Conquering “Battle of the bulge” requires effort. In fact, dedication and hard work are the keys here. I know you get frustrated seeing fat layers popping out from your waistline and beltline. Fortunately, it doesn’t have to be your lifetime friend. There are many exercises to lose belly fat in a week at home. Today, I’ll share with you some evidence-based exercises to lose belly fat in a week. That being said, I can guarantee you that you’ll notice positive results within a week. But, don’t assume that these exercises will make you lean.
You need to have the patience to get your much-craved bikini body with these workouts. Again, I’ll say these simple exercises can help you lose considerable fat from your belly in 7 days. (However, you’ve to follow the rules and do them in the right way to get the desired results.)
How does Exercise help to Lose Belly Fat?
Exercises burn your calories. As you doused in sweat while exercising, the abdominal muscles become strong. With the passage of time, the accumulated fat on your belly starts to reduce. If you go on exercising daily, the metabolic process speeds up. As a result, your fitness level increases and you’ll begin to lose the flab around your belly.
Exercises Listed Here
Exercises to Lose Belly Fat in a Week
Lack the time to do tonnes of workouts? No worries. Doing some cardio workouts and yoga will help you say goodbye to your fat belly within a week. Here you go.
1.Mountain Climber
Imagine how you’ll climb a mountain in a plank position. It’s a combination of strength training and cardio exercise. If you can do the exercise correctly and engage the right muscles, your belly fat will start shading within a few days. Moreover, getting a slight hint of chiseled abs (which everyone loves) is possible with this exercise.
How to Do it?
a) Get into a table position.
b) Make sure your palms are facing the floor and your toes are pointed
c) Keep the elbows straight below your shoulders
d) Change your position into a plank pose.
e) Exhale and bring your right knee close to the chest.
f) Take your right leg back while inhaling.
g) Squeeze your glutes during the exercise.
h) Repeat the same with your left knee too.
Set of Repetitions: 2 sets of 10 repetitions for beginners
3 sets of 15 repetitions for intermediate level people
How Many Calories it Burn?
Your body weight and the exercise duration determine how many calories you’re burning. High-intensity mountain climber exercise can burn up to 100 calories. In fact, it tones your entire body and gives you a slender waist and legs.
2.Twist Crunches
Crunches are one of the best exercises to lose belly fat fast. Including them in your daily exercise routine will not only help you to shed extra fat from your stomach but also will tone your abs muscles. Combine those with other cardiovascular workouts to get results quickly.
How to Do it?
a) Lay down straight on the floor. Bend your knees. Keep one leg above your other knee as is shown in the video.
b) Put your right hand by your right ear.
c) Crunch your torso up off the floor while twisting to the left side.
d) Lie down again.
e) Repeat the same process with your right side too. While twisting towards your right side, keep your left hand by your left ear.
Set of Repetitions: Start with 1 set of 10 repetitions daily. Gradually, increase it day by day.
How Many Calories Do Twist Crunches Burn?
Doing twist crunches for 10 minutes helps you burn 31 calories daily.
Points to Remember while Doing Twist Crunches
a) Flex your trunk and not the neck while doing crunches.
b) Never use hands to pull yourself up. Otherwise, your neck may get injured.
c) Exhale while coming up and inhale while going back to the original position.
3. Sprinter Sit Ups
Video Credit: CoachAtaClick- Courtney Hudson
Core strength is vital for a flat tummy. Sprinter sit-ups are a variation of core strengthening exercises. It stretches and strengthens your hips and abs. If you’re bored with the regular old workout routine, make it interesting by including this exercise.
How to Do it?
a) Lie on your back on the floor. Keep your legs and hands straight.
b) Sit up keeping the balance on your butt. Extend your right arm forward while retracting your left knee.
c) Lie down again with the back flat on the floor.
d) Repeat the process for the other side too.
Set of Repetitions: At first, begin with 1 set of 10 repetitions. As you become easy with this, increase it to 3-4 sets of 15 repetitions each.
How Many Calories do Sprinter Sit Ups Burn?
According to the fitness experts of MyFitnessPal, various kinds of sit-ups burn near about 3 calories per minute, if you’re doing it at a moderate pace.
Points to Remember
a) Engage your abdominal muscles instead of your lower back.
b) Make sure your legs and upper body are active while switching the leg and arm.
However, people suffering from lower back pain should avoid all kinds of sit-ups.
