Health And Diet Tips: hip

Women who carry much of their weight in the hip area are said to have a pear-shaped body. Excess hip fat often distorts the overall shape of the body -- and can difficult to lose for many women. Though it's impossible to target a specific area of the body with exercise to reduce fat, following a few important exercise guidelines can help you slim your hips. Consult your doctor before beginning any new fitness regimen.

The Spot Reduction Myth

Trying to remove fat specifically from your hips or any body part through targeted exercises isn’t going to work. Your body will release fat from where it wants, in the order it wants, so finding general exercises and routines that are effective overall fat burners is the wise way to go. Choosing exercises that engage your hips may help to tone muscles, but it won’t help to reduce the fat on top.

Circuit Training

Circuit training refers to performing several resistance-training or calisthenic exercises in a row, with little or no rest in between. When you do five to 10 exercises consecutively, your heart rate will elevate and the movements will take on a cardiovascular component. Perform exercises like pushups, pullups, crunches, squats, biceps curls, shoulder presses and jumping rope. Try to alternate between upper- and lower-body exercises to really get your heart pumping. You can do circuit training at the gym or at home -- just be sure to have the stations and equipment set up before you start so you don’t have to waste time once you begin your circuit.

Rowing

Rowing is a total-body exercise that can burn more than 500 calories in an hour for a 160-pound person. You can get a rowing machine for your home, work on one at the gym or even row an actual boat in a lake or river, if possible. Aside from burning a lot of calories, rowing develops the muscles of your legs, upper back and shoulders.

Swimming

Swimming is another whole-body exercise that is an efficient calorie burner. A 160-pound person burns more than 500 calories in an hour of swimming laps. You can also do water aerobics or just run in place in the water to burn off fat. The water provides a slight resistance that makes your muscles work harder than they would on land.

Spot Reduction

It's a weight-loss myth that any exercise can target and burn fat in a specific part of your body. This theory, called "spot reduction," leads many people to believe that if they work their abdominal muscles, for example, they'll burn the fat situated in this area. ExRx.net notes that losing fat in any given area requires you to lose overall fat throughout your body.

Aerobic Exercise

Aerobic exercise is an effective way to burn calories to burn fat throughout your body. Whether you follow a home-based workout or have a gym membership, numerous aerobic activities are at your disposal. Such activities include walking, jogging, in-line skating, swimming, cycling, dancing, sports such as basketball and tennis, using an elliptical trainer and taking a step aerobics class.

Yoga

Yoga will help you burn calories to reduce the amount of fat on your body, but this practice doesn't burn calories nearly as quickly as many other exercises. According to Harvard Medical School, a 155-pound person who takes an hour-long Hatha yoga class will burn just 298 calories. By way of comparison, someone of the same weight who rides a stationary bike at just a moderate pace will burn 520 calories in an hour.

Considerations

If you're interested in trying yoga and want to burn away the fat around your hips and stomach, consider combining a yoga class with a more vigorous exercise. If your gym runs yoga classes, take a class and then work out for an hour on the treadmill, elliptical trainer or stationary bicycle. Depending on the type of yoga, you'll receive the strength-training and relaxation benefits of the practice and burn a few calories, and then increase the calories you burn through an additional exercise.

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