Exercises to Help Reduce Bloat

Bloat can be caused by a number of things … too much food consumed at once, ingredient sensitivity, excess gas buildup, or a disruption in the digestive muscles.

To reduce bloat, you’ll want to make sure your digestive system is healthy, so test for food allergies or sensitivities, and take the appropriate steps medically if you need to seek further guidance for things like digestive enzymes and pre/probiotics.

That said, these movements are beneficial to help debloat as they encourage you to rotate your core to mimic intestinal movement of your food as experienced in peristalsis. Peristalsis is an involuntary muscular contraction and relaxation in your intestines to keep your waste moving toward being eliminated by creating wave-like motions. Each torso rotational exercise will help massage your digestive organs and get things moving in your intestines again for more regular digestion and reduced bloat.

The Routine:
Standing Dumbbell Twists
Standing Wood Choppers
Seated Twists
Cross-Body Mountain Climbers
Pike to Cross-Body Crunch

The Move: Standing Dumbbell Twists
How to: This move is great for all fitness levels. Place a light dumbbell in your hands and stand with your feet just a bit wider than your hips. Circle your head with the dumbbell and then bring your dumbbell down to chest level to twist to one side. Return back to center and repeat this movement, switching to the other side for your next twist. This twisting motion improves circulation in your upper body and your core to help get things moving internally for your digestive system.

The Move: Standing Wood Choppers
How to: This standing move is ideal for stimulating your obliques and challenging your circulation with a lower to upper twist. Start with your feet wider than hip-width and sit in a half squat as you take your dumbbell to the outside of your right thigh. Engage your glutes to extend your hips forward as you use your core to pull your body into a rotation facing the opposite way. Use the lower body and core force to help you rotate your dumbbell from the low starting point over to the shoulder full extension. Make sure your knees stay softly bent as you return back to start. Your feet can pivot and the back heel can lift off the ground as you rotate away from it.

The Move: Seated Twists
How to: This exercise can be done with or without a dumbbell, so choose what suits you. Lean back to an angle that engages your core and rotate your torso to the left, touching the ground. Use your core to pull your torso over to face the right and touch the ground. Make sure to not round your back into a crunch position but to keep a nice tall spine throughout this exercise. Lift your heels off the ground to advance this exercise to the next level!

The Move: Cross-Body Mountain Climbers
How to: Flipping your body over into the pronated position is a good way to improve circulation to help with bloat. For this exercise, start in a high plank and pull your knee toward your opposite elbow. Engage your core to keep your torso strong through the rotation. Return your knee back to start and switch to the other side, pressing your hands into the floor and keeping your back leg strong through this movement.

The Move: Pike to Cross-Body Crunch
How to: This movement is wonderful for mobility in your body and your gut. Start in a plank position and engage your core to lift your hips toward the sky. As you lower back down to plank position, remove one foot from the ground and crunch your knee toward the opposite elbow. This lift and lower with a twist is the perfect way to massage your digestive organs and make sure your mobility is improving as well.

A former Division 1 high jumper and record holder at West Virginia University, Sydney is a National Academy of Sports Medicine Personal Trainer and Fitness Nutrition Specialist in Charlotte, North Carolina. Sydney and her fiancé Dustin created the Royal Change digital media company and post a new, completely free workout every day. They have a quickly growing audience with over 53,000,000 views since they started their YouTube channel. Royal Change’s mission is to always provide high-quality fitness to everyone, everywhere, at any time.

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