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The situation: Your fitness routine is lopsided, either all about cardio or all about strength training.

What that has to do with belly fat: Studies that pit the two against each other have come to conflicting conclusions, with some saying time in the cardio area is more important than the weight room and vice versa. But a combination of strength training and cardio gets rid of the most belly fat, found a large review of the research.

What to do about it: Build a fitness routine around both, and make sure it includes a couple of high-intensity interval (HIIT) sessions per week—research shows that HIIT is particularly effective at melting belly fat. Running is a great HIIT option, but high intensity doesn't have to mean high impact. You can do an effective HIIT workout on more joint-friendly machines like the elliptical, stationary bike or rower. (If you do want to do your intervals on the treadmill, though, we've got a trick for that).