Effective Exercise To Lose Belly Fat

Belly fat is composed of fat calories that your body has not broken down into energy. Excess belly fat is unsightly as well as unhealthy. The more visceral fat you have, the more likely you are to develop serious medical conditions such as Type II diabetes, cardiovascular disease, stroke and metabolic syndrome. Many people spend hours a day doing abdominal workouts to get rid of their belly fat, but this has been proved to be an ineffective approach to losing your belly. The most effective exercises are aerobic exercises. Abdominal workouts tone your core muscles but have little effect on the fat stored around your midsection.

Running

Running is one of the most common aerobic exercises. It is effective as well as simple. While running, you are mainly exercising your calves and your thighs. The calves and thighs have some of the largest muscles in your body, thus they burn the most calories. Running is most effective in burning belly fat when you do it for long periods. Any aerobic exercise should be done longer than 20 minutes, which is how long it takes for your body to begin burning the fat stored around your midsection.

Swimming

Swimming is also an effective exercise for trimming the fat off your abdomen. Swimming is a full body workout, using all of your body's major muscles. It requires a great deal of energy, thus burning a substantial number of calories. Doing all four swimming strokes is beneficial because the various strokes use different muscles, burning more calories in the process.

Resistance Training

Resistance training is not the fastest way to lose belly fat, but it is one of the effective ways of keeping the fat off. Resistance training doesn't burn a lot of calories, but it does increase your muscle mass. Muscle tissue burns calories, so the more muscle mass you have, the more calories you burn on a regular basis. According to Christian Finn, a certified fitness instructor who has a master's degree in exercise science, the most effective way to lose belly fat is regular aerobic workouts coupled with weight training. Resistance exercises using your body's largest muscles--- pectoral muscles, back muscles and quadriceps---are the most effective because they burn the most calories. Squats, dead lifts, pull-ups and bench presses are some of the most effective resistance exercises for weight loss.

Exercise Split

When you're training to lose weight, splitting your workouts over the course of a day can be effective. Every workout session raises your metabolic rate for a few hours, so splitting your workout keeps your metabolism working at a faster pace longer. An example of a good workout split would be an early morning run and an evening weight-training session.

Exercise Intensity

The intensity at which you exercise also affects the rate at which you burn calories. The more challenged your body is, the more calories you burn. To intensify your workout, you can run at a faster pace, lift more weights or change the weightlifting exercise. To keep your exercise intense and effective, it's essential to change your workout regularly. If you're an avid runner, try swimming for a few weeks. If you excel at the bench press, give squats a try.