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Standing Exercises For Belly Fat: 10 Best Workouts To Shape Your Belly 2023

Updated on - Written by
Medically reviewed by Kathy Shattler, MS, RDN

standing exercises for belly fat
There are exercises to lose belly fat and look your best

Feeling comfortable with your belly can be difficult if you struggle with flabby abs, stubborn belly fat, or weight management. There are healthy ways to shape your tummy, lose belly fat, and feel and look your best. 

Making dietary choices that support safe weight loss, creating a flat belly, and executing specific exercises will get you the desired results you seek. Learn more about standing abs exercises to reduce belly fat which promotes an attractive stomach, strengthens core muscles, and helps with controlling your weight.

10 Easy Standing Ab Exercises You Can Do Daily

You don’t have to get on the floor to exercise your abs and eradicate belly fat. Engage in standing exercises like Windmills, Jumping Oblique Twists, or Standing Cross Crunches to blast away a beer gut. The abdomen tends to hold onto fat more than other parts of the body. But, regularly practicing standing ab exercises, eating a balanced diet, and choosing healthy lifestyle choices can help you achieve a toned, flattering tummy and waistline.

We will cover ten different easy standing exercises that will help your body lose belly fat, tone ab muscles, and create a leaner, fitter you.

  1. Jumping Oblique Twist
  2. Standing Oblique Crunches
  3. Standing Cross Crunches
  4. Static Lunge Ab Twist
  5. High Knee Run
  6. Standing Core Stabilizer
  7. Cross Chops
  8. Warrior Balance
  9. Windmill
  10. Wood Chop 

10 Standing Ab Exercises To Burn Belly Fat

Let’s explore each standing abs workout, the muscle groups it targets, and the overall health benefits provided.

Jumping Oblique Twist

The primary muscles targeted by this exercise are the lower abs and left and right obliques. The lower back muscles are also targeted, and this exercise is considered a cardio move.

Standing Oblique Crunches

Executing this exercise works your muscles to improve balance, stability, strength, and burn calories. It targets the oblique muscles and side ab wall better than doing side crunches on the floor. Consider slight alternatives to this exercise to boost the impact of building ripped abs and core strength.

Standing Cross Crunches

You can execute this exercise, including variations where you crisscross or go cross-body. Not only does this move help target the obliques and abs, but the lower body gets a workout, too, improving the hamstring and quadriceps.

Static Lunge Ab Twist

Static Lunge Ab Twist
Static lunge ab twist targets the lower and upper body, working core muscles, glutes, hamstrings, and quads

Increase the benefits of performing this standing ab exercise by adding weights or a medicine ball. Get the best out of this move that targets the lower and upper body, working core muscles, glutes, hamstrings, and quads. Feel the burn, slay belly fat, and tone abs, and improve balance.

High Knee Run

high knee run
High knee run helps get your heart rate going and strengthen the abs

It is essential to perform cardio exercises to boost metabolism, burn calories, and improve strength and endurance. Executing this exercise strengthens the abs, enhances flexibility, momentum, coordination, and gets your heart rate going. Perform this move regularly to work out your abs, work your hips, activate your core muscles, and strengthen your legs in one fail swoop.

Standing Core Stabilizer

Target belly fat and build core muscles to reduce back pain and support the spine with this move. Promote abdominal strength, increase stability, improve breathing, coordination, and reduce your waistline. Regularly practicing standing core exercises is essential to sculpting your midsection and reducing belly fat.

Cross Chops

Work out ab muscles and build strength and stability in your hip and trunk when doing rotations. Practice cross chops and alternate versions to work the transverse abdominal muscles, obliques, back, legs, and shoulders. Feel free to add dumbbells if doing a cross-body chop or other variants while working on balance and strengthening the core.

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Warrior Balance

standing exercises for belly fat
Warrior Balance helps improve spinal alignment, balance, and enhances stability and power

Engage all of the muscles in your core, legs, and arms while strengthening the back. Using this move helps improve spinal alignment, balance, and enhances stability and power. Encourage better endurance, breathing, strength, and focus with this yoga move.

Windmill

windmill
Windmill burns off calories, and improve stability and strength in the core, obliques, glutes, and shoulders

Give this exercise move a boost by adding a kettlebell or dumbbell. Get ready to burn off calories, and improve stability and strength in the core, obliques, glutes, and shoulders. The hamstrings and hips benefit from improved flexibility. Another good variation of this exercise is the hybrid kneeling windmill.

Wood Chop 

Performing this exercise will contribute to getting ripped, washboard abs. The chopping wood move and variations target the abs, lower and upper back, arms, chest, legs, and glutes. Also, executing this move often helps build strength and stability in the hip and shoulder. Feel free to make things more challenging by adding a resistance cable or practicing standing ab exercises with weights.

