How to get six-pack abs for guys or that flat stomach for women

If you haven't read my previous blog post "How to exercise...and Burn the Belly Fat as Well", I suggest you do so now.

It is a myth that a person can reduce fat in a specific area of the body. When the body burns fat, it takes it evenly throughout the fat stores of the whole body.

You cannot burn belly fat by doing a million abdominal exercises. There's a difference between strengthening the abdominal muscles and burning the layer of fat covering the abdominal muscles. You need to do both abdominal exercises as well as Cardio to get muscle and burn that layer of fat covering it, respectively, in order to show off the six-pack abs.

Ladies, if you're wondering "I just want a flat stomach, not a six-pack", don't worry. You would have to purposely do a LOT of abdominal exercises in order to have a woman's six-pack. Women are different from men, women don't gain muscle as easily as guys, so the following workout tips is useful for both genders.

The key to getting a six-pack or men and or flat stomach for ladies is to combine both Cardio to burn the fat and Abdominal exercises to build up the muscle to fill the void left by the fat.
Here is a website that shows a list of abdominal exercises you should be doing:

http://exercise.about.com/od/abs/ss/abexercises.htm

You can't rely on crunches or sit-ups alone. VARIETY is key to building the abdominal muscles. If you do a million sit-ups or crunches, your body will get used to that movement and you still stop gaining muscle in that region of the body. You need to do a variety of exercises so your body has to continually adapt. A typical abdominal workout session is about 300 or more repetitions. Do abdominal workouts on alternate days. So in one week, the least number of sessions you should be doing is 3 sessions, the most in one week is 4 sessions. You need that day of rest in-between so your abdominal muscle can grow.

The second factor in getting the six-pack or flat stomach is burning the layer of fat covering the ab muscles. This can only be achieved doing cardio. Use your imagination. As long as you are raising your heart rate, getting the blood pumping, and sweating, you are burning fat. Make sure these cardio sessions last more than 30 minutes. From a previous post, I said that cardio sessions lasting less than 30 minutes only burns up glycogen. Once the glycogen stores in your body are depleted, your body switches to fat-burning mode. I recommend at least an hour of cardio along with the abdominal exercises. If you have no idea what to do for cardio, here's a list:
Treadmill
Arc Trainer
Elliptical
Stairmaster
Jogging/Running on track or through the neighborhood
Martial arts, kickboxing, dance
Sports: Swimming, soccer, basketball, tennis, raquetball, the list goes on and on