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Lose Stubborn Belly Fat With Kettlebells

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Published: 02Jan2010
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You may be expecting some ab exercises or crunches here, but sorry to disappoint, that is not the way you are going to burn off that belly fat! It is a common misconception, and is why you see people performing endless crunches in the gym, day after day, but have you also noticed that nothing much changes?

Combine that with some steady, boring cardio on an elliptical machine, while watching some show on TV or reading a magazine and you have a recipe for fat loss disaster (let's call it fat gain!).

The first thing you need to take on board is the fact that to burn fat, where-ever it is on your body, you have to burn more calories than you take in. So any gym session, no matter how strenuous, can and will be undone by excessive post-exercise feeding! You have to have a nutrition plan, feeding your body with foods that are as natural as possible, and making sure you burn more than you take in over a period of time (so eating super-clean all week then having a huge blowout for the whole weekend is also not going to work).

Then, you need to make sure you are performing full-body exercises, working as many muscles in your body, so that you can burn as many calories as possible in the time you spend exercising. This means squats, lunges, deadlifts, presses, rows etc. You can include a few ab or core specific exercises at the end, but the mainstay of a fat-burning workout are the 'big bang' exercises. Your muscles will not only be using up fuel at a rate of knots while you actually train, but you will also be burning calories for hours afterwards, as your body repairs and rebuilds your new strong and toned physique.

Kettlebells are perfect for burning fat in this way, as most of the moves hit every muscle in your body.

The 2 best full-body exercises for burning body fat, and getting rid of belly fat:

1. The Turkish Get Up: You lie down with a kettlebell overhead and use pretty much every muscle in the body to get yourself to standing, while keeping the kettlebell overhead. You reverse the movement to lie back down and repeat. Hits those abs better than any crunch, as well as burning loads of calories - so a double winner.

2. The Swing: The classic ballistic kettlebell exercise. You swing the kettlebell between your legs and up to about chest height, using the power of the legs and hips to throw the weight up. You use your core strongly too. This gets the heart rate up nicely and you'll get quite a sweat on, great for fat burning and working all those muscles.

Don't forget, to lose any fat, and especially belly fat, you need to perform intense workouts consisting of resistance and interval training 3-5 times per week (depending on how long you have for each session). Interval training burns belly fat more effectively than steady state cardio, and burns fat in general at a faster rate - meaning you get more results in less time. Kettlebells allow you to do all this with one piece of equipment, in the comfort of your own home.

You also need to focus on recovery! Crazy, perhaps, but belly fat is linked to the hormone cortisol, the stress hormone. You need to ensure you are addressing your stressors (of which exercise is one) by balancing it out with sufficient rest and recovery, nutritious foods and sleep. Unless the recovery and regeneration strategies are in place, the belly fat isn't going to shift!

Caroline Radway is a certified Personal Trainer and kettlebell coach who wants you to get the fitness and fat loss results that you deserve. Check out her blog for more articles: http://www.kettlebellebody.com/blog/

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