No doubt, we all live incredibly busy lives. Heading out for a gym or yoga session may seem like too much. So I thought of sharing some of the best fat burning exercises with you that can be done easily at your convenience. Yes, you don’t even need a gym membership or even any expensive gym equipment, for that matter.
Fat Burning Exercises- SQUATS
Want to burn fat from your body? Make ‘squats’ a part of your weight-loss workout routine! When you do squats correctly, you engage your entire lower body and burn fat from the thighs and glutes. This will strengthen your lower body and get it in shape in no time.
Squats are one of the best fat burning exercises to build your lean muscle mass, which increases your ability to burn calories at rest over the course of the day. Thus it speeds up your metabolism and in turn burns more fat all over, including the belly.
How To Perform?
- Stand with your head facing forward and your chest held up and out.
- Keep your legs apart and place them in line with your shoulders.
- Stretch out your arms in front of you to help keep your balance. You can also bend the elbows or clasp the fingers.
- Go down in a seating position so your thighs are as parallel to the floor as possible, with your knees over your ankles. Press your weight back into your heels.
- Now push through your heels to bring yourself back to the starting position.
- Do 3 sets of 10 squats.
Once you get accustomed to the regular type, you can alter the speed, increase the repetitions, and try new variations like barbell squats, dumbbell squats, sumo squats, sissy squats, jump squats, one-legged squats etc.
LUNGES
Another brilliant fat burner- Lunges! Adding lunges into a well-rounded strength-training routine cannot only tone and tighten your lower body but also contribute highly to total-body fat loss. This exercise works on your glutes, quads, and hamstring.
How To Perform?
- Stand tall with feet shoulder-width apart and place hands on your hips.
- Take a controlled step forward with your right leg and go down.
- Lower your body until your front leg and back leg form a 90-degree angle.
- Pause and then go back up to the initial position.
- Now repeat the same with your left leg.
- Do a total of 3 sets, 10 times on each side.
If you feel that this exercise is too easy, you can add some weight with dumbbells. Combining resistance work (added weights) with cardio, boost your fat-fighting metabolism. You can also try variations of lunges- forward lunges, lateral lunges, reverse lunges, walking lunges, diagonal lunges, and jump lunges.
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PUSH-UPS
A push-up is actually one of the simplest yet most beneficial exercises you can perform to gain strength, build muscle and burn fat. It helps in building up a good level of conditioning as well. As it is a bodyweight exercise, it can be performed just about anywhere. A basic push-up exercise uses your own body weight as resistance, working your upper body and core at the same time. Although it challenges your entire body its primary focus is the chest, arms, and shoulders. As you engage in this exercise, your body utilizes so many muscles at one time which results in an effective cardiovascular exercise. This helps you burn a lot of calories and promotes the reduction of stored body fat.
How To Perform?
- In order to get the most from this calisthenics exercise, focus on proper form.
- To do a pushup, start in a high-plank position with your arms and legs straight, feet together, palms pressing into the floor and just wider than shoulder-width.
- Engage quads and core as if holding a plank.
- Take a breath in, and as you exhale, slowly bend your elbows back at 45-degree angles to lower entire body toward the floor.
- Now press into palms to push the body away from the floor to return to starting position.
- Try 3 sets of 10-15 repetitions.
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PLANK
Planks are effective and can be done from virtually anywhere, anytime and you don’t need any fancy equipment to perform this. All you need is just a couple minutes and a spot on the floor. Planks are ideal to add to any workout. It is better if you start your exercise routine with this as it warms up the body while stabilizing the muscles. Plank is one of the best core strengthening exercises and is perfect for making abs. It is an amazing workout to get rid of your hanging bellies as it helps in burning all fat around your tummy and waist.
How To Perform?
- Start by lying on the floor on your front with your feet together.
- Place your forearms on the floor, positioning your elbows under your shoulders.
- Lift your body up, balancing your body weight between your forearms and your toes.
- Contract your abdominal muscles by forming a straight line with your body; avoid dipping hips.
- Hold this position initially for 20 seconds and gradually increase the duration of the hold.
- Practice the plank every day for 2-3 sets.
Once you start getting conditioned and toned with this traditional plank exercise, start doing side planks. This move is more challenging and burns more fat from your body.
BURPEES
Burpees are truly the go-to full body workout. You can easily do this at your home or anywhere you want to as nothing is required to perform this. This great aerobic exercise would be a smart pick for keeping you in the best shape possible. It works the entire body and most major muscle groups are involved like that of legs, back, torso, neck, and arms. Jumping, squatting and stretching- all involved in this one exercise! You have to perform all movements so fast that it accelerates the calorie burn. Burpees also improve your cardiovascular fitness while testing your balance and coordination. Overall, this exercise burns away excess fat and increases your metabolism.
How To Perform?
- The standard burpee is a four-point move.
- Drop into a squat with your hands on the ground just in front of your feet.
- Get into raised plank position, by kicking your feet back behind you, keeping your arms extended.
- Then jump your feet back towards your hands.
- Next, jump up, raising your arms in the air straight above you and pointing your toes.
- Then repeat the same, all again!
- To intensify this workout, set time limit to perform a definite number of repetitions.
It will take some time to master properly. But fret not, practice makes a man perfect! Even studies have shown that high-intensity exercises like burpees burn up to 50% more fat than other moderate exercises. So if you want to lose your weight, ditch the treadmill and elliptical machine and do some burpees instead.
All these exercises consist of moves that engage multiple large muscle groups. Don’t forget, muscle is required to burn fat! So, build muscles and burn fat. When you include these fat burning exercises in your home workout, these will help you become fitter and healthier.