How to Obliterate Stubborn Belly Fat (With Free Mini-Workout)

Do you have fat around your middle? Most people do, and it can be the hardest fat to get rid of. Even if you have a healthy body weight overall, here’s what you need to know about a squishy waistline.

Belly Fat is Dangerous

A muffin top doesn’t just make you look bad in skinny jeans. A large amount of fat in your midsection raises your risk of:

• Heart disease
• Type 2 diabetes
• Colorectal cancer
• Snoring and sleep apnea
• Elevated blood pressure
• Premature death

Here’s a simple formula that always applies:

What you eat – what you burn = weight loss or gain

If you want to lose fat, you have to burn more than you eat. If you eat more than you burn, your body will store it as fat.

Age and heredity plays a role in how you metabolize food and where your body stores fat. F.I.T. experts can help you find the balance between exercise and healthy eating that turns your body into a fat incinerating furnace.

The Truth about Losing It

I’m going to tell you something most people don’t want to hear. People who stay obese fail to accept it and people who maintain a healthy weight for a lifetime already know it.

There are no secret abdominal exercises that will give you sculpted abs in seven days. No device you order from TV will transform your body in minutes. The only way to get a six-pack is through consistent diet and exercise.

Exercises That Burn Fat

Cardio exercises are the best way to torch calories. Any exercise that elevates your heart rate and makes you sweat is good, but here are some of the most effective.

• Running
• Bicycling
• Brisk walking
• Stair Climbing
• Jumping rope

Strength training builds muscle so your body burns more calories even when you’re not working out. Jump-start your metabolism by mixing heavy lifting with your cardio. Try these exercises next time you’re in the gym:

• Barbell squat
• Shoulder press
• Triceps kickbacks
• Chest press

High-intensity interval training (HIIT) combines cardio with strength training to burn calories in super-intense bursts, and might be the most effective way to lose belly fat. When researchers studied overweight women with metabolic syndrome, they had half do low-intensity exercises and the other half participate in HIIT.

Both groups burned 400 calories per session, but the group who participated in HIIT lost significant amount of belly fat.

Free HIIT Workout

Download an interval timer and set it for 45 seconds of work with 15 seconds of rest. Warm up, then complete the following four times, resting one minute between rounds.

• Dumbbell Squat Press – Hold two dumbbells at your shoulders as you squat like you’re sitting in a chair. As you stand back up, press the weights straight up.
• Walking lunges with kettlebell – As you lunge pass the kettlebell between your legs to switch sides.
• Plank to pushup – (Grab a mat). Start on your elbows. Plant one palm on the ground, then the other. Push up. Reverse directions to go back to plank. Repeat.
• Jumping lunges – Step forward with one leg into a deep lunge. Jump explosively upward, switching in the air so your other leg is in front, landing with soft knees.
• Bicycle crunches – lie on your back and crunch with one elbow to the opposite knee. Repeat for the other side.

Have you tried HIIT classes at F.I.T.? Check out our class schedule or contact a trainer today.