The Best Exercise To Lose Belly Fat, According To Science

When it comes to losing weight, the stomach area seems to always be the last to go. That darn belly fat can just be so stubborn, which can be quite unfortunate considering stomach fat, also known as visceral fat, is unhealthy and dangerous to your health, since it surrounds so many organs. Luckily, a recent study has found one workout in particular that can help blast belly fat.

Research published in The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness found that high-intensity interval training, also known as HIIT, was the most effective workout for not only losing weight, but for trimming inches from your waistline as well. The study had two group of participants work out for eight weeks, with one group of participants doing steady-state cardio paired with strength workouts and the other doing steady-state cardio paired with HIIT workouts.

The group that did HIIT lost more weight, shaved down their waistlines, and lost more visceral fat than the group that did normal strength workouts. HIIT exercises are short and intense workouts that push you to your limits, which can explain why it helps get rid of that unwanted fat.

Check out the visual below from Daily Burn for a sample HIIT for beginners. The fitness site recommends you start the HIIT with the following warm-up:

• Jog or march in place for 30 seconds.
• Standing tall, circle your arms backwards, one after the other, (as if you’re pretending to do the backstroke) for 30 seconds.
• Finally, perform a front lunge, side lunge and back lunge stepping with the same leg, then switch to the other leg and repeat. Continue for one minute. Now, get ready to HIIT it!

If you haven’t tried a HIIT workout yet, you may want to give it a try.

Photo by Fit Approach