The Best Running Exercise to Quickly Lose Belly Fat
It’s no secret that running is one of the best exercises out there for weight loss. Many people turn to running to lose additional pounds and they often succeed. However, there is a lot of people out there, especially women, who are looking for effective ways to lose belly fat. But they often hit the wall as whatever they seem to try, it does not really work.
Long runs are not a solution here. According to a study from the University of New South Wales, the single most effective running exercise to lose belly fat is HIIT or High-Intensity Interval Training.
What is HIIT
HIIT or interval training is one of the toughest exercises out there. It alternates between high-intensity interval runs followed by short recovery breaks.
The whole training session usually takes about 30 minutes. It consists of series of high pace (almost sprint) runs that should take between 30 seconds and 1 minute. Followed by active recovery periods (walking or jogging) of the same length, you should aim to make at least 10 series.
The exercise itself is very demanding and it will highly stress not only your muscles but also your aerobic capacity.
What about the belly fat?
Let’s have a look at the data of another Australian study.
2 groups of young untrained women participated in 2 different training programs, both lasting 15 weeks. The first group was performing mostly low pace aerobic runs. The second group, on the other hand, was subjected to high-intensity interval training units 3 times a week.
After 15 weeks, women from the first group did not register any loss of abdominal fat. However, the second group’s average abdominal weight loss was 0,33 pounds (0,15kg)! Amazing, right?
Moreover, women in this study possessed relatively low abdominal fat levels, so it is possible that subjects with greater belly fat could demonstrate even greater reductions.
Why HIIT makes you lose belly fat?
It was scientifically proven that high-intensity training units encourage the higher production of certain hormones. Hormones as catecholamines, cortisol or growth hormones are all responsible for a fat release from your abs fat stores.
An intensive run also results in a number of muscle adaptations that lead to improved fat oxidation and enhanced glucose tolerance. These metabolical changes play a crucial role. Not only you will be losing belly fat longer after the exercise but HIIT will also lower your post-exercise appetite.
Hope I encouraged you to try it. In case you would need some quality activity tracker to measure your intervals, look at my recent Fitness trackers review. Good luck!
