Best cardio exercises to get rid of a small gut?
 

I'm a skinny guy but have started to develop a small gut due to age and love of food. Obviously I should eat less, but what are some good cardio exercises I can do to trim this gut?

From personal experience, I found interval sprints to be the most productive for me. Sprint as fast as you can for 30 seconds. Then rest and walk for 90. Sprint for another 30 after that and repeat the rest interval...do about 4 intevals all together (you should be exhausted at the end of this).

Over the summer I would do a light half mile jog to warm up, then run the 4 intervals....I got really lean and really cut.

Try coupling this exercise with a regular weight lifting program....as more muscle mass should help burn calories even while at rest. Best of luck!

Yeah, I'd say lift to build up some muscles, and make sure you're getting enough cardio to work your muscles. I agree that sprints are a great way to go--much more efficient than running slow for long distances.

I know you didn't ask about it, but in case anyone else is wondering, don't worry about overdosing on situps, as targeted weightloss is a myth. As I understand it, the muscles can't use fat directly, it has to go thorugh a central system first, so it doesn't matter where the fat or the muscles are relative to eachother...completely independant.

Sprints for cardio burnout, as said above, will get you the quickest results, especially if done twice a day. Twice-a-day exercise programs have been proven to get quicker results than longer single-shot exercise programs.

Do your sprints once in the morning and then in the afternoon.

A jump rope would be quick and effective. If you can build up to 10 minutes it equals 3 miles of running. It is at least as effective as running sprints IMO.

Jumping rope is a good addition but I don't think would replace sprints. Sprints offer the forward motion stress factor. Forcing yourself to push harder while launching your body using all four limbs is pretty intense. That and you don't have to focus on clipping your toes.

I'd do a combination of what has been said here previously.

HIIT (sprints aka high intensity interval training) are good but you need to mix in lower heart reate training. This helps build the base you need to teach your body to process fat for fuel. A heart rate monitor really helps you focus on the right things and you work out a lot smarter, not neccesserily harder.

Lifting is great beacuse it builds muscles which pumps your metabolism which leads to - you guessed it.

Logical enough, increasing your metabolism twice a day.

Ever consider something like Muy Thai, or Boxing? If not, just doing the training exercises for those types of sports are effective. Just putting the thought out there.

Chase roadrunners.