Top 7 Fat Burning Exercises

Burning fat. That’s one of the most common goals of people who workout on a regular basis. Everyone seems to have their own method for burning fat. Some insist on doing workouts that target the abs; others believe in simply running the pounds off.

All of this leads to one question: What is the best exercise for burning fat? The truth is there isn’t really just one exercise that is the absolute best for burning fat. To truly get rid of all that stubborn belly fat, you should use a variety of exercises that target different areas of your body.

For this reason, we’ve come up with this list of the top 7 exercises to burn fat. By following these exercises, you just might be able to finally get rid of those stubborn last 10 pounds that everyone struggles with.

1.       Running—To many, running is still the gold standard of cardio workouts. Running is great for burning fat because it gets your heart rate up to the target zone and it burns a lot of calories in a short amount of time. In just a half hour of running, you can easily burn 300 calories or more. The best thing about running is you can do it anywhere. You don’t have to go to the gym if you don’t want to. Instead, put on your running shoes, and take a few laps around the neighborhood or wherever else you want to go.

2.       Walking Lunges with Dumbbells—This exercise provides the perfect combination of resistance training and cardio. To do this exercise, you should have a dumbbell in each hand by your sides. Step forward with your first leg, landing on your heel then your forefoot. Lower your body until the knee of your rear leg is nearly touching the floor. Push yourself up, and repeat with other leg.

3.       Stair Machines—Using a stair machine or running/walking up and down a flight of stairs is a great way burn calories quickly. For those new to this exercise, start by simply walking slowly on the stairs. Even walking will make you start to burn in those muscles you’ve never really targeted before. Over time, you can build up these leg muscles and begin to start running on the stairs. This is when you’ll really start to burn a lot of calories in a short amount of time. Also, stair exercises are a great workout for revealing your ab muscles.

4.       Kickboxing—If you’re looking to have some fun while you burn fat, cardio kickboxing is the perfect solution. Most gyms offer kickboxing classes, and on average, you’ll burn around 400 -500 calories per session. Cardio kickboxing is a unique blend of boxing, martial arts, and aerobics. This high intensity workout targets virtually every area of your body, helping you burn more fat.

5.       Lifting Weights—When most people think of burning fat, they only focus on cardio exercises. This is a vital mistake. Lifting weights and adding muscle is one of the best ways to burn fat. See, most people get caught up in the low number of calories burned during lifting weights. But that’s not important. Lifting weights adds lean muscle to your body which burns fat better than anything else.

6.       Cycling—Whether you use a stationary machine or you decide to explore the outdoors on your bike, cycling is a great way to burn stubborn body fat. The key to getting the most out of your cycling workout is to take the intensity up a few levels. Don’t just coast around slowly on your bike. Instead, challenge yourself by riding up inclined surfaces and doing sprints. An intense cycling workout can easily burn 400 calories in a half hour.

7.       Walking—While even regular walking will burn calories, if you’re really serious about burning fat you should do power walking. Power walking is done at a brisk pace to increase the intensity of your workout, thereby burning more calories. To burn even more fat while walking, try going up hills and walking intervals at various speeds.

The bottom line with burning fat is this: it’s all about getting your heart rate up into the target zone. Any exercise that gets your heart pumping will help you burn calories and fat. Mix your exercises up regularly to avoid the plateau and boredom.