How You Can Lose Your Stomach Fat

“Do You Have A Little Stomach Fat That You’d Like To Get Rid Of For Summer? Try This 6 Week Fat Busting Program”

Well, summer is now upon us and we all know what that means.

It means we have to shed some of the cloths we've been wearing over the spring and start showing some skin.

It means we have to bring out the shorts, tank tops and flip flops.

For some, this in no problem but for other's, it can be an embarrassing time of year. Unwanted stomach fat can be very embarrassing because there is no way to hide it.

I know some of you reading this right now will have some unwanted stomach fat and will want to get rid of it. If you find yourself in this situation, there is something you can do about it. Now, if you want to do something about this immediately, than you may want to read on.

First, let me say that there is nothing easy about losing stomach fat. I'll be honest, it's tough and it's going take a lot of motivation on your part to get rid of stomach fat. If you know that you really want to get rid of your stomach fat and are willing to work at getting rid of it, the following program will certainly help. I've laid out a 6 week crash course that will really get you on the road to getting rid of your stomach fat. However, it's not easy and will take a lot of dedication on your part.

The 6 week program I've laid out here is all about getting rid of your stomach fat. The program is laid out in such a way that after 6 weeks, you should be seeing a huge improvement in the amount of stomach fat you have on your body. If you can dedicate your time and concentration on this stomach fat program, you'll get the results you want.

“How Do You Get Rid Of Stomach Fat”

The first rule of fat loss is very simple. You have to start burning calories. You have to program your body to start it's internal fat burning machine. Once you start to apply this concept, you half way there. This means consistent exercise. Once you get into the habit of doing consistent exercise, your going to feel and notice a difference in your body right away. We will take a closer look at the program shortly.

The second rule of fat loss is to simply eat less. It is impossible to lose fat without creating a calories deficit in your body. That is, you have to burn more calories than you take in each and every day. This is the key to losing stomach fat and it's this fact that most people fail to lose any body fat. Now, I'm not going to get into the dietary side of this fat loss program here. However, there are some pages you must read if you want to find out more:

Burning fat

Alright, let’s take a closer look at the 6 week program. The program is broken down into 3 sessions per week. I’ve decided to go with the following for the 6 week program:
 

•          Resistance training using weights;

•          Cardio sessions using interval training.

In my opinion, the combination of the above training techniques will produce the best overall fat burning results. I decided to go with weights because I personally prefer it. I’ve used body weight exercises in the past and they do work but in my humble opinion, I get a better feel in my body and muscles by using weights. I also get a better gauge of progress by using weights. However, I’ll leave it up to you whether or not you want to use weights, although the program is outlined for weight training.

As for cardio, I’ve decided to go with interval training. The debate between steady state cardio and interval cardio goes on but more and more studies are leaning towards interval training as a preferred fat burning exercise. I’ve personally tried both and I can tell you without a doubt that interval training in much more effective at burning fat. However, it is harder to perform but the results are well worth it.

Now, for those of you who don’t know what interval training is, here’s the official definition:

“An interval is basically alternating high-intensity and lower-intensity exercise such as the elliptical trainer within a single workout.”

Interval example: Exercise on the exercise bike for 4 minutes at low resistance than increase the resistance to high and exercise at the same pace for 1 minute. This is considered one interval.

Here is an example of an inverval workout using an elliptical trainer:

Elliptical Trainer Workout

Now, I’ve picked the exercise bike as the cardio exercise but you don’t have to strictly use the bike. You can use any aerobics exercise that elevates your heart rate such as the treadmill, elliptical trainer, rowing machine or any other aerobics exercise.

The combination of weight training and high intensity interval training can be very, very effective at burning fat in a relative short period of time - in this case, 6 weeks.

For the weight training program, I’ve decided to go with a circuit training program. There’s nothing fancy about the program but it is very effective.

“How Circuit Training Works”

What you will do is perform one exercise one after the other with no rest in between exercises. For the first week, you will perform one circuit. The second week, you’ll perform two circuits. The third week, you’ll perform 3 circuits. The fourth week, you perform 4 circuits. The fifth week, you’ll perform 5 circuits. On the sixth week, you’ll perform 5 circuits. By the last week, you should be in pretty good condition and you should be noticing a difference in your body, especially your muscles.

Let’s take a look at the program.

Monday and Friday

Warm up

Exercise bike for 5 minutes at low intensity. Remember, this is simply a warm up and you don’t have to exert a lot of energy.

Circuit Training

Squats - 12 reps

Seated dumbbell shoulder press 12 reps

Dumbbell dead lifts 12 reps

Incline sit ups (or crunches) – 12 reps

Cardio

Cardio for 15 minutes

Circuit Training

Remember – There’s no resting in between exercises. Rest for 60 – 90 seconds in between each circuit. Here’s how your
circuit progression will look like:

Week one: 1 circuit

Week two: 2 circuits

Week three: 3 circuits

Week four: 4 circuits

Week five: 5 circuits

Week six: 5 circuits

Here’s what you’ll do. You’ll need to set up your equipment before hand. You can do your squats with weight or no weight. It depends if you’ve ever done them before. If you haven’t done squats before, you may want to do free squats with no weight. If you have done squats before, than you will want to start with a weight than allows you to do them in comfortable fashion. Set up the squat rack with the weight you want to use.

