The excess fat stored at the lower sides of your body are known as love handles or muffin tops. The irony is that nobody ‘loves’ their love handles as they are the hardest part of body fat to lose. It is important to understand you should never aim only for target removal of fat and instead focus on your entire body along with maintaining proper diet and sleeping patterns. Make sure that you do the following things in addition to the given exercises:
1) Eat clean:
It is necessary to change your diet when you want to lose body fat. Doing intensive exercises yet having bad dietary habits will give you no results as both diet and exercise are interlinked. Make sure you eat well balanced meals with good portion of greens, protein and smaller portions of carbs.
2) incorporate more of cardio workouts:
Cardio exercises focus on overall shedding of fat and are very essential if you want to get rid of that muffin top. Cardio along with weights and the given exercises will give you better results.
3) Manage stress and poor sleep cycles.
It is a well-known fact that lack of sleep and over stressing results in increased productions of cortisol- the stress hormone which in turn causes you to crave more of high fat and sugary food items. Continuous snacking on these food items will increase the amount of visceral fat in your body. Stress can be prevented by yoga, meditation etc.
5 exercises that will help you lose love handles –
Even though spot fat reduction isn’t really possible, if you follow the above advices and do these exercises you’ll be able to melt those stubborn love handles.
1) Russian twists
Lie down on a mat with your knees bent and your feet straight. Lift your body such that your torso and thighs are in a V shape. Keep your arms in front of you parallel to the ground and keep your abs constricted. Move your torso to the right along with your arms and repeat for the left side. Repeat these 40 times. (Using weights makes it even more effective)
2) Bicycle crunches
Lie on your back with your knees bent and your hands behind your head. Make sure your hands don’t clasp and support your head well. Lift your shoulders and while engaging your abs touch your right elbow to your left knee and then the left elbow to the right knee. Continue this as quick as possible while simultaneously keeping your torso raised. Repeat this exercise 30 times.
3) Side plank hip lifts
Start with a side plank position with your shoulder over your elbow and body in a straight line. Bring your hip down without touching the ground and then raise it again to the plank position. Repeat this for 15 times and then switch sides.
4) Knee drops
Lie flat on the ground with your knees held at a 90-degree angle and arms spread beside you. With your back pressed to the floor move your knees to the side until the lower leg is about to touch the floor. Lift your legs back up while maintaining the angle and sway to the other side. Repeat this 30 times
5) Jumping obliques
Stand with your feet together. Bring your arms to shoulder level and hold them in front of you. Jump up by rotating your legs to the right and left side while moving your hands alternately. If you jump to the right, you should move your hands to the left side. Continue doing this for 1 min.