

Weight Training

It’s often said that weight training isn’t effective for burning calories but this isn’t necessarily true. The problems arise if you don’t lift the weights correctly. If you learn how to weight train effectively then you can burn a relatively large amount of calories quickly.

A weight training exercise program will also help your body’s overall fitness and strength. This will allow you to perform a wider range of exercises in the future.

To increase the effectiveness of these exercises you could consider interval training. This form of training utilizes periods of intense training followed by periods of rest allowing you to exercise at a higher intensity for longer periods of time. It’s also a great way to burn more calories when you only have a short amount of time to exercise.

Boredom is a major problem with any sort of exercise so the more you can vary a routine the better. It’s also a good idea to change the muscles you’re working on each day to avoid repetitive strain injuries.



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Alex Chris

About

Alex is editor-in-chief of How To Lose Belly Fat Healthy. You can connect with him on Facebook, Twitter and Google+. You can also contact Alex for any comments or suggestions about the web site.

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