The Secret to Losing Belly Fat

This article was written by Jenny Sugar and repurposed with permission from POPSUGAR Fitness.

While focusing on crunches will strengthen your abs, it unfortunately will not get rid of fat around your waist. To see a difference in this trouble spot, it's essential to regularly include calorie-burning cardio in your routine. And not just any kind of cardio—it's important to focus on interval training; alternating between moderate and speedy bursts of exercise is the key.

A study in the International Journal of Obesity revealed that when compared to women who cycled at a consistent pace for 40 minutes, women who worked out for 20 minutes but alternated between eight-second sprints and 12 seconds of low-intensity cycling lost more belly fat after 15 weeks. Work out half as long and lose more fat? Sounds good to us!

You can do intervals with virtually any type of activity. Here are some ways to incorporate them into your routine:

1. Use visual goals: Run or bike at a moderate pace, and then look ahead and sprint to the mailbox that's 50 feet away or up the hill or to the end of the street. Once you reach your goal, reduce back to your moderate speed. After your breathing returns to normal, choose another goal to race to.

2. Use time: Watch the clock, and move moderately for two minutes, and then zoom as fast as you can for one minute. Repeat this pattern for at least 30 minutes.

3. Use music: Make an interval playlist, alternating between fast-paced peppy tunes and slower, chill tunes. Walk, run, or dance to the beat. Here's a 60-minute walk-run playlist, or for a faster-paced workout, try this 40-minute running playlist.

4. Use a POPSUGAR Fitness interval workout: If you find it easier to follow a cardio routine, check out these interval workouts:

45-minute fat-burning treadmill workout

Tush-toning hill repeat intervals

45-minute walk-run-sprint workout

45-minute elliptical interval workout

10-minute HIIT (high-intensity interval training) video workout

30-minute pyramid intervals

30-minute Barry's Bootcamp running workout

30-minute beginner intervals

60-minute walking-jogging workout

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