For the seated dumbbell shoulder press, you will want to get the dumbbells ready. I prefer to do my dumbbell shoulder press while seated. This takes the stress off my lower back and helps me keep stable. However, you can do the press’ while standing if you don’t have a seat with a backrest.

For the dead lift, you will want to get the dumbbells ready. Pick a pair of dumbbells that allow you to perform the exercise in comfortable fashion. Keep these dumbbells close by.

I suggest you do the incline sit up because, personally I find them much more effective than regular sit ups. However, if you don’t have access to a sit up board, than regular sit ups will suffice. If you don’t want to do regular sit ups, try doing crunches instead.

What you will want to do is start with the squat and do 12 repetitions. As soon as you’ve finished doing squats, head over to the seat and do 12 repetitions with the dumbbell shoulder press. Do 12 repetitions. As soon as you’ve finished doing the dumbbell press, put the dumbbells down and head over to where you’ve set up the dumbbells for the dead lift. Do 12 repetitions for the dumbbell dead lift. Once you’ve completed that, do 12 repetitions of the incline sit up or regular sit up (crunches if you want).

That’s it. You’ve completed one circuit. As the weeks progress, you will add more circuits as outlined above. However, if you are ambitious, do another circuit. Remember to do what you can and no more - You will build up to more and more circuits.

Cardio

For the first week, your not going to do any intervals. Yep, no intervals. All I want you to do is to do 15 minutes of cardio after you’ve completed your circuit training. At this point, your going to get your body used to doing some cardio work. For week two of cardio, your going to start getting into interval training - see below.

Week 2- Cardio

For week 2, you will do 2 intervals. Remember, you want to build your wind and endurance to be able to do 6 or 7 intervals by week 6 using 100% of your maximum effort. Now, I’m going to assume that your exercise bike has 15 levels of resistance with 1 being the least resistance and 15 being the maximum resistance.

Week 3 - Cardio

For week 3, we’ve added one more interval for a total of 3 intervals. We also increased the resitance to 10 instead of 8 so you’ll be putting in more effort to complete the interval.

Week 4 - Cardio

For week 4, you should be able to do 4 intervals using slightly more resistance. Your now at about 90% of your heart rate and these intervals should be difficult to perform.

Week 5 and 6 - Cardio

For weeks 5 and 6, you should be doing 5 to 6 intervals for your cardio session. When you reach 5 to 6 intervals per cardio session, your going to be in shape and should be off to a great start in terms of burning A LOT of body fat. Remember, the above noted cardio schedule is an example. You will probably have to experiment the first couple of weeks or so to find out what kind of resistance works best for you.

Wednesday

Warm up

Exercise bike for 5 minutes at low intensity.

Circuit Training

Lunges 12 reps

Dumbbell bench press 12 reps

Lat machine pull downs (or barbell bent rows) 12 reps

Hanging leg raise (or crunches) 12 reps

Cardio

Cardio for 15 minutes

Circuit Training

Remember – There’s no resting in between exercises. Rest for 60 – 90 seconds in between each circuit. Here’s how your circuit progression will look like:

Week one: 1 circuit

Week two: 2 circuits

Week three: 3 circuits

Week four: 4 circuits

Week five: 5 circuits

Week six: 5 circuits

As for Monday’s and Friday circuit training program, you will follow the same format but with different exercises. Here’s what you’ll do. You’ll need to set up your equipment before hand. You can do lunges with dumbbells or with no weight. I suggest doing lunges with no weight for the first week or two, and depending on your progress, you can add dumbbells in weeks 3 or 4.

For the dumbbell bench press, you will want to set up your dumbbells with a flat bench.

I’m going to assume that you have a lat machine. However, if you don’t, you can do bent over barbell rows as a substitute. Remember to get the barbell ready if you plan on doing bent over barbell rows.

As for your hanging leg raises, you don’t need to set that up. However, if you don’t have access to the hanging leg raise apparatus, you can substitute crunches.

What you will want to do is start with the lunge and do 12 repetitions. As soon as you’ve finished doing lunges, head over to the flat bench and do 12 repetitions with the flat bench dumbbell press. Do 12 repetitions. As soon as you’ve finished doing the dumbbell press, put the dumbbells down and head over to do lat machine pull downs. If you don’t have access to the lat machine, head over to where you set up the barbell for bent over rowing. Do 12 repetitions for the lat pull down or bent over row. Once you’ve completed that, do 12 repetitions of the hanging leg raise (crunches if you want).

That’s it. You’ve completed one circuit. As the weeks progress, you will add more circuits as outlined above. However, if you are ambitious, do another circuit. Remember to do what you can and no more - You will build up to more and more circuits. Ideally, you want to build up to 5 or 6 circuits by the end of week 6.

As for cardio, you are going to follow the schedule that was set above for Monday’s and Friday’s training program. You are going to follow the interval schedule that’s already set up.

Remember, you want to concentrate on burning fat. The weight training portion of this program is not meant to get you huge. It's meant to add resistance to your muscles and to get them working. If you wish to add more exercises, be my guest. Now, if you really want to get rid of that stomach fat and want to professional program, I suggest you take a look at Mike Geary's program called "The Truth About Six Pack Abs". A fantastic program that will get those six pack of abs showing. Find out more here.