When people talk about love handles, they are are talking about their stomach, oblique (side of stomach) and lower back area. Whether fat gathers here or elsewhere purely depends just on you and your genetics. Typically fat gathers there and particularly around the hips and thighs in women, to give extra protection to important organs. Unfortunately, we can not decide we do not want our fat stored there, so we have to do the best we can to reduce the weight in this area by watching what we eat and exercising.
If you are looking to tone up your love handle region specifically then below are some great exercises that you can do at home. These exercises concentrate on the abdominal muscles and the obliques. These will help you get rid of your love handles.
Seated russian twist- Sit on the floor with knees bent and feet together. Have you knees bent so your feet are flat on the floor. Put hands in front of your stomach and put them together. Lean back so there is a pull in your abdominal muscles. Rotate your whole upper body from left to right slowly.
Side plank – Lie on your side then lift your body off the ground, using your forearm that is nearest the ground. Keep your hips in line with the rest of your body and make sure they do not dip as this will not work your stomach muscles correctly. Hold each side for 30 seconds.
Slow bicycles – This exercises is like riding a bike but you are lying on your back. But your are doing this much slower. Place your hands behind your head like you would do when you are doing a sit-up. When your leg comes up to your stomach, reach over with your opposite elbow and feel the pull across your stomach. Repeat the opposite way.
These are great starting exercises and you should get the hang of these in no time at all. Then you can progress to doing exercises using swiss balls and resistance bands. Most gyms do core classes which will incorporate a lot of work on the stomach. You should also consider starting to look into doing free weights, as unlike resistance weights you need to use more of your core muscles to stabilize the weight.
Complete these exercises and you will see a more toned stomach in no time.
Learn more about love handle exercises. Stop by Jo Northwood’s site where you can find out all about reducing love handles and how it can work for you.