The Best Machine Exercises To Increase Your Visceral Fat Burn

Many of my clients have a primary goal of losing body fat. It's wise to be mindful of excess body fat, as extra fat can cause many chronic health issues. In order to lose fat, you have to nail all of the basics. It's crucial to maintain a nutritious diet, eat at a calorie deficit, perform strength training regularly, and also incorporate cardio exercise into your routine. There are many beneficial machine exercises you can do that will increase your visceral fat burn, and we're going to give you the scoop so you can be on the fitness path you'd like to be on.

There are several types of fat in your body, and we'll go over all of them quickly so you have a better understanding. Visceral fat is fat that's deep inside your abdomen surrounding your organs and can lead to serious health complications if you have high levels of it. Visceral fat can be the cause of many problems, including metabolic issues, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and more. There is also subcutaneous fat, which is the type of fat that's right below the skin and is referred to as the stubborn fat that takes longer to go away (via Health Direct). There is also essential fat, which is just what it sounds like—it's necessary to have for your overall health. Luckily, visceral fat is easier to lose than subcutaneous, and the best way to do that is to incorporate higher intensity cardio and resistance training. Visceral fat burn is what we are concentrating on today.

Strength training is important to do regularly. Although free weights should make up a majority of your exercise regimen when burning fat, and it's necessary to add the right machine exercises into your routine. Machines get a lot of flack at times from the fitness community because they argue a machine is a fixed pattern that fails to recruit the stabilizer muscles, but it's overblown. Machines are fantastic for isolating certain muscle groups, perfect for maintaining tension in the ones that you do want to focus on, and are great for beginners just starting off to learn proper movement patterns.

Just like free weight exercises, when choosing machines to increase your visceral fat burn, you want to include ones that are compound movements rather than isolation ones such as curls, triceps, or crunches. Compound movements involve multiple muscle groups, are more challenging, and can help you burn more calories than isolation movements.

Here are a few machine-based exercises for building strength and also two for your cardio conditioning needs. Incorporate the following movements into your fitness routine to increase your visceral fat burn. And next, check out The 6 Best Exercises for Strong and Toned Arms in 2022, Trainer Says.

Hack Squat

Start the exercise by having your feet in front of you with them slightly turned out. Push yourself up, then hit the switches below to unlock the machine. Lower yourself under control as you would for a regular squat until your hips are at least at a 90-degree angle, then drive through your heels, flexing your quads and glutes to finish. Complete 3 sets of 10 reps.

Leg Press

Begin by laying on the leg press sled with your feet outside shoulder width and feet pointed slightly outward. Press the weight up, then pull the switches to unlock the machine. Lower the weight under control, and then drive through your heels, flexing your quads and glutes to finish. Perform 3 sets of 10 to 15 reps.

Wide Grip Seated Row

Grab the wide grip attachment on a seated row machine, and place your feet firmly on the footpad. Pull the handle out, then straighten your legs fully. Keeping your chest tall, drive your elbows back towards your hips, squeezing your back and lats hard to finish. Straighten your arms all the way, and get a good stretch in your shoulder blades before performing another rep. Complete 3 sets of 10 to 12 reps.

Machine Chest Press

chest press to increase visceral fat burn — Tim Liu, C.S.C.S.

Sit back into your chest press machine with your arms on the handles. Keeping your core tight, press the weight forward until your arms are fully extended. Flex your chest and triceps to finish, then lower the weight back under control to starting position before performing another rep. Perform 3 sets of 8 to 10 reps.

Stair Climber

Start by hopping on the stair climber, turning it on, and begin climbing. If you're a first-timer, go at a comfortable pace you can maintain for at least 15 to 20 minutes. Once you've built up more endurance (or if you're a bit more of an intermediate), you can crank up the speed, or climb for at least 30 minutes.

Rower

On a rowing machine, start by sitting on the seat and strapping your feet in. Keeping your chest tall, grip the handle of the rower, drive through your legs, and finish the movement by pulling your elbows back. Come all the way forward until the handle is touching the rower before performing another rep. You can go all out for a 500-meter sprint, or you can row at a more controlled pace for 1000-2000 meters.