5 fat-burning exercises you can do under 20 minutes, anywhere, anytime | Health - Hindustan Times
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5 fat-burning exercises you can do under 20 minutes, anywhere, anytime

Hindustan Times | ByRishabh Telang
Apr 18, 2018 01:35 PM IST

If fat burning is your weight loss goal, you don’t need to spend hours sweating it out in the gym. Here are a few fun, easy exercises you can do anytime, anywhere, in 15-20 minutes.

Human bodies have been designed to move and in order to move better one needs to be physically fit. But before we talk about the importance of physical fitness, let’s understand what is fitness. It is the ability of the body to perform functional movements without any hindrances; it’s the work capacity of the human body. And to perform the tasks that life throws at you on a daily basis, you need to have enough strength, muscle endurance, stamina, balance and flexibility; these are the pillars of physical fitness. In order to be fit, the body needs to score well on each of the parameters mentioned above.

Fat burning exercises need not be elaborate, time consuming affairs in the gym. All you need is some space and about 20 minutes, says fitness trainer Rishabh Telang.
Fat burning exercises need not be elaborate, time consuming affairs in the gym. All you need is some space and about 20 minutes, says fitness trainer Rishabh Telang.

It’s important to stay fit because if you are not, it affects the ability of the human body to move, to perform daily tasks such as walking, climbing, running and lifting and leads to a lot of discomfort. No movement or less movement leads to lifestyle diseases such as high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol and high triglycerides, to name a few. Being physically fit and active reduces the chances of such diseases and ensures that your health parameters stay in control.

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The good news is that you don’t have to spend hours exercising to achieve good levels of fitness, here are few exercises that can be done at home to make sure you get a good workout in just 15-20 minutes.

Air squats

Rishabh Telang doing an air squat.
Rishabh Telang doing an air squat.

Squats are the most fundamental movement that can be performed by the human body and end up becoming the base for almost every other movement. You start by placing your feet in line with your shoulders and start pushing your hips back and down at the same time, lower down keeping your back straight and feet flat until the hips reach lower than the knee. Get back up to full extension of your hip and knee.

Squats are predominantly a lower body movement, strengthens your glutes, hamstrings and quad muscles while engaging your core at the same time. 15 repetitions of air squats repeated 4-5 times will get you an effective work for these big muscles.

Side plank leg raise

Telang shows us how a side plank leg raise is done.
Telang shows us how a side plank leg raise is done.

Some work for the obliques is needed to ensure a strong lower back. You start this movement by going down sideways on the ground, weight on the elbows and raising the hips up so that you make a single line between head to toe. Lift one leg off the ground as much as you can to make it more challenging. The movement ensures strong core muscles, help in cutting down stubborn belly fat and builds stability in the arms and legs.

Hold this for 30 seconds on each side in between over exercises and repeat for 4-5 rounds till you feel the burn in your mid section.

Crab reach

Telang poses in the tricky crab reach pose.
Telang poses in the tricky crab reach pose.

You start this movement by keeping your feet flat on the ground and hands close to the hips. Raise your hips up as much as possible, getting the right hand close to the face and looking down to the left hand. Keep alternating between right and left. This movement will make sure you build strong glutes and hamstrings, which happens to be the most powerful set of muscles in the human body. Strong posterior chain ensures better performance at more complex movements and better balance. Crab reach also helps to build strong arms and ensures more stability as you shift the entire weight on one hand.

Include this movement to balance between anterior and posterior exercises and 10 reps each side repeated for 4-5 rounds will give you a good workout.

Cossack squat

Telang stretches while doing the cossack squat.
Telang stretches while doing the cossack squat.

Cossack squat is a very powerful movement which challenges the flexibility of the hip and ensures right alignment of the spine. You start this movement by placing your feet wider than your shoulders, bending to one side, extending the other leg straight and toe facing up. Make sure that the foot of the leg which is bent remains flat on the ground, spine remains neutral and chest upright. Alternate between left and right to finish the movement. Its a full body movement which improves mobility of the hip, strength in lower body, spine alignment and a strong core.

Perform this for 5 reps each side repeated 4-5 times for an effective workout.

Side kickthrough:

Telang performs the side kickthrough.
Telang performs the side kickthrough.

It’s not always about building just the abdominal muscle, the obliques also happen to be very important – which are muscles which help in stabilising other muscle groups such as lower back. Side kick through helps in building strong and chiseled obliques along with improving single leg balance and improved cardiovascular capacity. You start this movement by getting on all fours, arms in line with shoulders, quadriceps in line with the hips and knees just a little off the ground, lift your right leg off and kick out towards the left lifting the left hand up close to the face at the same time. Make sure you open up your anterior obliques and keep your foot flat on the ground. Alternate between right and left.

This movement ensures improved stamina and you should do 10 kicks each side repeated over 4-5 rounds for a good workout.

Rishabh Telang is a master trainer at CULT, the fitness vertical of health and wellness startup Curefit

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