Many people expect that a low calorie diet, coupled with 30 minutes of biking or jogging each day will help reduce the amount of fat around their belly.  Sadly, that is often not the case.  Workouts involving sustained cardiovascular activity, while beneficial as a form of overall health training, often fail to reach the stubborn, visceral belly fat which is so difficult to burn.   If you want to get rid of belly fat, and dieting and your current workout routine are not producing the fat-burning results you desire, perhaps it’s time to look at changing things up a bit. 

Because belly fat tends to lie deeper within the body, many standard workout routines are ineffective as a means to get rid of it.  To combat this problem, more and more fitness experts are beginning to recognize the benefits of interval training.

Interval training is a method or branch of cardiovascular training involving bursts of high intensity activity, followed by short intervals of either low activity or complete rest.  This method can be applied to any type of cardiovascular activity.  Running, cycling and rowing are some of the most common activities in which intervals are used.

In short, interval training involves brief stints of near maximum exertion in a given exercise, followed by periods of lower intensity work.  On a treadmill, for example, participants using interval training may run at higher speeds for one minute, followed by a minute of walking or light jogging.  This combination would then be repeated several times over the course of the workout.  Using the treadmill as an example, a standard interval training session would look something like this:

• 3-5 Minute warm up:  Participants begin slowly and gradually increase workout to moderate speed with moderate exertion.
• 1 minute of high intensity running, followed by 1 minute of walking.  (Repeat 6-8 times)
• 3-5 minute cool down:  Participants gradually decrease workout speed until activity has concluded.

Sprinters and other athletes have been using interval training for years as a way to bolster peak performance and increase aerobic capacity, but lately the technique has caught the attention of fitness experts as a way to burn more calories and get rid of fat, especially the deeper, visceral fat around the belly. In several studies, experts have shown that interval training within an activity is more effective at burning fat than a sustained, moderate pace for longer durations.

If your current workout routine is coming up short, and your goal to get rid of unsightly and harmful belly fat is not being met, interval training may offer the solution you have been looking for.

When beginning a lower body workout be sure to start slow and build up. Lower body workouts should focus on hamstrings, calves, hips, quads, and glutes. Begin with doing 1 set of 10 to 16 repetitions of each desired exercise with light weight or resistance then build up to 2 and then 3 sets of 10 to 12 repetitions of each desired exercise using more weight or resistance. It is important to remember to give your muscles time to rest a day between working them in order to get maximum gains.

Here is a list of exercises for the lower body to use in building your perfect lower body workout.
• Bridge
• Bridge on Ball
• Butt Lift Calf Raise
• Dumbbell Squat
• Dumbbell Squat
• Forward Lunge
• Hamstring Flexion with Ball
• Inner Thigh Leg Lift on Ball
• Lateral Lunge
• Leg Extension with Band
• Low Mount Abduction with Band
• Low Mount Adduction with Band
• Low Mount Leg Curls with Band
• Lunges with Step
• Lying Abduction
• Lying Abduction with Band
• Lying Adduction
• Lying Double Leg Raise
• Lying Hamstring Curl with Ball
• Outer Thigh Leg Lift on Ball
• Reverse Lunge
• Runner’s Lunge
• Seated Leg Extension with Band
• Single Leg Bridge Up
• Single Leg Hamstring Flexion with Ball
• Single Leg Hip Flexion with Band
• Single Leg Squat
• Single Leg Squat with Toe Touch
• Skater Squat
• Squat
• Squat with Band
• Squat with Medicine Ball
• Standing Abduction
• Standing Adduction
• Standing Hip Abduction with Band
• Standing Hip Adduction with Band
• Walking Lunge
• Wall Squat
• Wall Squat with Ball

For a good basic upper body workout it is important to work the arms, shoulders, chest and back. When you are just starting out with strength training start with light weights or easy resistance bands and aim to do 1 set of between 12 and 16 repetitions for each exercise then as you improve increase the weight or resistance bands and decrease the repetitions to between 10 and 14 while upping the number of sets to 2 or 3. Also, remember to not work the same muscle groups on consecutive days in order to get maximum gains from the work you are putting in.

