A lot of people think that the only way to fight belly fat is to hit the gym daily. Let’s face it, though; that’s not exactly sustainable. According to one report, the average working American has a mere 4 hours of free time daily – time that easily gets swallowed up by social media, eating and commuting.
The average American mother has it even worse, with just 36 minutes of free time each day.
So yeah – an hour at the gym 5 days a week? Not likely.
But what if I said you could burn belly fat right in your office, without even leaving your chair? Would you be interested? Of course you would! Check out the following 5 simple chair exercises from fitness trainer Denise Austin.
Exercise #1: Knee Pull-Ins
Sit upright and move towards the edge of your chair. Place your feet in front in front of you. To perform the exercise, lift your knee into your abs using your hands for support. You should feel a pull in your lower abs.
Exercise #2: Double Knee Lift
This exercise will get your full abdominal region working. Place your arms on your chair’s armrest for support and lift both of your knees to your chest. Do your best not to lean into your knees; let your abs do the work of bringing them up to your chest.
If your chair does not have arm rests, hold the seat of the chair with your hands.
Exercise #3: Oblique Pull Ups
With this exercise, you’ll be using the same motion as the last one. This time, however, you’ll want to lean to one side. This will target the sides of your abdomen. Repeat the motion until you begin to feel a burn. Then, lean to the other side and do the same number of repetitions.
Exercise #4: Floor Reaches
Sick of those love handles? Don’t worry; we’ll take care of those with this exercise. Keep your feet flat on the floor in front of you and stretch your arms out at your side. Then, lean in and reach with one arm towards the opposite foot. Repeat this, alternating sides after each rep.
Exercise #5: Pull Up
If you’ve got a chair with wheels, you’ll definitely want to back it into a wall for this exercise to keep it from moving. Once you’re stable, place your arms on the armrest and lift yourself up. As you do, use your abs to pull your knees up and in. Hold this post for as long as you can and then return to a sitting position.
And there you have it – 5 simple belly fat-fighting exercises that should eat up no more than 20 minutes of your day! Have a look at the following video to hear Denise Austin provide tips for each exercise.
Be sure to let us know if you try these out!
Sources:
Huffington Post
SagePub.com
BeFiT, YouTube