Looking to get rid of that belly fat? While you might be caught up doing crunches, sit ups and planks, studies suggest, they aren’t the secret to losing belly fat. Even though engaging in such exercises may strengthen the muscles that lie underneath excess belly fat, they definitely won’t help one burn it off. Cardio exercise that raises your heart rate for an extended period of time is more likely to help you slim down that belly fat.
Cardio exercises, being paired with a reduced-calorie diet, helps you create a calorie deficit, which automatically means you eat fewer calories than you burn. Read on to find out more on the best cardio exercise to lose belly fat.
High-Intensity Cardio–How to do:
- For high-intensity cardio, warm up for five to 10 minutes at an easy pace with an exercise mode of choice — could be on a stationary bicycle, treadmill or outdoor track.
- Then work out at an intensity that’s seventy to eighty percent of your maximum heart rate for 20 minutes or more at a time.
- Be sure to cool down for several minutes.
HIIT(high intensity interval training) cardio–How to do:
- For HIIT cardio, warm up for five to 10 minutes.
- Then structure your workout so you go hard for 30 seconds to four minutes at a time and recover for an equal or slightly longer period of time.
- For instance, sprint for 1 minute, then walk for one minute 10 times, for a total of 20 minutes.
- Cool down at an easy pace for three to five minutes to complete a session.
Complement Cardio With Strength Training
A comprehensive strength-training routine will help you build muscle in all the major muscle groups and makes your body more efficient at burning calories
How to do:
- Aim for a minimum of two resistance-training workouts per week that target the back, chest, arms, shoulders, legs, hips and abs.
- One set of eight to 12 repetitions of an exercise for each of these groups is sufficient, as long as you use weight that fatigues the muscle group by the last couple of repetitions.