Exercises to Lose Love Handles

Are there exercises to lose love handles? This is a common question from those who struggle with that little bit of extra belly fat on the sides of their waist.

You have probably seen people in the gym doing all kinds of bending and twisting exercises with or without heavy weights. These exercises do one thing and one thing only.

All of these twists and bends build the external obliques. These are two wide and flat muscles that wrap around and in front of the abdominal area. The external obliques stabilize the trunk by providing resistance to rotational movement and stress.

Because of their downward and diagonal orientation, when one side contracts the other causes the trunk to twist and bend to the side. This is rotation and lateral spinal flexion. Obviously, if the external obliques on both sides contract simultaneously, the torso bends straight forward. This is called spinal flexion.

So, which of these bending and twisting movements are exercises to lose love handles? Sadly, none of them. Your love handles are composed of excessive belly fat. Building your external obliques will not cause you to lose any fat.

In fact, you might even increase the size of your love handles if you don’t first lose some fat. The increased bulk of the external obliques will cause a bulge under the excess belly fat.

But there are some exercises to lose love handles that might surprise you. If you will set aside your twisting and bending thoughts these are the real deal when it comes to losing your love handles.

• Run/Jog/Walk. You will lose your love handles by creating a calorie deficit. These three aerobic exercises at the best and most popular ways of doing this for most people. You should do a minimum of 3-5 sessions for at least 30 minutes.

• Push-ups. This is a great bodyweight exercise that works many of your major muscle groups. There are many variations of push-ups depending on your fitness level. If you’re just beginning you can do them with your knees on the floor.

  Why is this one of the exercises to lose love handles? Because push-ups build muscle and muscle burns calories that reduces belly fat. Another benefit of push-ups is that you will strengthen your core. As you lose belly fat a stronger core will give you a great lean look.

• Squats/Lunges. These are both great exercises for building muscle in the lower body. This is where your largest muscles are found. They are often overlooked but if you will build these muscles you can become a fat-burning machine.

These exercises will help lay the foundation for a program to lose excess body fat and get rid of those love handles. You can’t spot reduce love handles but you can slowly melt them away if you will eat well, do aerobic exercise, and perform regular strength training exercises.