4. Scissor Kicks
Scissor kicks are also known as flutter kicks. If you’ve tummy especially in the lower abdominal regions, this exercise is very effective. Scissor kicks work extensively to tone and strengthen abdominal muscles. Doing this exercise for 1 minute without taking any break enables you to shed loads of calories from your belly.
How to Do it?
a) Lie straight down on a gym mat. Extend your legs and keep them together.
b) Engage your abs. Raise your feet slightly above the ground.
c) Move one leg up while keeping the other leg in the same position.
d) Bring down that leg. Repeat the process moving the legs up and down.
Sets of Repetitions: Do 2 sets of 15 repetitions each.
How Many Calories do Scissor Kicks Burn?
Flutter or scissor kicks are awesome calorie burners. You can burn 5 calories per hour by doing scissor kicks for one hour.
Points to Remember
a) Keep your core tight throughout the move
b) Pair it up with some Pilates exercises to make it more effective.
c) Don’t move the legs very fast. Maintain a moderate speed.
5. Stomach Vacuum
Want to get your belly in shape? This workout can help you a lot. In comparison to other belly-shaping workouts, this is extremely easy. Whether sitting or standing, you can do it in any position. Furthermore, you can do it anytime and anywhere.
How to Do it?
a) Choose a position (sitting or standing) that makes you feel comfortable.
b) Keep your back straight.
c) Take a deep breath so that your lungs are filled fully with air.
d) Hold the breath roughly for 3-5 seconds.
e) Exhale slowly through your mouth. Suck in your stomach while exhaling.
f) Hold the position for 20 seconds while inhaling and exhaling.
Sets of Repetitions: Practice it daily for 3-5 times.
How Many Calories do Stomach Vacuum Burn?
Doing this workout in a kneeling position enables a person to lose 204 calories per hour. However, this is calculated on the assumption that the person has a bodyweight of 150 lbs.
Points to Remember
a) Pregnant women and people with high blood pressure should skip this exercise as it can increase blood pressure considerably.
b) Try the workout in different positions to find out the one that suits you the best.
6. Planks
If you’re leading a sedentary lifestyle, a plank is one of the simplest exercises you need to get a slim waistline. Apart from shedding extra calories, it improves your posture and tone up your legs and hips. Moreover, it enhances your metabolism and increases your flexibility. There are many variations of the plank. Here I’ll discuss only the standard plank.
Here’s How to Do it
a) Get on all your fours on a gym mat.
b) Keep your elbows directly under your shoulders.
c) Place the wrists in line with the elbows.
d) Push your body up a little. Your toes should touch the ground straight.
e) Engage your abdomen while continue to breathe normally.
f) Stay in this position for 20-30 seconds. Give a break. Repeat.
Sets of Repetitions: 3-4 sets of 30 seconds each.
How Many Calories do Planks Burn?
Depending on your body weight, this highly effective isometric workout can burn nearly 4-5 calories per minute.
Points to Remember
a) Keep your back flat during the entire move. You shouldn’t look like a downward dog while performing.
b) Engage your core in a way that the belly button pulls in towards the spine. This is vital to prevent any kind of neck injury.
c) Continue to breathe while doing the exercise. Otherwise, nausea or dizziness can happen.
7. Bicycle Abdominal Crunches
Everyone desires to flaunt toned abs. Bicycle abdominal crunches shape or tone up your middle and lower pairs of abdominal muscles. As a result, you get a flat stomach. Moreover, they remove excess fat from your thighs and hip regions.
How to Do it?
a) Lie down straight with your back on the floor.
b) Bend your knees. Take your hands behind the head so as to support your neck.
c) Engage your core muscles
d) Raise your knees a little to make a 90-degree angle. Also, lift your feet from above the ground.
e) Bring one knee close to your armpit and try to touch the knee with your opposite elbow.
f) Create a bicycle pedal-like motion while keeping both the legs slightly above the ground.
g) Go on rotating your torso so as to touch your opposite knee with the elbow.
Sets of Repetitions: Aim to do 3 sets of 12 repetitions.
How Many Calories Do it Burn?
If your weight is 150 lbs. and you do the exercise for 15 minutes, you can burn approximately 64 calories.
Points to Remember
a) Don’t rotate your hips. It’s your torso that has to be rotated only.
b) Avoid pulling your neck forward while doing the rotation. Otherwise, you may get hurt.
c) Pause briefly for 2 seconds after completing one touch.