Here is a list of good upper body exercises to choose from when building your work out.
• Back Extension
• Barbell Row
• Bench Press with Barbell
• Bent Rows with Band
• Chest Press with Band
• Close Arm Wall Push Up
• Concentration Curl
• Decline Push Up
• Dips
• Dumbbell Chest Fly on Ball
• Dumbbell Chest Press
• Dumbbell Chest Press on Pall
• Dumbbell Fly
• Dumbbell Reverse Fly on Ball
• Dumbbell Shrug
• Dumbbell Wrist Curl
• Front Raise
• Incline Push Up
• Kickback
• Low Mount Seated Row with Band
• Lying Triceps Lift
• Modified Push Up
• One Arm Dumbbell Row
• One Arm Dumbbell Row with Ball
• Overhead Press
• Push Up on Ball
• Reverse Fly with Band
• Standard Push Up
• Triceps Lift with Band
• Triceps Row with Band
• Wall Push Up
• Wall Sit with Dumbbell Biceps Curl
• Wall Sit with Lateral Dumbbell Raise
• Incline Bench Press
• Incline Chest Press
• Standing Fly
• Alternating Dumbbell Biceps Curl
• Biceps Curl with Band
• Chest Fly on Ball
• Triceps Extension
• Triceps Extension on Ball
• Chest Fly
• Lat Pulldown
• Dumbbell Hammer Curl
• Triceps Pulldown
• Dumbbell Shoulder Press on Ball
• Dumbbell Lateral Raise
• Dumbbell Triceps Extension on Ball
To learn more on any workout Click Here!

Could it really be possible that all it takes is working out for 15 minutes a day to lose belly fat? Maybe, if it is done in addition to eating sensibly and staying active in the rest of your life.
This 15 minute workout is an extended version of the high energy cardio routine developed by Keli Roberts.

•Minutes 1 & 2: Jump Rope – Try to do two jumps for each turn of the rope.

•Minutes 3 & 4 : Squat Thrusts into Push Ups – Begin to do a squat but then when at the bottom of the motion place the hands on the floor next to the feet, next push the feet out and back into a push up position, do a push up, then jump back into the squat position and stand up. Repeat as many times as possible in 2 minutes.

•Minute 5: Jump Rope – Do one jump per turn of the rope.
•Minutes 6 & 7: Squat Thrust into Push Up with Side Plank – Begin to do a squat but then when at the bottom of the motion place the hands on the floor next to the feet, next push the feet out and back into a push up position, do a push up, then rotate while lifting the left arm and left leg, return to the push up position, then jump back into the squat position and stand up. Repeat alternating left and right side planks. Do as many times as possible in 2 minutes.
•Minute 8: Jump Rope – Do one jump per turn of the rope.

•Minutes 9 & 10: Squat Thrust into Push Up with Leg Lift – Squat Thrust into Push Up with Side Plank – Begin to do a squat but then when at the bottom of the motion place the hands on the floor next to the feet, next push the feet out and back into a push up position, do a push up, then lift first the left leg about 12 inches off the floor, return to the push up position, then lift the right leg about 12 inches off the floor, return to the push up position, then jump back into the squat position and stand up. Repeat as many times as possible in 2 minutes.
•Minute 11: Jump Rope – Do one jump per turn of the rope.

•Minutes 12 & 13: Squat Thrust into Push up with Mountain Climbers – Begin to do a squat but then when at the bottom of the motion place the hands on the floor next to the feet, next push the feet out and back into a push up position, do a push up, then jump back into the squat position and stand up, upon standing do 5 high leg lift jogs in place. Repeat as many times as possible in 2 minutes.

•Minutes 14 & 15: Jump Rope – Try to do two jumps for each turn of the rope.