15 Best Exercises to Burn Belly Fat, According to Personal Trainers: Because belly fat can’t just be burned by endless workouts, you want to choose smart, efficient exercises that burn heavy calories, rev up your metabolism, and help build muscle, too.
It’s that blend of traits that will eventually help you erase excess belly fat. Here are the top moves you want to have in your workouts to blast belly fat.
15 Best Exercises to Burn Belly Fat, According to Personal Trainers
1. Bear Crawl
Why: The bear crawl combines the two criteria into one exercise. This is a compound movement that activates several major muscle groups, but it’s a movement that most people don’t do very often.
How to Do It:
- Start on your hands and knees in all-fours/tabletop posture. Position your hands directly below your shoulders.
- Create mid-back strain by turning elbow pits forward.
- Place your knees beneath your hips and slightly wider than hip width. They should match wrists.
- Knees up, core tense, glutes clench. Your back should be straight. Focus on the ground and maintain your neck neutral.
- Raise left foot and right hand simultaneously. Advance and place them on the ground.
- Repeat with right foot and left hand.
- Keep your head low and torso steady when moving. Maintaining back level and core engagement is key. Not aerobic conditioning; speed isn’t the aim. Focus and don’t raise your butt.
Sets and Reps: 3 rounds of 20 to 30 seconds
2. Push up
How to Do It:
- Start in a powerful high plank with wrists under shoulders and toes under heels. To straighten the body, tighten abs and glutes.
- Consider screwing your hands into the ground to lock your shoulders.
- Lowering your chest to the floor, squeeze your shoulder blades. Return to the start by pressing up through the chest.
Sets and Reps: 3 sets of 12 to 15 reps
3. Dumbbell Thruster
How to Do It:
- Stand front rack with dumbbells. Try to maintain elbows level with the floor.
- Keep your chest up as you lower your hips and return to squat—don’t let the weight drag you forward. Sink little deeper than your thighs.
- Use your legs to push the dumbbells up.
Sets and Reps: 3 sets of 6 to 8 reps
4. Deadlift
How to Do It:
- Step up to your barbell with your feet beneath the bar and your feet shoulder-width apart (this may vary by anatomy and personal preference with practice). Your shins should contact the bar.
- Use your butt back and waist hinge to bend down and hold the bar on each side of your legs. Use an overhand grip on both hands.
- Keep your hips below your shoulders. Set your lats by constricting your shoulder blades, then engage your core. Avoid looking up and keep your neck neutral.
- Keep the bar tight and push your feet into the floor to lift the weight. Squeeze your glutes first, but don’t recline.
Sets and Reps: 3 to 4 sets of 6 to 8 reps
5. Burpee
How to Do It:
- Squat with your hands between your feet. Hop back into a high plank with firm abs and glutes.
- Throw your chest down. Push through the chest to return to high plank.
- Hop forward and plant your foot—don’t stay on your toes.
- Jump high with hands to ceiling. Revert to squatting after impact to preserve joints.
Sets and Reps: 3 sets 40 seconds on, 20 seconds off
6. Cardio Row
How to Do It:
- Put your feet in the rowing machine straps. Grab the handle.
- Push through the heels to extend the knees first, then lean back and row the handle bar to your lower chest with your back muscles.
- Backtrack to bring the handle to the front to pull again.
7. Squat
How to Do It:
- Set your posture with your feet shoulder-width apart and toes pointed out (your anatomy may vary).
- Keep your chest erect and sink your hips down and back like a chair while tightening your abs and rolling your shoulders. Try lowering the butt below the knees.
- Push back to standing with your glutes engaged, avoiding knee cave-ins.
Sets and Reps: 3 to 4 sets of 8 to 12 reps
8. Walking Lunge
How to Do It:
- Place your feet shoulder-width apart. Squeeze your glutes, abs, and shoulder blades while looking straight ahead.
- Stride forward and slightly out with one leg, landing heel first. Keep your knee from hitting the ground. Maintain an elevated chest and bend your knees to make right angles with your legs.
- Activate your forward glute to protect your knees.
- Drive your front heel off the ground to restart. To stay balanced, squeeze your core to keep your torso erect.
Sets and Reps: 3 sets of 20 to 30 seconds
9. Assault Bike
- Adjust the seat height to near your hip. Sit on the bike with feet on the pedals and hands on the handlebars.
- Lean slightly forward through the hips to power the bike with your feet—don’t overuse your arms. Look forward to keep the head neutral while pedaling.
Sets and Reps: 5 rounds of 30 seconds on, 90 seconds off
10. Kettlebell Swings
How to Do It:
- Hold the kettlebell between your legs, feet slightly wider than shoulder width apart.
- Tighten core and lats before hip hinge. Snap them forward to force the kettlebell to eye-height.
- Keep your hips placed below your shoulders—don’t stretch them too far forward.
- Like a rope, the arms should merely be a lever for the bell, not propelling the movement.
11. Dumbbell Snatch
How to Do It:
- Start with a floor dumbbell. Keep your weight on your heels and stoop to grab it with one hand.
- Get the dumbbell up using leg power. Imagine zipping up a coat to keep it tight to the body.
- Consider striking it up the chest once it strikes. Hold the core tight throughout.
Sets and Reps: 3 rounds of 30 seconds on, 30 seconds off
11. Sprint
Remember that sprints aren’t just distance runs. Core stability matters. Try 10 100-meter dashes or 10 100-yard dashes over a football field at the track, taking times between each.
12. Sled Pushes
How to Do It:
- Leaning forward at 45 degrees, grab the sled with your hands close to your chest.
- Drive into the balls of your feet with all toes down from a staggered position.
- Pull your leg forward as much as possible to maximize stride length per step.
Sets and Reps: 3 to 5 rounds of 30 seconds on, 30 seconds off
13. Loaded Carry
How to Do It:
- Hold the weight tightly using the handles. Tighten shoulders and back. Maintain a flat back and line your low back with your hips throughout the action.
- Take brief steps to reduce weight swing.
- Keep ribs in and not flared.
Sets and Reps: 4 rounds of 40 seconds on, 20 seconds off
14. Medicine Ball Slam
Why: Looking to burn fat and blow off some steam? Try the medicine ball slam. This full-body power move is driven by the upper body but has a large demand on the lower body as well. Not sure where to start? These medicine ball exercises are a good place to get going.
How to Do It:
- Stand with your feet a little wider than shoulder-width apart, knees bent, a med ball held in both hands.
- Explosively raise up onto your tiptoes, lifting the med ball high and throwing your arms over your shoulders.
- Now explosively bend your knees and hips and throw the ball straight at the ground.
- Catch it on the bounce, reset, and begin another rep.
Sets and Reps: 4 rounds of 30 seconds on, 30 seconds off
15. Pullup
How to Do It:
- Grasp your bar with an overhand grip, hands wider than shoulder width-apart. Hang from the bar.
- Pull your shoulders blades back and down, squeezing them together. Think about pulling the elbows down towards the floor to pull your chest up towards the bar. Clear your chin up and over.
- Take your time here. Think about slowly allowing yourself to lower down rather than collapsing back to that hanging position.