Cara Kempf is a certified personal trainer with the Fitness Zone in Carmel and a group fitness instructor with NIFS in downtown Indianapolis. She can be contacted at fitnessblog@theindychannel.com.

"Right now I'm trying to build muscle mass. I lift weights five to six days a week. I am also doing a variety of exercises for my abs. I am trying desperately to eliminate my belly fat. I don't have a lot, but it's enough to hide my abs. My question is this: Can I do cardio to eliminate this fat without hindering my efforts to put on muscle mass?" -- Mark

Mark, you are on the right track to losing that belly with cardio and ab exercises. As for the answer to your question, you can do as much cardio as you want and your muscle mass should not diminish. When you do cardiovascular exercise, you are burning predominately fat weight. What the cardio will do, in terms of supplementation to your weight training program, is eliminate the fat surrounding the muscle that you are building.

So, what will happen is that you will begin to really see the muscle that you've worked so hard to train (that's where the word "cut" comes in). Your body may seem a little smaller on the whole because you have lost the layer of fat on top of the muscle, but you will be happier with the results (and you can just continue to build those muscles even more!).

The main reason women do not like to lift weights is that they feel their bodies will become bulky. Well, in a sense that's true. If you are not supplementing with cardio, you build your muscles up under the fat (although some of the fat will turn into muscle), so now you have a couple of layers, and seemingly bigger arms and legs. You MUST do BOTH weight-lifting and cardio to get the results you want.

In addition to your cardio, you also need to maintain a strict and healthy diet. Especially if you are trying to build muscle while reducing fat, I personally feel you need to eat lots of protein, veggies, fruits, minimal "good" whole grain carbs, and healthy fat. You don't want to eliminate good fat from your diet (like the kind that comes in peanut butter, avocados, olive oil, etc.) because your body actually needs it. Without the right diet, you may risk having your body fall into starvation mode and burn that hard-earned muscle. Abs are the most difficult to define. For you, Mark, that last stretch will be lots of cardio and DIET -- no more processed foods and sugar and all that good stuff. Strength training, lots of cardio, AND a great diet will help you get rid of that belly! And don't forget to stretch!