Worried about your expanding waistline amidst the lockdown? It is actually a thing to worry about as belly fat has been linked to increased risk of heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, insulin resistance, some cancers, and a host of other health problems. Several factors may play a role in widening your waistline including an unhealthy diet, lack of physical activity, hormones, age, or genetic factors. Exercise alone is not enough to fight belly fat, you should eat clean to maintain a healthy weight.

You’re eating healthy and sticking to your workouts, but still can’t get rid of belly fat? You’re probably doing the wrong workout. It’s time to ramp up your workouts to eliminate that stubborn visceral fat.

You need a combination of weights and cardiovascular training

If you’re doing only cardio exercises, it won’t have much impact on your waist. When it comes to burning abdominal fat, you need a combination of weights and cardiovascular training, according to fitness experts.

Strength training increases muscle mass, which helps your body to burn more fat. Muscle burns more calories than fat. So, having more muscle means you burn more calories throughout the day. For losing belly fat, experts recommend 250 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise or 125 minutes of high-intensity exercise a week.

Another reason why you’re not losing your belly fat may be because your workout isn’t challenging enough. To fight that stubborn fat, you need a high-intensity workout regimen. A study published in the journal Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise found that a high-intensity workout regimen helps people burn more belly fat than a low-intensity plan. In fact, those who followed low-intensity exercises experienced no significant changes in their belly.

Best gym workouts to lose belly fat and get in shape fast

To maintain a healthy weight, eat a healthy diet, reduce stress, and exercise at least four times a week, and stay active on your off days. If you’re struggling to lose weight, try adding these workouts to your regular gym routine.

Add HIIT to your regular gym routine

High-intensity interval training (HIIT) is one of the best workouts for burning belly fat. HIIT combined with conventional training reduces total and visceral fat to a greater extent than regular gym training alone, suggested a study published in The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness in 2016.

This is because high-intensity workouts put more stress on your body, which increases metabolism and fat burning after exercise. After intense training, the body uses more energy to recover from stress and repair damaged tissues.

Lift weights to boost your metabolic rate

A fast metabolism can make it easier to lose the visceral fat and one way to boost your metabolic rate is to put on more muscle. That you can achieve through strength training. Weightlifting can improve muscle growth and help burn more fat faster. Compound exercises, such as deadlifts, squats, leg presses and pushups, are more effective for fat loss as they work nearly every muscle group, especially larger muscles.

Experiment with sprint intervals

Sprint intervals are other belly-fat-burning exercises that you can add to your routine. This training method is effective at reducing visceral and subcutaneous fat as well as intrahepatic fat that is linked to nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.

Compared to jogging and other workouts, sprint interval training is more intense, physically demanding, and recruits a larger number of fast-twitch muscle fibers. Thus, it results in faster metabolism and better fat burning.

Start adding hill sprints, ladder workouts, and downhill running to your routine to get a flat belly. Experts suggest beginning with five minutes of sprinting three times per week and gradually working your way up to 20 minutes.

Take away: Exercise alone can’t undo the harm caused by bad eating. In addition, stress can contribute to fat storage in the abdominal area. So, it is important to eat clean and limit stress to get the most out of these belly-fat-burning workouts.

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