What’s going on Jump Rope Fam? One of the most common requests we get from the Zen Dude Fitness community is for tips on how to lose belly fat. It’s stubborn, just doesn’t seem to go away and can be discouraging when you’re trying to reach your fitness goals. So today we’re gonna break it down for you, so you can conquer this hurdle and get the body you want. The key to vanquishing belly fat is a combination of sticking to healthy nutrition and integrating high-intensity workouts into your daily routine. We’ll break down the foods you should eat and the ones you should avoid and take you through a HIIT workout that will burn fat and get you on your way to looking like a stud.

Today’s workout is a jump rope workout that’s designed to reduce stubborn belly fat. It’s gonna be a very simple high-intensity interval training workout, where we’re going to go 30 seconds on all-out effort, 10 seconds rest and repeat 5 times total. If you want more workouts just like this one, we have a free 4-week challenge with four weeks of free workouts. We’ll be your virtual personal trainers and get you on track to lose weight and body fat.

Different Types of Fat

Everyone has belly fat. Even people with six-pack abs have belly fat, but it’s important to know that different types of belly fat can affect your health. Normal belly fat is stored underneath the skin and helps to protect your organs.

The main villain here is excess visceral fat, which is stored deep in the belly. If you have too much of this fat, you have a higher risk factor for developing health problems such as type II diabetes, heart disease, obesity and high blood pressure. It’s important to note that you visceral fat is necessary in small amounts for everyone. So the goal here is to lessen the visceral fat, not get rid of it completely.

What Causes Belly Fat?

In many cases, extra belly fat comes from eating unhealthy foods and not exercising enough. Greasy foods like potato chips and fast food are notorious for increasing levels of visceral fat.

Excess belly fat can also be caused by hormonal imbalances including low testosterone, insulin resistance and high levels of the stress hormone cortisol. If you have a lot of stress in your life, focusing on reducing stress through exercise is a great way to get started. Jumping rope is a fun way to start getting active and can help you lose excess body fat.

Aging is another factor, as muscle tends to deteriorate and fat stores increase. The only way to combat this is to stay as active as possible even as you get older. For women, decreasing levels of estrogen also affect where the body distributes fat.

Measuring Belly Fat

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The only way to completely measure visceral fat is to get an MRI but to get an idea of how much belly fat you have, you can measure your waist circumference. Stand up and wrap a measuring tape around your bare stomach, just above your hip. Keep the tape measure even and make sure not to pull too tight. Now is not the time to flub the numbers if you really want to get results. Measure your waist as you exhale. For optimal health, you want your waist to be under 35 inches if you’re a female and under 40 inches if you’re a male.

The Importance of Nutrition

If you want to lose belly fat, you’re going to have to make long-term lifestyle changes. You have to focus on losing weight and adjusting your calorie intake to a calorie deficit. This means that you’ll be consuming fewer calories than you are expending throughout the day.

Check out our calorie calculator to find out the proper amounts of calories and macronutrients you should be consuming. This calculator is pretty easy to use, just enter your age, gender, weight, height, activity level and select ‘lose weight’ as your goal. Hit calculate macros and this nifty tool will tell you exactly how many calories per day you should consume and the percentage of fats, proteins, and carbohydrates. Hit those numbers and you’ll get the body you want.

To increase your fat loss, you want to eat healthy fats such as omega-3-rich fish and substitute olive oil for butter in most recipes. Pay attention to portion sizes and consider intermittent fasting to jumpstart a healthy lifestyle. Your body’s primary fuel source is glucose, which comes from carbohydrates. Evolution has taught your body to be stingy with its excess in case of famine, so if you have glucose burn, it won’t break down fats for energy. Fasting is all about putting the food you eat into a smaller timeframe so your body has a larger window to burn fat instead of glucose. Now let’s get into the workout.

Grab the Right Gear for Success

First things first, you need a great jump rope to power through your workouts. Here at Zen Dude Fitness, we partnered with Crossrope for the best jump rope on the market. The ZDF jump rope set is an interchangeable rope system that helps you conquer any workout. Each set is made of unbreakable plastic handles and encased stainless steel ball bearings for smooth movement and durability. The agility rope can be used on any surface so you can take your workouts to the streets, gym or anywhere else that inspires you.

The Workout

30 Seconds: Jump Rope Sprint

Get intense today, get after it, and have a lot of fun. Be a fat burning freak and get rid of that abdominal fat.

Make sure to employ great form. Jump straight up and down and focus on moving just your wrists and feet. The key to doing double unders consecutively is perfect form. Keep your elbows in, hands jutting out to sides of your hips, and make sure your wrists control most of the movement.

30 Seconds: Jump Rope High Knees

The point of this workout is to go as fast as possible and get as intense as you possibly can. Pushing your body to its limits is the only way you’re going to get results. Work on getting your knees as high as you can with each step.

30 Seconds: Jump Rope Zen Dude Shuffle

This is a cool move, but it takes a little while to get it down. It’s not that it’s a crazy intense move, you just have to get the timing of your feet right. Check out our Zen Dude Shuffle tutorial if you need a little more guidance. These workouts don’t have to be long, they just have to be intense so you can finish them, achieve your body goals and move on to the rest of your day.

30 Seconds: Jump Rope Sprint

Make sure you’re going as intense as possible. You’ve got to stay committed to get the body you want.

30 Seconds: Jump Rope Double Unders

All you have to do is get intense for 30 minutes. Don’t spend two hours working out slowly, because then you’ll feel guilty later for not going all out. Focus now and you’ll be one step closer to your goals.

30 Seconds: Jump Rope High Knees

It doesn’t matter if it’s Sunday morning or Saturday night at 10 o’clock, get after it! Keep those knees high, even when you get tired and want to whine and complain. Focus and don’t get lost in the pain. Use it to propel yourself to the body of your dreams.

30 Seconds: Jump Rope Zen Dude Shuffle

Last move. Get after it ladies and gentlemen! Don’t ease up yet, you’re almost across the finish line!

Nutrition Recap

• Refined grains, soluble fiber, and cayenne pepper are all foods that can aid weight loss.

• Eat at a calorie deficit

• Consume healthy fats and loads of fruits and vegetables

Workout Recap

Rest 10 seconds between each exercise. Rest 1 minute between each set. Complete 5X total.

• Jump Rope Sprint

• Jump Rope Double Unders

• Jump Rope High Knees

• Jump Rope Zen Dude Shuffle

• Jump Rope Sprint

• Jump Rope Double Unders

• Jump Rope High Knees

• Jump Rope Zen Dude Shuffle

Eat right and push yourself as hard as you can during your workouts and you’ll get the physique you want. Move your body in ways that make your smile and enjoy the process. Hit your calorie calculator numbers and stay committed.

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