Best Exercises to Lose Belly Fat
Try These Exercises to Lose Belly Fat
Pelvic Work
First, let’s talk about the pelvic thrust. Lie on your back, knees bent and your arms lying naturally at your side. As you exhale, bring your pelvis up and tilt it toward the sternum. It’s important to keep your lower back on the floor. Hold for 5 - 10 seconds, inhale and let your buttocks gently down. As far as repetitions, do between 10 and 25 depending upon the kind of shape you’re in for 3 sets.
Another lower abdominal workout gem entails assuming the same starting position with the knees bent. This time lift those knees up and bring them in with control engaging that lower belly to do so. Bring your legs back down and tap those toes on the floor. For a more advanced version, lift your hips up as well when those knees are hovered above your sternum (knees remain at a 45 degree angle throughout), then drop it and bring the toes to the floor.
Exhale on the way up and use the ends of the fingertips to press the floor and keep the movement in the right direction for lower belly targeting like I’ve already discussed in part 1. To add resistance and make it even harder, cross one leg over the other and perform the same sequence. You’re going to want to do 3 sets of these and as far as reps, see how many you can do the first time before muscle exhaustion and use that as a target for the consecutive sets. Fifteen is a good goal and the slower you work, the harder it will be, meaning getting to muscle fatigue quicker.
Leg Lifts
Continuing with this roundup of the best exercises to lose belly fat that are the least likely to strain the lower back, modified leg lefts should be mentioned. Get on your back with your legs lifted up straight and slightly bent. From here you simply move your legs forward and backward to a limited extent. Lift them from the 10 O’clock to the 2 O’clock position if you were looking at your body from one side. Pause when the legs are at 2 O’clock for this to really burn and do the trick. For these you might want to make fists and sit on them for added support to the lower back.
Slim Down Shimmy
Another avenue involves dancing, especially the kind that keeps the hips moving and that core engaged. One such exercise to lose belly fat that a lot of woman find extremely effective is a hybrid of Pilates and belly dancing and only takes 15 minutes.
Apart from the aesthetically-minded goal here is the fact that any core strengthening work you do is going to help you avoid lower back pain and help with posture too. The abdominals are used in just about every movement you make to some degree which brings me to my next point. Engage your abs as much as possible in all of your daily mundane activities above and beyond what you do during your specific exercises geared toward them.
Engage them when you’re at the sink, when you bend down to pick up or do something, and even when you’re walking around. Every muscle, every cell for that matter has a brain, so send the message down there that it’s time to think and look like a washboard. The thought is always, without fail, the ancestor to the deed. Make use of the power of visualization in creating the vision you want and your commitment of bringing that to fruition by suiting up and showing up for your workout routines. And don’t forget to thank your body for all that it does for you when you’re done.
Stick with these exercises and you’ll slim down your belly in no time.
This post is part of the series: Doing that Series of Exercises That Slim Down your Belly
This series provides you with the best exercises to lose belly fat but also explains that you won’t ever see the results unless you practice the other principles and routines which you will find expounded upon in one of these two informative articles.