If you want to lose belly fat without doing bone-crushing workouts, this article will show you tricks to use when climbing stairs to lose belly fat.
You can find stairs literally everywhere you go, in your office, home, or school.
They are a great tool for getting in shape without having to splurge on gym money or equipment.
With so many activities competing for our time, climbing stairs provides easy and fast cardio workouts that could ensure you put in a workout with the shortest time available.
The thought of climbing stairs may seem like a daunting task but it’s one of the best ways to lose belly fat.
Combined with a good diet, one can torch that stubborn belly to achieve a leaner, toned tummy.
Tricks to Use When Climbing Stairs to Lose Belly Fat
1. Advance from Walking to Hops
If you’re a beginner, start with walking one step at a time.
As you get fitter, skip one or two steps or add a hop.
With time, you should be able to run up and down the stairs without losing breath.
Customize or try out stair climbing exercises that help burn out belly fat.
Wearing a weighted vest while climbing stairs can also make your workout more rewarding.
2. Do High-Intensity Interval Training on the Stairs
The intensity of your workout affects how much belly fat you will lose.
A study in the Journal of Obesity shows HIIT exercises are more effective at burning abdominal fat than other forms of exercise.
Sprint up the stairs and then walk down to the starting position. Repeat that cycle at least 4 times.
3. Alternate HIIT with Steady Cardio
Do HIIT workouts 3 times a week. This will allow your muscles to recover and grow.
You can have active rest days where you can perform steady cardio like jogging up and down the stairs.
A study in the Journal of Sports Science and Medicine supports that steady cardio has the almost the same advantages as HIIT in terms of energy expenditure, enjoyment, and recovery.
4. Create Resistance using Dumbbells
Holding a dumbbell in each hand while climbing stairs will increase resistance and help you burn more calories.
In fact, you should hold light dumbbells while doing other cardio exercises like jumping jacks.
5. Wear Resistance Bands While Climbing Stairs
You can use resistance bands in almost any workout.
Incorporating resistance bands in stair climbing exercises is one way of keeping exercises fun and simple.
Place a resistance band around your thighs or knees and jump one step at a time.
You can alternate one leg at a time with the band or perform side step squats, goblet squats, jump squats, which are exercises for toning your abs.
6. Add Push-Ups to Your Workout
Push-ups are a compound movement that works out your whole body.
They target the arms, shoulder, chest muscles, and the core.
Although push-ups can be quite challenging, once you get the knack of it, you can perform them anywhere, anytime within a circuit of exercises.
If you can’t do the regular push-ups, place your hands at higher stair than your feet. Then keep your body aligned in a straight line and do push-ups from that position.
Do different push-up variations like incline push-ups, diamond push-ups, and decline push-ups on the stairs.
7. Incorporate Barre Workouts into Stair Climbing
Barre is a form of fitness that heavily borrows from ballet and yoga.
It is known to have the toughest abs workouts.
Some of the exercises like hamstring stretches, tabletop, calf stretches, plie squats can be performed on staircases.
These are good workouts for the moderate training days or active recovery periods.
8. Do Standing Abs Exercises
Standing abs exercises are a great option in cases where you may have back issues.
You can perform side twists or rotations as you jump from one step to the next.
You can also perform side crunches on each side with an alternating knee lift.
Lastly, try jump squats with an oblique twist or pike ups.
9. Do Different Plank Variations on the Stairs
Planks are one of the most effective exercises for toning your belly.
The good news is you can do many plank variations on the stairs.
The side plank twist, for example.
To perform it, start in the side plank with left hand on third stair and feet on landing, right arm raised, engaging abs and squeezing glutes.
Exhale as you bring right arm around the front of your body, twisting it toward left knee as you send hips back over heels and shift weight into feet with toes pointing toward stairs.
Return to starting position and do 5 to 10 reps then switch sides to complete set.
10. Focus on Your Nutrition
Nutrition is 80% attributable to weight and belly fat.
The type, amount and the quality of the food you eat affect how much weight you will lose.
In this study, quality protein combined with exercise was shown to reduce waist circumference and enhance fat burning.
Another study linked protein to belly fat loss and increased metabolism.
Limit the number of carbohydrates you take. You can achieve this by getting most of your calories from plant-based foods.
11. Try Carb Cycling
Carb cycling can be beneficial to people climbing stairs to lose belly fat.
Assuming you are on a three-day stair climbing routine that requires a lot of energy, take more grams of carbs as opposed to what they would consume on rest days.
If my recommended daily calorie intake is 1,500 calories, on high interval training days I would take 1200 calories, as opposed to the rest day periods, where I would consume 1000 calories.
This method helps the body to regulate itself and to fully utilize its energy sources.
Maximize on whole carbs like wholemeal bread, sweet potatoes, and oats.
12. Try Intermittent Fasting
Some experts believe that fasted cardio is the best way to lose belly fat.
Intermittent fasting involves fasting for a period of time and eating within a certain period of time.
Sometimes you may need to eat a pre-workout snack before you exercises.
However, some studies that working out within a fasted period, tap energy from your fat stores.
That way, the stubborn belly fat that’s always last to go, is easily broken down.
Now, remember to apply these strategies the next time you are climbing stairs to lose belly fat.
If you still feel that, you need a more organized plan to lose belly fat, use this step-by-step plan.
It is designed to help women lose belly fat without starving themselves or working out for hours.
Which tricks do you use when climbing stairs to lose belly fat?
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