Strength training and aerobic exercises can help you shed extra belly fat.
The stomach can be one of the most difficult places to lose weight. This is especially frustrating when stomach bulge comes between you and your favorite pair of jeans. Performing different muscle-toning exercises and adding aerobic exercise to your daily routine can help you shed those extra pounds from your stomach.
Butterfly Crunch
Lie on your back with your hands behind your head, the bottoms of your feet touching and your knees bent out to the sides. Keep your back flat on the floor while you exhale and curl up a few inches from the floor toward your knees. Lower yourself back down to the start position. Repeat this movement 10 times.
Toe Touches
Lie on your back with your legs extended straight towards the ceiling. Keep your back flat on the floor as you exhale and crunch from the waist, extending your hands towards your toes. Lower yourself back down to the starting position. Repeat this movement 15 times.
Scissors
Lie flat on the ground with your hands behind your head. Keeping your lower back flat on the ground and your abdominal muscles tight, raise your left knee and touch it to your right elbow. Lower yourself back to the starting position, then raise your right knee and touch it to your left elbow. Alternate for 15 repetitions, avoiding pulling on your neck with your hands while keeping your abdominal muscles tight.
Hula-Hooping
Spinning a weighted hula-hoop trims your waist and strengthens your core muscles. Keeping the hoop in constant motion also improves endurance and provides your heart with aerobic exercise, which burns calories and promotes overall wellness. For a challenge, use a heavier hoop or try variations such as "Hoopilates" which mixes Pilates into the workout to strengthen the abdominal muscles.
Walking and Running
Walking and running are two of the most efficient ways of burning calories and sculpting muscles. Running can burn up to 25 percent more calories than other exercises and leads to an overall decrease in body fat, including fat in the abdominal area. Keeping the abdominal muscles tight during walking or running engages the core muscles and tones the abdominals, legs and buttocks.
