Getting six pack abs can be a challenge. Many people spend hours a week on the treadmill yet have little to show for it. If that’s you, then these tips can help you turbocharge your workout, burn off that abdominal fat, and actually spend less time at the gym.

The number one mistake people make when doing aerobic exercise is working out at a steady state. Often, people start running on a treadmill or exercising on an elliptical trainer for 20-30 minutes. When they get no results, they simply crank up the difficulty level on the treadmill or they extend the length of their aerobic workout.

Yet if you work out at a constant pace, you will often find that even after going 60 minutes a day, 6 days a week, your abdominal fat just won’t burn off.

The problem is that when we exercise at a steady state, our bodies adjust to the level of difficulty, and any fat burning is minimized. In order to increase the rate of fat loss, you need to mix up your aerobic routine and continually keep your body guessing.

To do this, try interspersing periods of high intensity exercise with periods of lower intensity exercise. You can run (or work out on the the elliptical trainer) for 1 minute at a low intensity and then go all-out for 30 seconds. Repeat this cycle 5-7 times and include 5 minutes to warm up and 5 more minutes to cool down.

The whole routine should take you 20 minutes or less, and you really only need to do it for 2-3 days a week. As always, make sure you warm up properly beforehand, and check with your doctor before you start the program – especially if you have any history of heart problems.

In addition to this aerobic exercise, add resistance training (weight lifting) for an even bigger metabolic boost. I recommend looking into slow lifting. There is an excellent book on the subject titled The Slow Burn Fitness Revolution, by Frederick Hahn and Michael and Mary Dan Eades. In this book, they describe how you can work out for 30 minutes a week and see incredible results, both in terms of muscle gain and weight loss.

The combination of variable rate aerobic exercise and slow lifting can yield great results. You can burn fat faster than ever before, build muscle, get ripped abs, and look great – all while spending only a couple hours a week at the gym.

We all know that metabolism refers to the way our body uses the calories from the food we eat and breaks them into energy. Probably, you may also know that our metabolic rate decreases with age at about 5-10 percent every decade. However, do you know that you can keep your metabolism at optimal levels for several decades? By keeping your metabolism at an optimal level, you will be able to burn fat faster and obtain a leaner body.

Here are 6 proven steps to get you started.

1. Interval Training

Your metabolism usually returns to its normal state soon after a moderate aerobic workout. To help your body burn more calories long after your workout, you can add interval training to your routine. Interval training is where you add bursts of high intensity moves into your workout. For example, if your current routine is jogging, add a 30 seconds sprint every 5 minutes. If you are on the treadmill, add 1 minute incline every 5 minutes. Research has shown that high intensity interval training burns more fats compared to consistent aerobic exercise.

2. Have Your Breakfast

To succeed in weight loss, you need to eat your breakfast. Studies show that your metabolic rate slows as you sleep and the process of digestion can rev it up again. Again, remember that if your metabolic rate is high, you have a better chance against the fats. Of course, you should have a healthy and balanced breakfast while you are at it.

3. Lift Weights

Believe it or not, weight training can help burn your calories fast. This is because an increase in muscle tissue causes a corresponding increase in our metabolic rate. Adding weight training to your cardio routine will boost your metabolism as a result of muscle growth.

4.Drink Water

Drinking water can help increase your body calories burning capability. When your body is dehydrated, your body’s ability to burn calories decrease by 2 percent each day. One study even found that metabolic rate can increase by 30 percent after drinking half a litre of water.

5. Keep That Body Moving

If you are able to, divide your workout into 2 20-minute sessions. Your metabolism will probably rev up for an hour after each workout. This means that you will burn more calories than if you had just one session. If your schedule does not allow, go for 5 minutes of activity instead such as climbing stairs or brisk walking. A 5-minute walk every hour can mean an extra 200 calories burned each day.

6. Get Enough Sleep

Without getting enough sleep, your body may lack the energy to do its normal everyday functions and this includes calories burning. In addition, many people who lose sleep may feel hungry despite having enough food intake. This could be due to the fact that sleep loss has been shown to affect the release of cortisol, a hormone that regulates appetite. So if you can, get 6 to 8 hours of sleep every night.

As you can see, these 6 steps are not difficult to implement. Apply them in your daily life and you can expect more energy and a more beautiful body in you.