Are you spot reducing fat?
If you are, stop.
There’s no way you can target specific fat.
The only way you can lose the fat in your belly is by reducing your overall body fat.
So forget about your thousands of crunches you do daily.
Instead, focus on these workouts to lose lower belly fat, guaranteed.
Best workouts to lose lower belly fat
Throw away the abdominal rolling wheel thingy, stop declining the FID bench, and burn the ab roller.
You don’t need any equipment to lose belly fat.
When it comes to losing fat, you need to be in a caloric deficit.
There are many ways you can put your body in a calorie deficit.
One method that I love to make sure I am well under my recommended daily calories is cardio.
Cardio can come in many forms, but the following are the best workouts to lose lower belly fat:
- Walking
- Running
- Skipping
- Shadowboxing
- Cycling
- HIIT
My go-to workout to get rid of lower belly fat – Walking
Walking is my all-time favorite workout to get rid of lower belly fat and reduce calories. It has less impact on joints, can be done anywhere, and anyone with 2 legs can do it.
However, you might be thinking of walking like taking a stroll down the park. No, to lose the fat, you need to be breathing hard.
The harder it is to talk and breathe, the more you are losing calories. This doesn’t mean that you have to be power walking.
For your body to cause a reaction and melt the fat, you have to hit your fat-burning zone.
To find your fat-burning zone, you need to know your maximum heart rate. Find your maximum heart rate here.
Once you find out your maximum heart rate, you can use our calculator to learn the heart rate you need to achieve to dissolve fat.
You’d be surprised at the minimum effort it takes to burn fat. My fat burning zone is only 108 BPM.
Running
Running requires more effort than walking, but you get to lose more calories in a shorter amount of time.
The downside of running is that it has more impact on your legs and can take its toll over time. Keep doing it long enough, and you may develop common runner’s injuries.
When you do take up running as a hobby, keep yourself injury-free by gearing up properly.
Buy proper fitting shoes. Know your limits. Rest.
Resting from running is the best method to prevent any stress-related injuries. When you feel pain, your body is telling you something — listen.
Skipping
Skipping rope provides a whole-body workout, improves balance, and coordination.
According to Calories Burned HQ, skipping rope can burn 277 calories in 20 minutes if you can do 100 skips per minute.
When you start, don’t be pressured by watching Mike Tyson or Manny Pacquiao do the ropes. Those guys had years of experience.
Starting can be a struggle. You may not do 100 skips per minute, heck, probably you can only do 10. But that doesn’t matter. Everyone starts from the bottom.
As you progress, day by day, you will improve. Before you know it, you will be doing double crossover jumps. To give you an idea and to break down the move, watch the following video:
Second fav exercise lose lower belly fat – Shadowboxing
Do some shadow boxing after you are done with your 20 minutes jump rope session. This will further your calories burned and fat loss.
Moreover, you won’t get bored doing the same thing. I know what it feels just jumping around like a madman for 20 minutes. It gets boring, so mix it up.
Shadowboxing is free. You are only punching the air, after all. However, you need to learn the basics of boxing.
Things like using your bodyweight, shoulders, and basic movements should be studied or looked up on Google.
My favorite video to learn the basics of punching is this one below. It’s full of awesomeness:
Shadowboxing can workout your entire body and can be done anywhere. Hence, this is my second favorite exercise to lose lower belly fat.
Cycling
Why would you want to cycle instead of just jump rope or run? Well, with cycling, it builds up your quads.
Although you won’t build a significant leg strength with cycling compared to traditional squats, you will improve your balance.
[source: Two Pilot Studies of the Effect of Bicycling on Balance and Leg Strength among Older Adults]
Cycling also delivers less strain on your knee joints, which can be suitable for older or injured people.
The downside is that you have to buy a bike which can be an expensive investment. Bicycles can range from hundreds to thousands. Just look at this bike below, which costs AU$2000 at the time of this writing:
Not to mention that it can be hazardous to your health if you are on the road when people are growing more impatient these days.
A solution to not being run over by a maniac Sunday driver would be to buy a stationary bike.
HIIT (High-Intensity Interval Training)
HIIT is about repeating a combined high intensity and low-intensity workout.
There are many ways you can do HIIT training, mostly dependent on your fitness.
For most people, and most gym classes utilize a long rest time and a short high intensity (all-out) workout.
However, you can do anything you want. What I would do is try an equal rest time and “all-out” time.
Or, if I am still starting, I would lean towards longer rest time and shorter bouts of high intensity. As you get fitter, you can decrease your rest time.
HIIT workout example:
Jumping jacks = 30 secs
Rest = 30 secs
Pushup = 30 secs
Rest = 30 secs
Reverse ab crunch = 30 secs
Rest =30 secs
Ab crunch = 30 secs
Rest = 30 secs
Squats = 30 secs
Rest = 30 secs
Tricep dips = 30 secs
Rest = 30 secs
Repeat 3x
That is 18 minutes of HIIT and you can change and add workouts to your liking.
If you go further deeper into HIIT, you will learn of the TABATA method. In a study comparing HIIT to steady pace workout, neither approach is more significant than the other.
The TABATA group exercised 8 intervals of 20 secs 170 VO2 Max with 10 secs rest. The steady group exercised for 20 mins at 90% of their capacity.
There were no significant differences in the result. The only difference is that the TABATA method was less enjoyable compared to the steady pace method. This is because 170 VO2 Max is hard to achieve.
To reach 170 VO2 Max, your heart will be pumping out of your chest, and your muscles are getting ripped to shreds. Unless you are a top-performing athlete, maintaining a 170 VO2 max is impossible.
There is no way you can measure your VO2 without proper equipment.
You just have to go with your gut feeling by how much your heart is pumping and your breathing.
[source: The Effects of High Intensity Interval Training vs Steady State Training on Aerobic and Anaerobic Capacity]
Lower belly fat exercise
To give your six-pack a bit more oomph, try this lower belly fat exercise. Resistance training does not get rid of belly fat but it does tone up and chisel your stomach.
- Reverse crunch
- Leg lifts
Reverse crunch
Reverse crunch will workout the lower part of your stomach. Instead of leveraging your upper body to create resistance, your lower body will be used.
- Lay on your back.
- Tuck your hands under your bottom with your palms facing down.
- Bend your legs so it creates a 45 degree angle.
- Lift up your legs as if to touch the ceiling together with your tush.
- Engage the lower core muscles.
- Don’t straighten your legs until finished.
Leg lifts
Leg lift is similar to reverse crunch but instead of bending your legs, you keep them straight.
- Lay on your back.
- Hands on the side of your hips with palms facing down.
- With your legs straight, lift them up towards the ceiling.
- Lift your butt off the floor using your lower core muscles.
You won’t be able to see the fruits of your labor if you haven’t lost the belly fat hiding your abs. It’s crucial you burn the fat with cardiovascular activities together with these lower belly fat exercises.
Conclusion
The best workouts to lose lower belly fat is different for everyone. No one workout will guarantee you six-pack abs.
What guarantees you chiseled abs is you being active and burning calories.
What you should do is to try all of the workouts you know and ask yourself, “what is the workout I enjoy doing the most?”
You see, once you lose your belly fat, you can’t just slack off and go back to being sedentary and eating junk. You will be back to your old fat self in no time.
Choose a workout that is fun for you. You don’t have to stick to one every single time. Change it up, mix it up.