Belly fat is something that plagues all women. Whether it is that chubby paunch or those flabby muffin tops, a bloated belly is one of the trickiest parts to tame; nevertheless, it’s not impossible. With a well-planned workout session and the right diet, you can beat it.
Talking about the right workout, Arnav Sarkar, Trainer and Owner, Sarkar Training says, “The best exercises for fat loss are the ones that use most muscle groups with each repetition. Unfortunately, a lot of women do it just the opposite, where they focus on isolation exercises like flyes, lateral raises, leg extensions, crunches, etc which do not burn as many calories. The bigger the movement, the more muscles used, the more calories your body has to burn and thus greater the fat loss.”
Here are three exercises he recommends:
1. Clean and press: With the clean and press exercise, you will be working on most of your pulling and pushing muscles, will build some strength and lean muscle, which will accelerate fat loss. Your legs, arms, back, shoulders will all get worked out and toned. Start with 5 sets of 5-6 reps. Then as you progress, try to build up to three sets of 15 reps. Once you can do that, increase the weight, and start again with around three sets of 8-10 reps and repeat.
2. Goblet squats: Goblet squats, where you hold a dumbbell or kettlebell infront of you while squatting is a great core exercise too besides obviously working the legs. For goblet squats, start with around three sets of 8-10 reps with proper form and then build up to 4 sets of 15 reps. Thereafter add weight and start again with 3 sets of 8-10 reps.
3. Rope jumping: Rope jumping is probably one of the best cardio workouts that you can do. In fact some studies have shown that 10 minutes of rope jumping burns as many calories as 30 minutes of jogging. For rope jumping, start with five rounds of 30-60 seconds jumping with 30 seconds rest between rounds. Build up to 3-4 rounds of 4-5 minutes each round and one minute rest between rounds.
Sagar Pednekar, Manager Personal Training Operations and Fitness Expert at Gold’s Gym India says, “These are some exercises that do not necessarily have to be done in the gym; it could be done anywhere, at home, office or even a garden. These exercises majorly focus on the core – the central region of the body of which belly is just one part. Core is a combination of abdominal muscles and lower back muscles. To explain more scientifically, it focuses on abdominal muscle such as Rectus abdominus (Upper Abdomen), Transverse abdominus (Deep lower abdominal muscle), Obliques (sides or love handles). Also the overall benefit of performing these exercises is that it helps to reduce belly fat and gives better conditioning to the abdominal muscles.”
Here are three exercises he recommends.
4. Basic abdominal crunches on the floor: These are the normal crunches that we do for building abs and they are one of the most effective floor exercises, which can be done anywhere.
5. Abdominal plank hold on the floor: Planks are a tough exercise that usually need a little resistance as they crunch on the stomach muscles for a long time. But at the same time they are very effective if done correctly.
6. Swiss ball side bends: This exercise is done using a Swiss ball and lying on your side on the Swiss ball. They stretch the side abdominal muscles and strengthen them.
All these exercises can be performed in 3-4 sets and 20-25 reps per set minimum thrice in a week.
Nitin Chaudhary, Master Trainer at Talwalkars Better Value Fitness (TBVF) gives you three more important exercises you can include in your workout regime.
7. Deadlifts – The king of all exercises: As the name suggests ‘deadlifts” means ‘lifting anything from dead position (lying on the floor). It is mainly a gym-based workout using a barbell or dumbbells or can be done at home with a kettlebell. It is different from squats, as one has to bend over rather than sit down, like in squats, but maintaining the neutral alignment of spine is top-most priority. This exercise strengthens all the major muscle groups from legs to neck, including calves, thighs, hips, core, trapezius etc. This is an overall 10/10 rated workout to burn most of the belly fat as it recruits most of the big muscles that use more calories to execute the movements repetitively. You are able to lose weight with strength, only when you are strong enough to do high intensity workouts. This exercise makes you stronger.
Sets = 4
Reps = 10-12
Rest intervals between sets = 60 sec
8. Mountain climbers: Mountain climbers are the mimic movement of climbing the mountains but practically it has to be done on the floor. This workout requires a pyramid pace, like starting slowly then increasing the speed to maximum and then decreasing it gradually in other words ‘a tempo control movement’. This helps in increasing the metabolism and conditioning of cardio-respiratory system creating the environment of burning fat in the body. Another reason for this exercise to be one of the best belly fat buster exercise is due to involving the muscles that requires high energy and also these muscles are located near the belly like core muscles (abs, obliques, TVA, diaphragm, pelvic floor muscles, erector spinae etc.), hip flexors, stabilizers, few upper body muscles like deltoids, chest, triceps etc. and lower body muscles like quadriceps, hamstrings, and calves. So it is again a total body workout like deadlifts, using more calories from fat storage to perform this movement. (Total body workout enhances movement of fat cells away from the fat storage near belly to be available as energy source for exercises)
Sets = 4
Reps = 30-40 sec
Rest intervals between sets = 30-60 sec
9.Jump squats: It is a progression from simple squatting (a forceful jump immediately after eccentric phase of squats). This workout is best to improve, stamina, strength, power, balance and co-ordination, and endurance which are the components of optimum fitness level. This workout works in two ways to burn belly fat, firstly while achieving above fitness components through jump squats all the major muscle group (discussed above) including core muscles are used that further helps in toning the whole body accordingly. Secondly, the jump movement (forceful upward movement against the gravity) challenges the gravitational pull of the ground and increases the metabolism of the body. This proves ‘jump squats’ to be the best exercise to burn fat, tone the body and make the joints stronger.
Sets = 4-5
Reps = 12-15
Rest interval between sets = 30 sec
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