Weight loss isn’t only about looking good or fitting into your favourite dress. It’s connected to your health too. According to National Library of Medicine, obesity is one of the leading causes of cardiovascular disease deaths and morbidity. And so, maintaining healthy weight will help to reduce the chances of developing cardiovascular disease. A weight-loss journey includes making changes in your lifestyle. As you finalise exercises for weight loss, don’t forget to include floor exercises.

Health Shots connected with celebrity trainer Praveen Nair to find out if floor exercises can help with weight loss.

What are floor exercises?

Weight loss exercises require just a floor, a mat and motivation! You don’t need high tech equipment to do floor exercises. Nair says that floor exercises are highly effective as you mostly use your own body weight to do all the work. Most importantly, you can do this anywhere, like when you are travelling, in your hotel room or near the pool.

Floor exercises for women

You just need around half an hour for a very effective floor workout. Here are some of the exercises you can try!

1. Squats

Squats can help to burn calories and also strengthen as well as tone the muscles in your lower body.

How to do squats

• To do squats, keep your feet wider than your hips.
• Sit down till you find your hip travelling just below your knees and stand back to the starting position.

2. Plank

It is a great exercise for core strength and conditioning, says the expert.

How to do a plank

• Start with a push-up position, which means your arms should be under your shoulders and your body should be fully extended.
• While your toes and palms are aligned on the floor, your back should be straight and core needs to be tight.
• Hold the plank for as long as your body allows you to.
• Drop to your knees and stop until you can return to the plank position once again.

3. Burpees

Burpee is one of the most compound and effective movements for overall cardiovascular development as well as flexibility, says Nair.

How to do a burpee

• Begin with deep squat and put your palms on the floor.
• Jump where you can find your body in a palm plank.
• Get to a dead push-ups, complete the elbow extension.
• Jump up to deep squat having neutral spine and then stand up to the starting position.

4. Leg raises or reverse crunches

It is highly effective to train whole abdominal muscles.

How to do it leg raises or reverse crunches

• While lying on the floor on the back, raise your leg.
• Having your back flat on floor or keeping your lower back intact to the floor, raise your legs till they reach the pelvic level or reach 90 degrees the lower them down to floor.

5. Superman

This is a great exercise to strengthen your lower back with static contraction as it is important to have a strong back to do great movements.

How to do superman

• You need to simultaneously lift your legs and arms off the ground just like your favourite superhero Superman.
• Do this while keeping your core engaged.

Nair says that while doing floor exercise, your heart rate zone should be 110 to 160 beats per minute. You can do these exercises for 20 to 40 minutes. Push hard, but only till you are comfortable as most of the time, body weight exercises look easy but can be really challenging. Also, to lose weight floor exercises is just one of the many things you need to do.