Often when people look to lose weight, the dream is to have a toned stomach. Then, they start to add crunches to their workout routine. However, doing crunches every day (even hundreds of them) won’t reduce your belly fat. They will help you build muscle, but you still need to work at reducing your body fat. Below are 5 ways you can reduce belly fat with workouts.

The Fat Spot Reduction Myth

While you may see many articles online that promote spot fat reduction, they are not a viable option to get toned. Instead, you should use core-focused cardio exercises. These help to burn fat all over the body, which will lead to a stronger, more toned stomach. A variety of exercises that combine cardio, strength training, and core work are best.

Reduce Your Belly Fat with These Workouts

All of these workouts combine cardio, with core work to help you burn body fat while building your core muscles. Keep reading for step-by-step instructions.

1. Burpees

Often a dreaded workout, burpees are a great fat-burning exercise. Not only will burpees get your heart rate up, but they also work your chest, shoulders, lats, triceps, quads, and core. The explosive polymetric movement is a great HIIT option for fat burning.

1. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart.
2. Squat down with your hips back, and place your hands on the ground outside of your feet.
3. Hop your feet back with your weight on your hands, allowing your chest to touch the floor.
4. Push up in a plank position, then jump your feet to the outside of your hands.
5. With your weight in your heels jump up while bringing your arms over your head.
6. Repeat

2. Mountain Climbers

This is a great workout for those with weaker knees or those in an apartment. Mountain climbers work your core, shoulders, triceps, quads, and hamstrings.

1. Get into a high plank position with your hands under your shoulders. Keep your core tight throughout all movements.
2. Pull your right knee up towards your chest, then immediately bring it back to the plank position
3. Pull your left knee up towards your chest, then immediately back to the plank position.
4. Repeat these movements for 30 seconds, then take a 15-second rest.

Note – this should be a continuous movement like climbing up a steep hill.

3. Overhead Medicine Ball Slams

This exercise uses gravity to help strengthen your core, and build arm muscle. Choose a weighted ball that is not too heavy as you will be raising it above your head.

1. Stand tall, feet shoulder-width apart holding a medicine ball.
2. Holding the ball, reach both hands above your head, stretching your torso.
3. Slam the ball forward and down, extending your arms towards the ground.
4. Squat to pick up the ball and stand tall again.
5. Repeat as many times as possible in a 1 minute period.

4. Running on Incline

Choosing to run on an incline such as on a treadmill can increase your total calorie burn by 50% per workout. The incline also helps to engage your core as you run, and stand up tall.

1. Start by walking or slowly jogging on an incline for 5 - 10 minutes.
2. Increase your pace for another 5 – 10 minutes, you should start to feel your heart rate elevate.
3. Increase your pace to a run for 5 minutes
4. Reduce your speed back down to a jog for 5 minutes
5. Continue to increase and decrease your pace in 5-minute increments for 30 minutes.
6. Warm down with a slow jog or walk.

5. Rowing

By using the rowing machine, you can get a full body workout, while focusing on your core. This is a great cardio option to burn fat and build muscles in your legs, core, shoulders, arms, and back.

1. Start by rowing for 20 seconds then take a 10-second break. Don’t remove your hands from the handle during the rest period. Focus on how many meters you row in 20 seconds.
2. Repeat this 8 times. Try to bet your distance each time.
3. Now row 500 meters as fast as possible. Use this time as your time to beat next time.

Getting a flat stomach isn’t as easy as just doing crunches. Ensure that you add significant fat-burning cardio to your exercise routine. Otherwise, all the muscle you build will still be hidden. Remember to take your diet into consideration as well as you aim to reduce belly fat with workouts. After all, if you are eating a nutritious, balanced diet excess fat is easier to burn.