By eating less and moving more you can lose one to two pounds a week healthily. So, if you have eight pounds of fat to lose, you can have a flat stomach in a month. Start by cutting your calories by 20 percent. Simply eat a fifth less than you usually do, then do a moderate cardiovascular workout, resistance training, and core training to get a flat stomach.
Cardio
There is a myth that doing very light cardio exercise will put you in a fat-burning zone. In truth, you need moderate-intensity cardio to raise your metabolism and burn more calories. However, if you do cardio too intensely you may injure yourself or be too tired to exercise daily. So choose an activity that you like and will be able to do daily, whether it's swimming, running, hiking, cycling, or using a cardio machine. Start with ten-minute bouts. Three 10-minute periods of moderate cardio are as effective as one 30-minute session. The key is to do cardio every day, or at least five days a week. Even on your off days, try to do some physical activity, like gardening or washing your car. You only have one month!
Core Training
You'll also need to do three to five days of core training. Begin your workouts with a five-minute, light-intensity cardio warm-up and then do two to three core exercises to work the abs, lower back, thighs, and glutes. Crunches are good exercises. Start with two sets of 10 reps and work up to three sets of 15. Pilates and yoga are also good for strengthening the core. The muscle you build in the core will raise your metabolism and tone the stomach area, but you will still need to do cardio and watch your eating to reduce belly fat.
Resistance Training
Resistance or strength training is the best way to build muscle. The more muscle your body has, the higher your metabolism. The higher your metabolism, the more fat and calories you'll burn every moment of the day, even while you sleep.
Three days a week of resistance training is enough to build lean muscle, with a day off in between workouts to recover. A full-body workout should include one exercise each for your chest, back, shoulders, and legs. Two sets of 20 repetitions of each exercise will build lean muscle without adding bulk, which is ideal for the short-term goal of getting rid of belly fat. You may wish to hire a personal trainer to teach you exercises for each body part, or you can try a resistance training course at a gym or take Pilates classes. Your gym may even have a circuit training routine set up for you to easily follow along with. Circuit training uses several machines that hit all the body's major muscle groups. Your body will adapt to a routine in three to four weeks, so for a month-long goal of getting a flat stomach, the circuit works just fine.
Be sure to take five minutes to cool down after any resistance training workout. Walk in place and take deep, even breaths to lower your heart rate.
Tags: resistance training, your metabolism, build lean, build lean muscle, core training