If you want to burn belly fat, there is no better way to go about this than by simple, hard work in the form of good, old-fashioned exercise. Belly fat is a more colloquial name for what is really abdominal obesity, or in a more clinical sense, central obesity. When your body accumulates a certain amount of belly fat, the resulting effect is seen in a swelling waist size, and consequently, the need to buy larger-size pants. Since there is also a proven connection between the accumulation of belly fat and the morbidity involved with cardiovascular disease, you should really do everything in your power to burn off your central obesity before it becomes too much of an irreversible problem. Here are 3 exercises targeted to burn off your belly fat.

Walking, swimming and jogging are great ways to burn belly fat. If the sheer simplicity of mere walking surprises you, it shouldn't. The reason is because to burn belly fat, you first have to start with that annoying layer of fat that is surrounding your stomach in the first place. If you skip ahead to more specialized exercises at this point, like crunches, you will be developing your abdominal muscles, but they will remain hidden under all your belly fat. So to get started properly, all you really have to do is to get your body moving by way of very simple exercises like walking, swimming or just jogging. Walking or jogging just three or four times each week will get your metabolism to increase, as well as your heart rate. A heightened metabolism burns calories faster and so contributes to eliminating fat around your belly.

After first beginning your belly fat-burning mission with exercises like walking, jogging and swimming, you now have a shot at really exercising your abdominal muscles and developing them. Abdominal exercises like crunches--which involve you lying on the ground and bringing your knees up in alternating motions to touch your upper body--are great for working off that belly fat. Even yoga works well, such as the yoga asana pose, which requires you to lie on your back and then raise your legs and upper body at a 30 degree angle for 30 seconds at a time.

An interval workout is defined as a workout where you do a high-intensity exercise for a certain period of time and then follow that up with a lower-intensity exercise. The thinking behind this is that you first work up your body at a good pace, and then you let your body recover. A good example of such a workout is to first jog for five minutes to warm up. Then, sprint for two minutes after that. Next, slow down to where you are running at a jogging pace, and then go back up to a full sprint for two more minutes. Finally, end things by going back to jogging for the final five minutes.