Flat Belly Shortcuts on NBC’s Today

I often watch the Today show while I eat breakfast, and this morning I happened to catch a brief spot on shortcuts to flatten your stomach. If you feel like you’re already doing all the right things but don’t have the results you want, try these simple strategies to ramp up your results.

If you already walk, walk faster. Simply picking up the pace can burn 25% more calories. If walking faster for your full 30 minutes is too daunting, try 2 minute intervals of more brisk walking, alternating with 2 minutes of your normal pace.

Advanced plank pose. For beginner plank, keep both feet on the floor.

If you already do crunches, do your crunches on a balance ball. Using an exercise ball engages 40% more of your upper abs and 47% more of your side abs. To engage your inner abdominal muscles, do plank pose and hold it for 30-60 seconds.

If you already do cardio, add strength training. Don’t substitute, you need to add a 30-minute total body strength training workout two to three per week to the cardio you’re already doing. A study showed that individuals who did both intense cardiovascular exercise AND total body strength training lost twice the body fat and four times the belly fat compared to those who just did cardio. And remember that the more muscle mass you have, the more calories your body burns even while you’re just sitting in front of the computer.

If you already strength train, lift weights while standing on one foot, a wobble board or an inflatable disk. By forcing your body to focus on balancing, this will engage more core muscles without you really even noticing.

I liked the ideas in this related article as well, http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/33916015.