Walk Off More Belly Fat
Forget crunches. For a workout that really flattens your belly, get up and move your feet. Studies show walking is one of the best ways to shed belly fat, in less time than you think. Researchers reviewed 40 years of studies on exercise and belly fat and found that just 2 1/2 hours of brisk walking a week—about 20 minutes a day—can shrink your belly by about 1 inch in four weeks.
Why does walking work so well? It appears to help reduce deep belly fat (called visceral fat) first, explains Tim Church, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H., of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center at Louisiana State University. "If you exercise enough to lose 10 percent of your body fat, you may actually reduce visceral fat by 30 percent," says Church.
All walking burns belly fat, but for best results, crank up your weekly MET (metabolic equivalent) hours—the number of calories you burn. "Shaking up the intensity with on-again, off-again bursts of energy will give you the most time-efficient, calorie-burning workout possible," says exercise physiologist Peggy Pletcher of Source Endurance, an online coaching service based in Austin, Texas.
Walk 20 minutes a day with our workout and your waistline may shrink an inch; double it and double your results. Or go an hour and lose inches everywhere. Try our belly-flattening strength moves and smart eating tips and you could drop a size or more this month!
The experts: Exercise physiologist Peggy Pletcher, consultant for Source Endurance, an online fitness coaching service, helped design the walking plans. Celebrity trainer Valerie Waters developed the firming moves.
What to do:
Six or seven days a week: Do one of the Flat Belly Walks, following our pace guidelines, below. If your goal is to whittle your waistline with the bare minimum exercise, follow Plan 1. If you have more time and want to rev up your results, dive into Plan 2. To shed inches all over, go with Plan 3.
Three days a week: Do the 4 Belly Flattening moves. It'll only take about 10 minutes, but you'll see improvement in core strength—vital to helping power through your walks—in a flash. Do two sets of each of the given reps three days a week.
Every day: Follow the "5 Food Rules to Live By" to boost fat loss.
Find the right pace
Use a scale of 1 to 10. It's the best way to determine how hard you should be working, with 1 being very easy and 10 an all-out effort. If you're on a treadmill, try our suggested speeds, but adjust the speed according to your effort level.
Warm-up/cool-down: 2 to 3 (treadmill at 3 m.p.h.). You can chat with ease.
Brisk pace: 4 to 5 (3.5 to 3.8 m.p.h.). Your breathing is pleasantly harder. Can still talk, but with pauses.
Push pace: 6 to 7 (4 m.p.h.). Some huffing and puffing. One- to two-word replies.
Power pace: 8 to 9 (4.2 to 4.5 m.p.h. or uphill at 3.5 m.p.h.). No talking possible.
Tag:PreventionFitnessBelly Fat
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The Content is for informational and educational purposes only and is not a substitute for the professional judgment of the health care professional in diagnosing and treating patients.
