5 Effective Exercises to Lose Belly Fat at Home
There’s no magic way to get rid of belly fat. You have to move more, do certain activities, and live a healthy lifestyle.
According to an article from The Center for Metabolism, Exercise, and Health Research (Spanish acronym CIEMETS) at Frontera University in Chile, one way to get rid of belly fat is through exercise.
However, exercise alone isn’t enough. For it to be effective, you have to practice good habits like a balanced diet and adequate hydration.
If you exercise but you aren’t eating well, you won’t get all the potential benefits. That’s why it’s so important to do both.
Walking is one of the best all-around exercises out there. Check out the tutorial below for the proper technique.
Great exercises to trim your belly at home
Once you start to improve your habits, you might wonder what kind of exercises are good to do at home. These are a great option for when you don’t feel like the gym, or it’s too cold to go outside.
Here are the five best, at-home exercises to tone your stomach and strength your abdominal muscles. You can do them at home, any time you want.
1. Abdominal Crunches
Abdominal exercises are recommended to slim down the waistline, tone your stomach, and lose belly fat which is localized fat that builds up in this part of the body.There are different ways to do this, but we want to share some easy exercises that you can do indoors.
How to do crunches:
- On an exercise or yoga mat, lie flat on your back with your knees bent, and feet on the ground.
- Place your hands behind your head and use your stomach muscles to raise your torso off the ground. Keep your back straight and avoid bending your neck (this could cause injury).
- Do three sets of 10 to 20 repetitions.
- If you want to increase the intensity of this exercise, do the same motion but with your legs lifted slightly off the ground.
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2. The Plank
This board-like position, known as the plank, is an exercise that’s growing in popularity because it has demonstrated that in just a few seconds you can work your entire body.The goal is to lose belly fat, so it’s very important that you keep your abdominal muscles contracted while doing this exercise.
How to do the plank:
- Support your body weight with your forearms and toes, facing downward on an exercise mat. Make sure that your elbows are directly beneath your shoulder blades, and keep your back straight.
- Try to hold this position for at least 20 seconds, and do five repetitions. You will be at an advanced level once you can hold this pose for a minute.
3. Frog Kicks
This simple exercise works the middle and upper abdominal area, which is more difficult to tone, so it can really help you lose belly fat by targeting a new area.How to do frog kicks:
- Sit on a firm surface and support yourself with your hands. Place your feet up in the air with your knees slightly bent.
- Pull your knees toward your chest, and then push them out again.
- You should feel the strain of this exercise in the muscles of your abdominal wall. Do 10 to 20 repetitions.
4. Leg Lifts
The trick to this exercise is to keep your abdominal muscles tight while you raise your legs.
How to do leg lifts:
- Lie on your back with your arms at your sides and legs fully extended.
- Keeping both legs together, raise them slowly, as if a thread were tied to your feet, lifting them toward the ceiling.
- Try to keep your legs elevated for a few seconds without altering the position of the rest of your body, and then lower them slowly back down to the starting position.
5. Abdominal Stretches
To finish up this exercise routine, it’s a good idea to do some stretching exercises that target the abdominal area. The goal is to increase flexibility and relax the muscles, which is why you do them at the end of the session.How to do abdominal stretches:
- Lie face down with your hands on the floor.
- Push yourself up on your arms, so that your torso arches back and causes you to contract your abdomen.
Remember!
Getting rid of abdominal fat is a challenge that requires a lot of patience and commitment.
These exercises will help you flatten your tummy, but in addition to doing them on a regular basis, you should compliment them with a healthy and balanced diet.
All cited sources were thoroughly reviewed by our team to ensure their quality, reliability, currency, and validity. The bibliography of this article was considered reliable and of academic or scientific accuracy.
- Vispute, S. S., Smith, J. D., LeCheminant, J. D., & Hurley, K. S. (2011). The effect of abdominal exercise on abdominal fat. Journal of strength and conditioning research, 25(9), 2559–2564. https://doi.org/10.1519/JSC.0b013e3181fb4a46
- Catalina Molina, Gabriela Cifuentes, Cristian Martínez, Rodrigo Mancilla, Erik Díaz. 2016. Disminución de la grasa corporal mediante ejercicio físico intermitente de alta intensidad y
consejería nutricional en sujetos con sobrepeso u obesidad. Revista Médica de Chile. https://scielo.conicyt.cl/pdf/rmc/v144n10/art03.pdf - Jamtvedt G, Herbert RD, Flottorp S, et al. 2010. A pragmatic randomised trial of stretching before and after physical activity to prevent injury and soreness. British Journal of Sports Medicine. https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/44/14/1002
- Mendrin, Natasha; Lynn, Scott K.; Griffith-Merritt, Halecia K.; Noffal, Guillermo J. 2016. Progressions of Isometric Core Training. Strength and Conditioning Journal. https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/wk/ssc/2016/00000038/00000004/art00006
- Park, Du-Jin and Park, Se-Yeon. 2019. Which Trunk Exercise Most Effectively Activates Abdominal Muscles? A Comparative Study of Plank and Isometric Bilateral Leg Raise Exercises. Journal of Back and Musculoskeletal Rehabilitation. https://content.iospress.com/articles/journal-of-back-and-musculoskeletal-rehabilitation/bmr181122