Does running reduce belly fat? (2024)

Running is a simple sport, suitable for all ages, helping to improve health and prevent many diseases. In addition, many studies show that running effectively reduces belly fat.

Abdominal fat accumulation over a long period of time can increase the risk of diseases such as heart attack, cardiovascular disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, breast cancer, colorectal cancer, Alzheimer's disease ... Not only that, belly fat also affects the appearance and confidence of each person. Therefore, there have been many methods to reduce belly fat, including jogging.
Many studies show that: Moderate-intensity jogging (including short or long distances), high-intensity running (variable running, uphill running, sprinting or HIIT combined with running) are remarkably effective. significantly in reducing belly fat, even without changing the diet. However, exercise at moderate to high intensity will give the highest efficiency in burning belly fat.

To run to reduce belly fat effectively, you need to have a standard training method, running technique and combine it with a reasonable diet and rest. Specifically:

Before jogging, you should choose to eat foods that help reduce fatigue but do not cause weight and sluggishness when exercising. About 30 - 60 minutes before running, you should have a snack with starch and a little protein. In addition, you can also drink 1 more cup of coffee because caffeine can help you run faster, more durable.
SEE ALSO: Exercises to reduce belly fat

Before performing any exercise and even jogging, you need to warm up your body thoroughly to help your body adapt slowly to the intensity of the exercise. At the same time, a thorough warm-up also helps prevent the risk of sports injuries, helps the body to be firm, healthy, and reduces belly fat better.
When you warm up, you can perform movements such as walking, exercising for sedentary muscle areas when running (including abs, back and shoulders), turning toes, moving cross legs, ... After a careful warm-up, you can jog slowly and gradually increase your speed.

When you have just started the exercise, you should run slowly because if you run too fast, your body will soon be exhausted. At the end of the road, you can speed up but not too fast to promote the body to burn excess fat.

When running slowly at the beginning or end of your run, you should take some time to run with your knees raised. It is recommended to run knee-lift perpendicular to the abdomen for about 5-10 minutes to improve abs and leg muscles.

To run to reduce belly fat, you should not only run for 5-10 minutes because the body has not had enough time to burn fat. Therefore, to increase the number of calories burned, you need to run longer, farther. If you are new to running, you can run 2-3 times a week to let your body adapt gradually. When you get used to it, you should gradually increase it to about 4 sessions/week, each running session lasts about 30 minutes.
You should also pay attention not to practice running too early or too late in the day. Running too early in the morning right after waking up can cause the body to go into shock because it is not ready for vigorous exercise. Running too late in the evening can cause insomnia, which is not good for health.

To run effectively to reduce belly fat, you should not only run forever on one terrain but should change many different running places such as flat land, running uphill, stairs,... This helps change atmosphere, mood when jogging, help burn fat better.
If running on a home treadmill with the function of climbing, you should only run with a slope of less than 6% to avoid the risk of heel injury.

According to experts, the fat loss process needs to be done synchronously throughout the body, not just focusing on the abdomen. Therefore, in addition to jogging, you should do exercises to reduce body fat at home such as Plank exercises, Squats, skipping weight loss, ... and exercises for the abdominal muscle group such as crunches, ...

In addition to running and doing fat loss exercises, you can also adjust your diet in a healthier direction to get a better fat burning effect. Some important notes include:
Eat more soluble fiber to quickly feel full, reduce food intake. In addition, soluble fiber also limits the amount of calories that the body absorbs from food; Prioritize a diet with protein-rich foods such as lean meat, fish and legumes because high protein content will produce the satiety hormone PYY, reducing your need to eat; Limit foods high in fat and starch in the diet because they will cause belly fat to accumulate more; Avoid stress: When stressed, the body will produce the hormone cortisol, causing cravings, promoting belly fat storage. Therefore, you should find solutions to relax your mind, limit prolonged stress; Eating fish rich in Omega-3 fatty acids such as sardines, salmon, herring, mackerel, anchovies, ... helps reduce visceral fat and prevent diseases; About 30 - 60 minutes before jogging, you should snack on easily digestible foods to provide enough energy for the running process, avoiding the risk of low blood pressure when running on an empty stomach. After running, you should eat some snacks to quickly recover health; Before, during and after jogging, you should replenish your body with water; Should drink green tea because it contains caffeine and the antioxidant EGCG has the effect of increasing metabolism, reducing belly fat. Patiently maintaining a running routine, combined with a reasonable diet and rest is the key to effectively reducing belly fat and getting the desired shape.

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