I have been dieting and exercising and running at night for about 4 months and my legs and upper body is were I want it, but my stomach is still very flabby probably because I have had 3 children. My last pregnancy I had twins by C-section and it is just disgusting. How do I get rid of it. I do crunchies, will it ever go away?

Many women have experienced the same thing as you. Pregnancy will stretch the skin and muscles of your abdominal area. It can take 12 to 16 months for the skin and muscles to return to their original state. However, if you experienced a greater amount of stretch marks the visual aspect of your abdominal area may not ever look quite the same. These stretch marks will fade over time. Applying lotions or creams that contain vitamin E will help these stretch marks fade faster.

From a training perspective you should look at performing at least 20 minutes of cardio work for a minimum of 3 times per week with your target or threshold heart rate at 60-80% of your age predicted maximum heart rate. You can push that up to 90% for a little more of a performance oriented workout if you would like :) You can work up to 60 minutes of cardio 4-5 times per week. To find out more about what this whole target heart rate thing just go to the home page of Fitrex.com and type in Heart Rate in the Search Section and scroll down to the article titled "Simple Guidelines for Effective Aerobic Training". Obviously, the more cardio you do the more calories you will burn. But, there is a limit to how much each individual can do. It is better to bring in other aspects of training such as strength training than to continue increasing your cardio work.

Ideally, you should sign up for the 3 Day Get Lean Program. Many quality studies (Journal of Applied Physiology) have been done that shows training with weights will increase your basal metabolic rate (the rate at which your body burns calories). While cardio training is awesome for overall health and for burning calories during the actual exercise session it does not significantly increase your metabolism spee. Weight training boosts your metabolism so you burn more calories even when you are sleeping! The Get Lean programs also have all the abdominal training exercises you will need to get that area in shape.

The combination of cardio work and strength training will provide you with the best overall exercise program to help reduce your bodyfat levels and bring your abdominal area back to it's original shape or better!

I also need to mention the need for a quality diet. Even with all the cardio and weight training work you will not be successful in getting your abs in shape unless you have a good diet. Check out this address to learn more about how to eat better!

http://www.fitrex.com/nutrition.shtml

Thank you very much for using Fitrex.com. We will continue doing everything we can for our members to provide the best workout information on the web!