What Causes Stubborn Belly Fat?

The struggle to maintain a healthy weight and reduce lower belly fat impacts both men and women. 

However, there are some critical reasons why it may be hard for the body to lose belly fat around the waistline. 

Depending on which factors prove to be the most significant in your life, you can better determine a plan to eradicate belly fat successfully. Having a pesky problem like belly fat may be impacted by the following factors:

  • Genetics[1]
  • Diet
  • Stress
  • Medications
  • Age

Learning what triggers the development of fat around the waistline and lower belly is critical to figuring out the best solution to get rid of a beer gut. There is no one-size-fits-all solution as every individual has different needs.

How And Why Does Lower Belly Fat Form?

Excessive belly fat or a beer gut can occur because of binge drinking, a poor diet, a sedentary lifestyle, stress, genetics, poor sleep, or smoking. Additionally, enzymes, an imbalanced gut microbiota[2], consuming too many fats, or an excess intake of calories can also contribute to stubborn lower belly fat. For women, belly fat may be more common and hard to lose following menopause.

Unfortunately, the human body tends to want to hold onto fat around the waistline and belly because of evolution. Fat helps to insulate organs and provide energy if there is a lack of access to food and nutrition for an extended time. Regularly exercising and eating a healthy diet can help offset genetics, hormonal response, and other contributing factors to stubborn lower belly fat.

How Does Lower Belly Fat Impacts Health?

It is crucial to reduce excess fat around the abdomen and waistline. It can contribute to various metabolic syndromes[3] diseases and disturbances. Persons with belly fat that is hard to lose may have an increased risk for type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, stroke, cancer, and other ailments. Women, in particular, may have more health risks[4] and dangers because of their lower belly fat than men.

Why Is It Important To Target The Abs?

Developing and maintaining strong core muscles and shapely abs goes beyond satisfying one’s physical appearance. Holding onto excess fat around the belly and waistline can trigger and exacerbate health ailments over time. Regularly practicing exercises that strengthen core muscles and tone abs helps improve posture, strength, balance, weight management, and your waistline.

How Long Until You See Noticeable Results?

In as little as two weeks, you can see noticeable results of performing standing exercises for lower belly fat that tone and shape your abs. After this small amount of time, posture improves, and you’ll see changes in your muscle tone. After three to four months, the muscles may show further growth and development.

Other Ways To Reduce Belly Fat And Shape Abs

The following can be beneficial when building a flatter belly, reducing a beer gut, and developing solid and shapely abs.

When you want to burn fat and lose weight, there are other things you can use alongside executing specific standing exercises for lower belly fat.

Precautions

Before beginning any new exercise regimen or making dietary changes consult your physician. It is normal for your body to display physical reactions to a change in your routine. One may notice fatigue, sore muscles, increased energy, improved metabolism, weight loss, and a reduced waistline. Ease into exercises, be patient, and use good form to reduce possible injury.

Exercise caution when adding supplements to your diet, making significant lifestyle changes, or working out more frequently. People with certain pre-existing health conditions, taking prescribed medications, or are postnatal or pregnant may see varied results from standing exercises for lower belly fat.


+ 4 sources

Health Canal avoids using tertiary references. We have strict sourcing guidelines and rely on peer-reviewed studies, academic researches from medical associations and institutions. To ensure the accuracy of articles in Health Canal, you can read more about the editorial process here

  1. Hélène Choquet and Meyre, D. (2011). Genetics of Obesity: What have we Learned? [online] 12(3), pp.169–179. doi:https://doi.org/10.2174/138920211795677895.
  2. ‌Ludovico Abenavoli, Emidio Scarpellini, Colica, C., Boccuto, L., Salehi, B., Javad Sharifi-Rad, Aiello, V., Romano, B., A De Lorenzo, Izzo, A.A. and Capasso, R. (2019). Gut Microbiota and Obesity: A Role for Probiotics. [online] 11(11), pp.2690–2690. doi:https://doi.org/10.3390/nu11112690.
  3. ‌Galassi, A., Reynolds, K. and He, J. (2006). Metabolic Syndrome and Risk of Cardiovascular Disease: A Meta-Analysis. [online] 119(10), pp.812–819. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amjmed.2006.02.031.
  4. ‌Janssen, I., Katzmarzyk, P.T. and Ross, R. (2002). Body Mass Index, Waist Circumference, and Health Risk. [online] 162(18), pp.2074–2074. doi:https://doi.org/10.1001/archinte.162.18.2074.

Medically reviewed by:

Kathy Shattler

Alex Smith is a NY-based content writer who enjoys covering natural health, supporting wellness, personal finance, history, and outdoor living. When he is not behind a keyboard living the wordsmith life, he enjoys visiting landmark destinations and bookstores.

Medically reviewed by:

Kathy Shattler

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