6 Functional Exercises for Fat Loss

When most people think of fat loss, they think of hitting the gym and including more exercises in their workout routine. However, it's not just about training harder and more frequently. There are plenty of exercises you can do at home that will help you burn fat and build lean muscle mass, which, in turn, will help you boost your metabolism.

You need to focus on functional exercises that will give you a full-body workout with minimal equipment and maximum results. From deadlifts to rows and everything in between, these six exercises will help you shed pounds faster than ever before.

Best Functional Exercises For Fat Loss

1. The Deadlift

The Deadlift is a great exercise for fat loss. It works your hamstrings, glutes, and lower back muscles. To do it properly, follow these steps:

Stand with your feet hip-width apart, holding the weight on the floor in front of your thighs.
Bend at the knees and hips to adjust your stance so that it is slightly wider than shoulder width.
Lift the barbell by extending your hips and knees until you are standing upright with your legs straight.
Then, return to the starting position as slowly as possible while maintaining good form throughout.
Make sure that you don’t slouch.

2. The Push-Up

The push-up is the most basic of all exercises, but it's also one of the most effective workouts. You can do this exercise without any equipment, so it’s accessible to everyone. The push-up works all parts of your body, including your chest, shoulders, back, and core muscles.

Here's how you can perform a standard push-up:

Grip a floor surface with both hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart and your toes on the ground hip-width apart from each other to stabilize yourself during the move.
Then, straighten your arms so that they are perpendicular (at 90 degrees) from your body with palms facing down toward the floor and directly under shoulders.
Ensuring that there is no arching in the back or rounding forward into "crunch" form by keeping hips lifted off the ground at all times during the movement.
Lower yourself down until your elbows are bent at 90 degrees.
Next, raise yourself up again until arms are locked out and repeat for the desired number of repetitions.

3. The Pull-Up

One of the most effective exercises for building a strong back and helping you lose fat is the pull-up. Here's how you can do a pull-up:

Grab onto something about shoulder-width apart, with your palms facing away from you.
Then, lift up until your chin is above the bar, keeping your body straight and taut.
Lower yourself back down by bending at the elbows only and repeat until you've completed one set of 8 to 12 reps on each side, or as many as possible.

You can also work towards doing full pull-ups by using assistive devices such as an exercise band tied around your waist or a chair placed under one leg, allowing more weight to be lifted than normal when performing this exercise.

4. The Squat

The squat is one of the most functional exercises you can do. It works almost every muscle in your body, including your glutes and hamstrings, which are two of the most important muscles to activate for fat loss.

Squats target more than 400 muscles in your body, making it one of the best exercises for overall strength and development. Here's how you can do the squat:

When performing a squat, make sure you keep your back straight and chest out as you go down into position.
Then stand up again by pushing through your heels while keeping good posture with an upright torso.

5. The Row

The row is a great exercise for the back and biceps that you can do with dumbbells or a barbell. It's also one of the best exercises for your core when you use an upright rowing machine.

If done correctly, this exercise will work the muscles in your upper back and arms as well as your shoulders, lower back, and hamstrings. It's important to maintain proper posture during this movement so that it works all areas equally.

Follow these steps to perform a row:

Start by placing a bent leg on a bench and leaning forward until your torso is parallel to the bench.
Grab a dumbbell with one arm and row it up until it is in line with your ribs.
Use your other arm as support by placing it in front of you on the bench.
Do 10 reps with each arm.

6. The Plank

The plank is a great functional exercise for your core. This exercise improves the strength of the core muscles and helps you develop better posture, balance, and overall stability.

The following steps will show you how to do a proper plank:

Start by lying down on your stomach with your hands placed flat on the ground under your shoulder blades (some people like to place their elbows under their hands).
Tighten your abs and raise yourself up off of the ground by using only your toes and forearms or palms (like in an army crawl position).
Make sure that you don’t let any part of your body touch anything except for those two points.
Hold this position for 30 seconds or as long as you can.

Conclusion

These six exercises will help you burn fat and build muscle. They are easy to perform, so you can do them anywhere! Remember, when starting out with your training routine it’s important that you start off slow and gradually increase the difficulty level of each exercise as your body adapts to it.