The most common question I receive as a personal trainer has to do with which exercises help you lose your stomach and love handles.

If you have read some of our previous work then you already know that you cannot spot-reduce your stomach and therefore no abdominal exercise or ab device can help you trim down abdominal fat. It just doesn't work that way.

Unfortunately, spot reduction is a myth that is used by the fitness industry (think infomercials) to sell products. You can do 1000 sit-ups a day and I promise you will not lose your stomach. In fact, there is an outside chance some of you will actually worsen the appearance of your midsection if you don't address the issue of tight hip flexors, a major problem often caused by doing excessive crunches without adequate stretching.

Any piece of equipment, and most books, that offer you six pack abs are fads, ineffective ploys to try to get consumers to buy, buy, buy. (Thankfully, there are some exceptions to this rule- one worth spending money on is Mike Geary's eBook, The Truth About Six Pack Abs.)

I do admit, and I have acknowledged in previous articles, that there are workouts such as the vacuum and other breathing exercises that can improve the appearance of your stomach. And crunches, if done properly, can provide an effective ab workout. But they are surely not the most efficient way of training the abdominals... and I am all about efficiency.

So what's the most effective andefficient way to lose body fat and gain a six-pack? Well, the answer has little to do with abs.

Let's begin with four major pieces in the fitness puzzle. The first piece is what Napoleon Hill called a PMA, or positive mental attitude. Look at this endeavor as a way to learn about your body and take care of yourself so that you can look and feel your best starting this very moment. The next three pieces of the puzzle can be grouped together: proper nutrition, proper strength training, and proper energy systems work. I prefer the term "energy systems work" over cardiovascular exercise because I feel that most people have the wrong idea about what cardio is and how to do it.

I have outlined here the basics of these three puzzle pieces; you can find more detailed information on them in other articles on this site. As always, and before you begin any exercise program, please consult with a medical professional to make sure you are in good health.

Eating properly is not as complicated as people make it out to be. Oftentimes, industry leaders make the simplest things seem complicated by getting people caught up in minutia and I feel this is done intentionally to sell products. I do not want to be a part of this problem so I will sum up proper nutrition as easily as possible:

• Eat three to five times daily. Do what works best for you based on your schedule and how you feel. Don't believe it when someone says you MUST eat a certain amount of meals each day. Do try and eat at least three times daily and make sure you eat breakfast within one hour of waking
• Eat as naturally as possible. If it comes from the earth and doesn't have any added ingredients, then go for it. Some foods, such as coconut oil and whole eggs, are unfairly considered unhealthy because of their fat content. I beg to differ. You will be much healthier eating an apple and some cheddar cheese than you would reaching for fat free chips, regardless of the total calories
• Drink 1/2 your bodyweight in ounces of water every day (for example, a 200-pound person should drink 100 ounces of water per day)

How simple is that? Please do not complicate things. Start with this outline and adjust from here based on how you feel and how you progress towards your goals. As for proper strength training:

• Lift weights for 20 minutes three times a week if you are a beginner and slowly progress to 40-60 minute sessions over time
• Perform exercises that work the entire body and/or large muscle groups. Examples of these exercises- such as pushups, squats, lunges, and rows- are readily available on this site so please look around. Remember you are on a journey and are seeking knowledge, have fun with it
• If you get tired before your designated workout time ends or if you have extra time you would like to spend exercising, switch to easier exercises such as curls, triceps extensions, and crunches. You can even walk it out on the treadmill if that is all you have the energy for. Just remember, if your goal was to work out for an hour, make sure you work out for an hour

And now, some info on energy systems (ES) work:

• Perform ES work for 20-30 minutes three times a week, gradually working up to five times a week over time
• Begin with traditional cardio and choose an activity or exercise you enjoy
• As your fitness progresses switch to interval training because it is more effective at increasing cardiovascular health, and also at burning fat. It is also much more time effective. To perform interval work simply alternate periods of high intensity work with periods of low intensity work. An example of this, for someone whose initial form of cardio was walking, would be to walk for 60 seconds, and then jog for 30 seconds, repeating the cycle as many times as necessary to complete your predetermined workout time. For those whose initial form of cardio was jogging, but who wanted to switch to interval training, they would simply jog for 60 seconds then sprint for 30 seconds

And there it is: a simple fitness plan laid out for you in one mental change (a positive mental attitude) and nine bullet points. I purposefully did not make this layout specific to getting a six pack because I often find that what people who ask this question really need is a better map to health, so that they can first attain peak mental and physical condition. Once there, they can start applying a more specific approach.

Your map to health is right in front of you. Start following it today.