Everyone desires a flat stomach. It’s an area in which you can be frustrated about especially when summer it’s approaching and you want to look your best in the swimming suit.
Besides, researchers have shown that a larger waist links to heart disease, diabetes, and even cancer. Getting your tummy toned will have a positive impact on your overall health also.
Luckily, you can lose belly fat at home, doing core-focused exercises. Let’s find out more about belly fat and how you can lose it effectively at home.
Will cardio help me burn belly fat?
The exercises that target all body muscles speed up your metabolism which will result in burning calories and losing belly fat. You may be tempted to believe that only ab exercises will help you lose belly fat, but that is far from the truth.
Doing abs will strengthen the muscles that lie underneath the fat area but they don’t burn fat. Cardio will help you burn the fat, but you should know that it’s not enough to run on the treadmill for half an hour.
You have to do the right type of cardio exercise that will help you obtain that flat stomach everyone desires.
What cardio burns the most belly fat?
We’ve put together a list of the best exercises that will help you burn belly fat, according to experts professional trainers.
You can choose different cardio exercises to do at home in a convenient way that will also help you save money. Luckily, you don’t need a lot of space or expensive equipment to do your cardio workout at home.
You must work out in the morning, more precisely every morning for the best results. You must set up a schedule and stick to it.
Now let’s dive into some quick and easy exercises you can do at home…
1. Exercise Bikes
Bicycle exercises are proven to burn belly fat faster and they are one of the top workouts that personal trainers recommend. Studies have shown that bicycling one great activity to do when you want to lose fat from your abdominal area.
Bicycling requires abdominal stabilization and even more abdominal muscle activity. If you’re not the type who takes the bicycle and wonder in the city, you can do it at home with an exercise bike or otherwise mimic bicycling gestures on a mat on the floor.
You can mimic bicycling on the floor at home, following these steps:
- lie on the back with your hands placed behind your head
- raise the knees to your chest while lifting your head and shoulders off the ground
- bring the left elbow to your right knee and vice-versa
- continue switching sides to simulate pedaling activity
- do 3 sets, each with 12 repetitions.
2. Stair Climbing
Along with bicycling, climbing the stairs help you with your flat stomach. You should climb the stairs for 30 seconds in an intense exercise, with 1-2 minutes of break. It’s best to repeat this for approximately 15 rounds.
3. Jumping Ropes
The jumping rope it’s a popular exercise but has a strong presence in boxing training and there’s a good reason for that. It’s easy to do anywhere. And it burns a lot of calories, approximately 500 calories in 30 minutes of workout.
It’s best to jump the rope for 30 minutes, but for starters, you can do this activity for 1 minute and then rest for 20 seconds. Repeat as much as you can.
4. Jumping Jacks
The jumping jacks are a cardiovascular exercise that works every muscle in your body, including your abdominal muscle. You should perform it at high intensity for the best results and lose belly fat quickly.
Jumping jacks are easy to do. You simply:
- stand upright with your legs together and the arms at your side;
- bend your knees and jump into the air;
- as you jump you have to spread your legs to be at a shoulder-width;
- jump back to the starting position.
For this particular exercise, it’s required to have a conditioned heart and a good pair of shoes. The jumping jacks are high impact and can affect the joints, that that’s why it’s best to have good shoes that will alleviate the fall and will not put a lot of pressure on your joints.
5. Exercise Ball
Another type of cardio exercise that will help you obtain the six-packs abdomen you crave, is by using the exercise ball.
The steps are for performing this kind of training are as follows:
- lie on the exercise ball with your feet placed firmly on the ground;
- place your hands across the chest;
- contract your abs;
- lift your torso up and forward;
- lower your back down;
- keep the ball stable all this time;
- do at least 3 sets, with 12 repetitions each.
6. Vertical Leg Crunch
The vertical leg crunch should not be excluded from your cardio workout at home. Let’s see how you do it:
- lie down with your hand placed underneath your head;
- put your legs up with your knees crossed;
- flex the ab muscles to lift your head and shoulders from the floor;
- lay back down while keeping your legs extended in the air;
- do 3 sets with 12 repetitions each.
7. Reverse Crunch
As we are speaking of crunch exercises, you must try the reverse crunch, ranked on the top 5 exercises for strengthening your abdominal area.
Let’s find out how you do this exercise:
- lie on the floor with your arms near you;
- cross your feet and lift them off the floor until your knees make a 90 degrees angle;
- contract ab muscles and lift head and shoulders off the ground;
- Do 3 sets of 12 repetitions each.
How often should I do cardio to lose belly fat?
In the beginning, you have to do at least 30 minutes of cardio per day, 5 days a week. Ideally, you should be looking at getting about 60 minutes of cardio exercise per day.
It is bad to do cardio every day?
This is a question frequently asked. You should know that the expert guideline requires you to track and measure your progress weekly, not by the day. So you will be the best judge as to how you want to organize your cardio activity.
However, fitness experts recommend 300 minutes of cardio per week, which means you’re looking at a total of 5 hours per week. Find the schedule most suitable for you. For example, you can choose to do 1 hour per day of cardio exercise, for 5 days a week.
You can try different schedules until you know what works for you. The signs that you are over-exercising can be clear – excessive fatigue, irritability, loss of appetite, depression, etc.
If you experience one or more of these symptoms, your body is telling you to adjust your training. Always listen to your body.
You have discovered numerous exercises that will help you lose belly fat. You can try them and choose the ones that you enjoy most.
It’s important to consider these exercises as a lifestyle and perform them continuously for better results.
The key is to find the right exercises that challenge you and be consistent. Try to do it at least 5 times per week with cardio training and you will benefit in the long run.
Keep in mind that the exercises must be done at high intensity in order to lose fat effectively.
