Exercises To Lose Belly Fat At Home For Beginners

With crop tops and lowrise jeans back in fashion, it seems like everyone is paying more and more attention to what their midriff looks like. Excess belly fat is one thing that often causes a lot of insecurity for many people irregardless of gender or even current fashion trends. If you are looking to lose some belly fat and tone your midriff, then the question of ‘what are the good exercises to lose belly fat at home’ is probably very high on your search history. Here are some easy exercises to lose belly fat at home for beginners.

What Are Some Good Exercises To Do At Home To Lose Belly Fat?

While it is a general consensus in the health and fitness worlds that getting rid of belly fat is one of the hardest things that one can do, it is not impossible as long as you workout consistently and be patient with both yourself and your body.

Here are some easy exercises to lose belly fat at home for beginners at home.

• Cardio/Aerobic Exercises

Cardio exercises are among the easiest and most effective workouts that anyone looking to burn belly fat can do. To lose belly fat – and weight in general-, you need to burn a lot of calories. Cardio exercises burn a lot of calories in a short amount of time which in the long run will help reduce the size of your midriff and get rid of that muffin top.

According to an article by Harvard Health Publishing, aerobic exercises can help get rid of the visceral fat around the belly and even prevent it from growing in the first place (5). Findings from a study review published in the International Journal of Obesity in 2007 stated that cardio exercises work well in getting rid of both excess weight as well as belly fat (1). To lose belly fat for beginners, here are some great cardio workouts to add to your list of easy exercises for at home:

1. Jogging
2. Brisk walking
3. Cycling
4. Running
5. Hiking
6. Swimming
7. Jumping jacks
8. Skipping rope
9. Wall Sprints
10. Dancing

Read More: Smoothie To Lose Belly Fat In 1 Week: Unlocking The Power Of Superfoods For Fast Weight Loss

• Weight Training

If cardio burns a lot of calories during the workout, weight training burns calories both during the workout and also long after your workout is done. This constant state of burning calories will eventually lead to reduced belly fat and general weight loss.

A comparative study that was carried out for about 12 years and had 10,500 healthy male participants found that the men who did weight training exercises for 20 minutes a day had a significantly smaller waist circumference as compared to those who did moderate-to-vigorous aerobic exercises or those who choose to lead a sedentary lifestyle (7).

Some weight training exercises that will help with belly fat loss include:

1. Weighted push ups
2. Lunges
3. Deadlifts
4. Squats
5. Hanging leg raises
6. Overhead press

While all these exercises can be done with your bodyweight, to burn more calories it’s best to incorporate some free weights. If you do not own free weights – or cannot afford some at the moment – improvise using things around the house. A large bottle of water, a backpack filled with large books, plastic bottles filled with wet sand to mimic dumbbells, etc. are all great DIY examples of free weights.

• High Intensity Interval Training

Commonly known as HIIT, this is a broad name for workout routines that alternate between short bursts of highly intensive workouts that significantly increase your heart rate, quickly followed by short periods of lower intensity movements that allow your body to recover.

HIIT workouts are normally just cardio plus some simple bodyweight exercises. For people who want to reduce their waist circumference but do not have a lot of time to spare working out for hours, HIIT is the perfect compromise with the ultimate results. Studies over the years have shown that this kind of workout can help with both weight loss as well as reduced body fat and waist circumference (4, 3, 6).

• Ab Workouts

When you look up ‘exercises to lose belly fat at home for beginners’ most sources are quick to recommend ab specific exercises like situp, crunches, leg raises, flutter and scissor kicks, etc. as the best (and only) exercises to lose belly fat.

While there’s nothing wrong with these exercises per se, they are not the best for someone with a big belly or rather a large amount of fat in their midsection. Ab specific exercises target the muscles located deep under your layer of fat not the fat itself.

To lose belly fat and eventually get a flat tummy and abs, you need to get rid of the fat layer sitting on top of your muscles – this is best done through full body exercises that burn a lot of calories. This means incorporating HIIT, weight lifting and/or cardio to your routine.

Remember that spot reduction is a myth – you cannot choose 1 specific spot to lose fat and do exercises that supposedly help with this and expect results. This, however, does not mean that ab exercises are useless even with a large tummy. You can still work on building the muscles under the fat while still doing exercises that tackle the fat.

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What Is The Best Exercise To Lose Belly Fat At Home?

No matter what other sources say, there is no single magical exercise that will help you lose belly fat. Belly fat loss, like general weight loss, requires a combination of factors and exercises to be successful. Research has shown that the best ‘how to lose belly fat exercises’ is a routine that combines both cardio and weight lifting workouts (2). As mentioned above, cardio burns a lot of calories during the workout and weight lifting/resistance training burn calories during and long after the workout – this combination ensures that your body constantly burns fat which will eventually lead to a smaller waist line.

What Are The Best Exercises To Lose Belly Fat Male At Home?

According to a study published in the Frontiers in Physiology journal in 2019, compared to women, men tend to carry more abdominal visceral fat which not only gives them an ‘apple’ shape but also increases their risk of mortality (8).

To lose belly fat at home, any of the above listed workouts will help. At the end of the day, exercises are not gendered and the goal is to burn calories.

Exercises To Lose Belly Fat In 1 Week At Home

When it comes to how to lose belly fat exercises at home, many people often look for shortcuts and tips to help achieve incredible results in the shortest amount of time possible. Due to this thinking, they are often taken advantage of by people claiming to know fast exercises to lose belly fat at home.

As previously mentioned, losing belly fat is very hard – there is a reason why abdominal fat is often referred to as ‘stubborn’. If you are looking to reduce your waist circumference, you need to make peace with the fact that it will take time and patience. Those exercises and routines that promise ‘abs in 2 weeks’ are nothing but a fad and click bait.

Read More: 11 Best Exercises To Lose Belly Fat: Female Edition

What Are 5 Easy Exercises To Lose Belly Fat At Home For Beginners?

If you are unsure how to start a belly fat loss routine, try the following:

1. Simple cardio for warm up – Some light jogging around the neighborhood, within your community or on the spot.
2. Full body high intensity cardio – mountain climber, skipping rope or burpees work great for this
3. Weight lifting – Weighted squats, deadlifts, or lunges. Do 3 sets or 10 to 12 reps 
4. Planks – While they are mostly seen as an ab workout, planks are in fact fantastic exercises that work your entire body. Start with a 20 second plank
5. Ab exercises e.g crunches, leg raises, bear crawls, Russian twists, etc.

The Bottom Line

Unlike popular belief, exercise to lose belly fat for beginners are not simply ab specific workouts. To reduce your waist circumference and eventually get abs, you have to do workouts that help with calorie burning – meaning that cardio and weightlifting should be added to your exercise routine. Aside from workouts, make sure to improve your diet and also eat at a calorie deficit.