by Women's Health Magazine

Get a tight stomach in just six weeks without doing a single crunch. This may be the easiest workout we've ever printed.

Get ready to whip off your cover-up: This workout, created exclusively for Women's Health by Rachel Cosgrove, C.S.C.S., owner of Results Fitness in Newhall, California, combines fat-burning cardio with moves that target your entire core rather than individual muscles, so you'll burn more fat while toning up.

Directions

Do these moves three nonconsecutive days a week. Start with the Basic Workout to prime your muscles. After three weeks, you'll be ready to graduate to the Advanced Workout, on the flip side of each card. For maximum fat burning, perform the exercises as a circuit: Do one set of each move in the order shown, resting for 30 seconds between exercises. Then rest for a minute and repeat the circuit from the beginning.

Melt Your Middle

This cardio plan will speed up your slimdown.

Follow this interval-training program to fire up your metabolism and burn off the fat that's hiding your abs. Intervals are short bursts of maximum-intensity effort--you're doing it right if you can't carry on a conversation--separated by periods of easy-pace recovery. In an Australian study, women who cranked out high-intensity interval training three days a week for 15 weeks dropped significantly more weight than those who exercised for the same period of time at a lower intensity.

                        Max Effort        Easy pace         Reps

Week 1            1 minute           2 minutes          5
Week 2            1 minute           90 seconds       6
Week 3            1 minute           1 minute           8
Week 4            1 minute           1 minute           10
Week 5            75 seconds       1 minute           10
Week 6            90 seconds       1 minute           10

Do the above routine three times a week after you work your core--and always remember to include an easy 3- to 5-minute warmup and cooldown. You can run, bike, or use the cardio machine of your choice.

*Mouse over the image for caption.

More from Women's Health

- Stay on top of your game! Subscribe today for Women’s Health magazine
- Get Lean for Life with the Abs Diet for Women!
- Get Yourself Fit, Toned and Slim with the Women’s Health Fitness DVDs!

Join the discussion