Workouts for Men's Waist Lines

by Kimberly Caines, Demand Media Google

If you're a man with excess fat around your midsection, losing weight can improve your appearance and health. Belly fat, namely the deep-lying kind, also referred to as visceral fat, increases your risk for undesired conditions including colorectal cancer, sleep apnea and heart disease. By losing weight from your entire body, your waist will also slim down and your health will improve. In addition to dietary adjustments, regular workouts can help you achieve this.

Get Used to Sweating

It takes a deficit of 500 calories a day to lose one pound a week. This deficit can partly come from calories burned through exercise. favors 150 minutes of moderate cardio a week. This can include walking briskly, riding a bike, or pedaling on an elliptical apparatus. Playing sports, such as soccer, racquetball, tennis, and basketball, also count, as does walking the course during a game of golf. Start slowly; 10 minutes of activity a day is a good start for the first week. Then gradually increase your workout duration.

Kick Up the Intensity

Once you're used to regular exercise, firing up your cardio intensity can effectively help reduce body and belly fat. The American Council on Exercise recommends doing high-intensity intervals on two nonconsecutive days of the week. You can still do your moderate cardio, but just incorporate frequent sprints during which you exercise at a vigorous intensity. For example, jog for two minutes at a moderate pace, and then burst into a sprint for one minute. Alternate between the intensities throughout your workout. Whether you're riding a bike or using an elliptical, you can incorporate intervals into most cardio workouts.

Lift Weight to Lose Weight

Harvard Health Publications states that resistance training stimulates muscle tissue and can boost your resting metabolism up to 15 percent. This means that you'll burn calories and fat even when you're sleeping or watching television. Perform strength training twice a week, on nonconsecutive days, and target all major muscle groups. You can use weightlifting machines or free weights, such as barbells and dumbbells in the gym, or use your body weight at home. Exercises can include bench presses, cable crossovers, pushups, pull-ups, leg presses, squats, and lat pull-downs.

Target Your Abdominal Muscles

Part of your strength-training workout should target your abdominals. Abdominal exercises don't burn belly fat, but do tone and strengthen the muscles under the fat. When your body fat reduces, these exercises can provide muscle definition. Work your abs in all planes of motion. For instance, include crunches, front planks and V-ups to target your rectus abdominis; do reverse crunches to work the lower part of your rectus abdominis. Perform bicycle crunches and side planks to target your obliques. During all exercises, pull your belly button to your spine to engage your transverse abdominis, which helps stabilize and align your spine.

Reminders and Considerations

Part of the calorie deficit that's needed to lose weight can come from dietary changes. Eating smaller portions, and limiting saturated fat, alcohol and sugary soda, can make a big difference. Include veggies, reduced-fat milk products, fish and lean meats, whole grains, and fruits, in your diet. Before losing weight and jumping into a workout routine, consult your doctor to make sure that your planned weight-loss tactics are safe for your physical condition.

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