Standing Balance Exercises for Burning Belly Fat
Your body core is what gives you stability and agility. That becomes even more important as you grow older when there is an increased risk of falls.
Strong core muscles reduce that risk and decrease back pain, which troubles many older adults. Often the cause is the “spare tire” or visceral fat that hangs around the middle. Belly fat is a problem as you age because losing weight becomes harder.
The right exercises can build muscle mass and support your weight loss efforts.
What You Need for These At Home Exercises
At Mighty Health, we help you build up your core and support your back with exercises you can do in just 15-20 minutes. There are a few things you will need to get started, though. First, find an open area that gives you room to move. If you need to catch your balance, there should be something close by for you to hold onto, like a wall or sturdy piece of furniture.
You will also need weights for these exercises. Grab two towels or water bottles if you don’t have weights. They will also work to add a little resistance to your movement.
The best way to do these exercises is barefoot.
Warm Up Exercises
Warming up is essential to any exercise plan. It gets your blood pumping and warms the muscles to help reduce the risk of injury. We like to start our workout sessions with a bit of marching.
Focus on your breathing while you march. Take a deep breath, and then let it out slowly. As you feel the blood pumping, swing your arms harder and lift your knees higher. Slow your march down as you get ready for core rotations.
Core Rotation Warm-ups
Core rotations help stretch the muscles that you will work out. Stand with your feet shoulder length apart. Put your hands on your hips and rotate your body from side to side. Lift the heel of your foot slightly as you turn your body the opposite way. This gives you a good stretch in your core to wake up those muscles.
Arm Reaches Warm Up
Next, raise your arms and clasp your fingers over your head. Then, bend as far as you can to one side and the next. This will help warm up your obliques or the muscles that support your core strength. Do several of these bends, then get ready to burn that belly fat.
6 Core Exercises for Improving Balance and Burning Belly Fat
Side Crunches
Shake your body a bit before you start. This will give the rest of your muscles a wake-up call. For side crunches, the starting position is your feet shoulder-width apart and your hands on your hips. The goal is to touch one elbow to the knee on the same side.
Lift one arm and place your open hand behind your ear. Now, bend to the side as you lift your knee up toward your elbow. Try to get your elbow and knee to touch while maintaining your balance. The movement is your elbow to the same side knee. Let your bare foot press into the floor so those muscles help provide support as you move.
Make sure to keep breathing as you move. Getting into the habit of holding your breath when you move is easy, so focus on those nice deep breaths.
Side Chops
For this exercise, you will want to use a weight or whatever you have available to add a slight resistance to the move. The movement is both hands chopping toward the other side while lifting the opposite knee.
Start with your weight in both hands. Next, lift the weight over your head to one side. As you bring the weight down in a chopping movement, lift the opposite knee. If you struggle to balance, don’t lift your foot off the floor.
Swing the weight down to the opposite side of that knee. Hold your knee up as you continue to make the chopping movement. Squeeze your glutes (buttocks) and quads (thigh muscles) to help hold your leg in place.
This exercise will challenge your balance, so do it carefully and gauge how well you can stabilize yourself. Practicing this move will improve your balance over time. If you must drop your foot to catch yourself, that’s okay. Lift it back up when you can, and keep going.
This is meant to be a structured movement, so make sure you get a good chop in and swing the weight behind you a few inches before lifting it back up. After doing chops a few times, switch to the other side.
Core Rotations
These rotations will help stabilize your core. The movement is holding the weight and turning your body to the left. At the same time, you will lift your left knee and keep it in place.
To start, pick your weight back up and hold it out in front of you. Lift your left knee and turn your body in that direction while holding the weight. Keep your knee up as you slowly rotate; if you need to drop your foot to balance yourself, it’s okay. Just lift it back up when you can, and repeat the movement several times.
Take a short break, then repeat this exercise, rotating to the right. Shake your body out, especially your legs, before continuing.
Wide Stance Side Crunch
The movement for this exercise is bending to the side while in a squat and holding weights. Stand with your feet in a wide stance with a weight or object in each hand. Your feet should be a little wider than your shoulders.
Squat down as if you are going to sit on something and then raise the weights. Your elbows should remain bent. Bend slightly to one side while holding the squat. This is a crunch, so don’t bend forward but to the side. You don’t have to bend far. Bend one way and then the other as you hold the weights up.
Toe Taps
Put the weights down and get ready for toe taps. The movement is touching one hand to the opposite foot. Stand with your feet spread out and your arms stretched to the side. Bend at the hips, not at the knees, to touch your toes. Good form is essential with this exercise. If you struggle, you can lift your legs to reach your toes. Do one side and then the other.
Overhead Circle
This last exercise helps to stretch your core out and build muscle. The movement circles a weight over your head as you move your body at the waist.
Start with your feet shoulder-width apart and hold one weight over your head. Lean slightly one way, then bend back and circle around with your head to the other side. Pretend you are drawing a complete circle with the weight. Protect your back with this movement. The bend back is very slight.
Repeat on the other side.
Looking for More Weight Loss Exercises?
Discover more great strength training workouts to help you lose weight and get strong on our Mightly Health app. We offer the first all-in-one health benefits program for those wanting to live healthy over 50.
