I hear it all the time in my training business. "I want to lose this stomach fat, so I've been doing 200 crunches a day and it just doesn't work." I don't blame the person. It's only natural to think that because you have stomach fat you'll burn it off by doing crunches. Plus all the infomercials selling their junk make it seem that it's that easy. The truth is that doing endless amounts of crunches, sit-ups or abs working gizmos will do next to nothing when it comes to losing stomach fat.

Sure they'll help strengthen the muscles, but what good does that do if you have a layer of flabby goo covering them up? In order to lose stomach fat you need to have the right mix of cardio, strength training and nutrition. Sure, when you were in high school or college you could spend hours upon hours working out to get a great physique, but it's not that way anymore if you have a job, family life and other "real world" responsibilities. You have to know exactly how to go about it and you can't waste anytime in your workouts. So here's what you need to do right now to help you lose stomach fat for good.

1) Set some goals and plan ahead. Sounds boring, but it's essential you do these if you really want to lose stomach fat. You're a busy person and if you don't have a plan for going about this, you're going to waste a lot of time. Time that could be spent with your family, or on other hobbies or just time wasted in the gym. Set meaningful, attainable goals and plan out what your weeks normally look like so you can get an idea of when to schedule your workouts and how to structure your eating. Do you need to cook a bunch of chicken breast on Sunday so you'll have it ready during the week? Do it.

2) Focus your workouts on doing full body exercises and full body workouts rather than using machines and focusing on body parts only. Forget about doing lots of crunches, bicep curls and triceps kickbacks if you want to lose fat. They're a waste of time for busy people. You need to focus on doing exercises like squats, lunges, rows and push-ups and only using dumbbells for your resistance rather than the machines found in most health clubs.

Doing so will ensure you get the most muscle involved which means you'll burn the most fat, especially from your stomach. 3) Get creative with your cardio. Forget about doing long, boring cardio on the treadmill, elliptical or stairclimber. Play basketball, do intervals, go for a hard run or bike ride, play soccer.

Use your imagination. There's no rule that says your cardio has to be done indoors on a piece of machinery. Use your brain.

Work up a good sweat and don't stop moving. Follow these 3 rules and you'll be well on your way to losing stomach fat and getting the toned body you've always wanted. Copyright (c) 2008 Ed Scow.

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