8. Burpees
Fitness freaks love to do this crazy-challenging workout. It is an awesome calorie-torching move that involves different muscles apart from giving you a flat belly. Some of the muscles it engages are abs, butt, inner thighs, and quads.
How to Do it?
a) Stand spreading your legs. Keep the arms at your sides.
b) Get into the squat position.
c) Place your hands on the floor.
d) Take your feet back and land softly on the heels of your feet as you do to get into a plank position. Make sure your head and heels are in line with each other.
e) Jump up into the air raising your arms up above your head.
f) Again, get into the squat position to repeat the same move.
Sets of Repetitions: 10 sets of 10 burpees each. Aim to do 100 burpees within 15 minutes. If you feel exhausted, take breaks of 10-20 seconds after completing one set. Increase your sets of repetitions gradually and not all of a sudden.
How Many Calories Do Burpees Burn?
Burpees burn approximately 10-15 calories per minute.
Points to Remember
a) Breathe as steadily as possible while performing.
b) Pick a pace you can maintain without taking a break.
c) Don’t bend your back when you’re exercising.
9. Jumping Jacks
Jumping jacks are a total body exercise that mainly involves abs and shoulder muscles. Doing it is the mantra of losing excess fat from your belly. Not only this, but jumping jacks are also helpful in improving coordination, relieving stress, make your bones stronger, and many more. It has a lot of variations. Here, I’m focusing mainly on basic jumping jacks.
How to Do it?
a) Stand straight with the arms at your sides.
b) Jump up. Bring your hands over the head while jumping.
c) Jump again while lowering your arms. Also, bring the legs together.
d) Repeat
Sets of Repetitions: 5 sets of 50 each.
How Many Calories Do it Burn?
Depending on the intensity of the exercise and the weight of your body, you can burn about 100-200 calories by doing it daily.
Points to Remember
a) Avoid doing this exercise if you’ve injured knees.
b) Pregnant women should also skip this exercise.
c) Wear supportive shoes such as athletic sneakers while doing it.
d) Do the workout on a flat and even surface.
10. Jogging
Recent studies show that jogging is very effective in reducing belly fat. You don’t even have to focus on diet to get rid of belly fat with jogging. However, this is applicable only for those doing moderate to high-intensity jogging. Apart from helping you to drop weight, jogging helps you cope with depression and increases your spine’s flexibility.
Here’s How to Do it
a) Wear your jogging shoes.
b) Find a location where you can jog without disturbance. You can jog either indoor or outdoor.
c) Do some stretches before starting jogging to avoid any kind of strain or injury.
d) First of all, start with slow jogging. For instance, run for 5 minutes and then walk for 3 minutes.
Sets of Repetitions: 10 minutes daily.
How Many Calories Jogging Burn?
10-minute jogging can burn up to 97 calories.
Points to Remember
a) Relax your upper body while jogging.
b) Avoid striking the ground with your heels during the workout.
c) Your head should face straight forward.
d) Try to do jogging in the morning for best results.
11. Stair Climbing
Stair climbing is not only a superb cardio workout but also shred fat from your belly. Practicing it daily can give you a flat stomach within a week. According to a study conducted by the Journal of Obesity, this kick-butt cardio is one of the most effective exercises to reduce subcutaneous abdominal fat.
If you’re a beginner, don’t skip any stairs while running. Maintain a steady pace. It’s an exercise everyone can do.
Sets of Repetitions: For beginners, include 15 minutes stair-climbing regime in your exercise routine. Later, increase the time.
How Many Calories Do it Burn?
Climbing the stairs of a 5-storey building twice daily can burn up to 76.5 calories per day.
Points to Remember
a) Do a short session of warm-up exercise prior to starting stair climbing.
b) Instead of looking down at your feet, look forward.
c) If you notice any pain during the workout, stop immediately.
12. Toe Touches
Toe Touch Crunches targets your obliques and rectus abdominis. It also stretches your hamstring. You can notice big progress on your dream abs with this simple workout. Its many variations help you to pick one that matches your fitness level.
Here’s How to Do it.
a) Lay down on your gym mat. Straighten your legs. Keep your arms at the sides.
b) Now, lift the legs straight up. Your body will look like an ‘L’ shape with the legs lifted.
c) Lift your arms above the ground to create a ‘U’ shape.
d) Pull your shoulder blades forward to touch the toes.
e) Return to the original position.
