The waist is probably the most common area where people wish to lose fat from. We spend millions each year on supplements and equipment in the hope that these products will lead to a small waist in quick time. Many people believe that the best way to a slimmer waist is from exercises that hit the "love handles" directly. There is a common belief that training the waist with exercises like torso twists, side bends, hip extensions, etc, will trim the fat from the waist and hip area.

In fact the best waist exercises to reduce fat are those which encourage the body to switch into the fat burning energy system, the aerobic pathway. Our energy system works a bit like gears, they switch from one to another. The first two work closely together switching from one to the other as we go about most daily chores. The trouble is they gain the majority of energy from carbohydrates, the body's preferred energy source. The third gear takes time to switch into but it burns fat through an aerobic pathway. Aerobic simply means "with oxygen" and fat must have oxygen supply to burn. Some exercises that are low in effort and performed for a long duration allow the cardiovascular system to deliver enough oxygen to the working muscle cells.

The best exercises for losing inches from our waist are those that allow the body to switch into the third fat burning gear, exercises like rowing, swimming and walking. When these exercises are completed fat is burned from all over the body including the waist and hip region. Eventually you will lose inches from the waist with regular aerobic exercise.

It is impossible to find an exercise to "spot reduce" fat from the waist because of the way the human energy system works, it cannot produce all its energy needs from one area alone. Have you ever wondered why we have many friends who try all the latest new waist exercises yet fail to achieve the results they want - a smaller waist?

The many waist exercises like side bends, torso twists and hip extensions are great to help tone the muscles around the waist and hip area but they cannot reduce the fat from the waist because the time taken to complete forces these exercises to be anaerobic, they burn mainly carbs. This doesn't mean you should neglect this type of exercise for the waist. Toning the abdominal muscles helps tighten and firm the area so once you lose the layer of fat the muscles they can show through clearly to give that washboard look!