Check out the video to see how to execute it.
Sets of Repetitions: Try to do 2-3 sets of 15 repetitions each.
How Many Calories it Burns?
Assuming your body weight is 150 lbs. you can burn up to 204 calories per hour with toe touch crunches.
Points to Remember
a) Keep your lower back on the floor while lifting your head, shoulders, and shoulder blades.
b) Engage your abs.
c) Once you complete one touch, lower your upper body slowly. However, make sure it is not touching the ground completely.
13. Rope Jumping
Want to make your workout routine more interesting? Add rope jumping. Peter Schulman, Associate Professor and MD of the University of Connecticut Health Center in Farmington has said that it burns a lot of calories in a short period of time. Therefore, you can lose a considerable amount of belly fat with rope jumping.
How to Do it?
a) Hold the handles of the rope in both hands. Swing the rope to get into the rhythm.
b) Try to jump without the rope.
c) Now, use the rope to jump. Do it for 1 minute at a stretch.
Sets of Repetitions: 20 minutes thrice a week.
How Many Calories Rope Jumping Burns?
If your weight is 150 lbs, and you do rope jumping for 20 minutes, you can burn 227 calories per day.
Points to Remember
a) Never practice rope jumping on an uneven surface as it may cause injury.
b) Go slow at first. Gradually, increase your speed.
c) Minimize knee bending while jumping.
d) Use your wrists to twirl the jump rope.
14. Lunge Twist
Lunge with a twist engages your glutes, quads, and core. Apart from shedding extra fat from your waistline, it improves your balance and enhances lower body strength. The twist contracts your glutes and engages your core, shaping your abs.
How to Do it?
a) Stand spreading your feet.
b) Take a medicine ball. Outstretch your elbows to hold it in front of you.
c) Get into the basic lunge position by moving your right foot forward.
d) Bend your knee and don’t twist it.
e) Twist your upper body from midsection towards your right side. Squeeze your glutes and engage your core.
f) Move your arms back to the center in a slow and controlled motion.
g) Return to your original position.
Sets of Repetitions: 2 sets of 10 repetitions on each side.
How Many Calories It Burns?
Assuming that your body weight is 150 lbs, it burns 442 calories per hour.
Points to Remember
a) Always face forward while doing lunges.
b) Keep your back straight.
c) Instead of twisting your lower body, just twist your torso.
15. Leg Outs
Leg Outs is a pilates exercise that mainly targets your abs. Therefore, it gives quick results in losing your belly fat. Apart from targeting your abs, it also involves your quads, hip flexors, and glutes.
How to Do it?
a) Sit on a gym mat with your knees bent and feet touching the ground.
b) Bring the knees to your chest and then stretch them out. Watch the video to get a clearer idea.
Sets of Repetitions: 2 sets of 15 repetitions each.
How Many Calories Leg Outs Burn?
You can expect to burn 58 calories (if your body weight is 180 lbs.) by doing the workout for 15 minutes.
Points to Remember
a) Make sure your back is tall and straight while doing the exercise.
b) Lean back slightly without bending your back when extending the legs.
c) Keep the knees together while moving.
Whether you’re a committed exerciser or just a beginner, making mistakes is very common. Mistakes will not only delay the outcomes but also can lead to injuries. Count in these rules to avoid mistakes.
Exercise Rules You Should Follow to Lose Belly Fat Fast and Safely
1. Avoid Exercising in an Empty Stomach: Never do the workout empty stomach. At the same time, don’t overstuff yourself with food. Give a gap of at least 2 hours before your pre-exercise meal and workout.
2. Do Warm-Ups: Perform your warm-up exercises daily before working out your muscles. The short sessions of warm-ups are essential to engage your muscle fibers. It helps you to avoid injuries.
3. Pick Loose Fitting Garments: Wearing loose-fitting clothes during exercise ensures proper oxygen flow to the muscles. Choose a cloth that does not restrict your movement and allows you to breathe freely.
4. Don’t be in Haste: Don’t attempt to do a lot of exercises at once. Give your body some time to adapt itself to the movements. Therefore, instead of taking huge leaps, make small improvements day by day.
5. Take Rest: Taking rest in between the exercises is vital to prepare your body to switch to another exercise. Rest enables your body to adapt to the training stress. Hence, stop neglecting rest.
