If you're tired of seeing your nasty burgeoning belly hanging from your ?fitted? pants, then it's time to bust a move and lose those love handles! The secret to an effective love handles workout are actually two things: cardio exercises and weight-training regimens. Below is a detailed, step-by-step manual for you to attain the flat abs you have been dreaming of!
Start with cardio. Burn your fat by doing cardio exercises for 60 minutes per session, for four to five times a week. This jumpstarts your metabolism, so you can burn more fat around your abdominal area, and your whole body as well. Love handles generally emerge when women reach 20 body fat. Good cardio workouts focused on your abdominal region are belly dancing (300 calories per hour), Cardio Kickboxing (615 calories per hour), Mountain biking (520 calories per hour), Race walking (400 calories per hour), and Rowing (430 calories per hour.) Additionally, these workouts work miracles on your rectus abdominis and oblique areas.
Then, you could jump to a love handles workout set which aims to sculpt and tone your waist area. For beginners, do the following exercises at 8 to 15 reps per set, for 1-3 sets each. Do these for 2-3 times a week.
The Sweep. Stand straight with your feet wide apart. Bend your knees for a few inches, bend your elbows up and in front of you so they are at waist level. Both of your palms should be facing the right. Contract your abs tightly, twist to the right and reach your arms far across your body. Turn your palms left and sweep to the same direction. Alternate.
The Basic Twist. Sit up straight on the edge of a chair. Make sure your toes are on the floor with your heels lifted. Bend your elbows, put your hands behind your head. Don't interlace your fingers. Contract your abs inward while leaning a few inches away from your hips. Twist right and left from the waist.
Side Bridge. Lie on your right side. Make sure your knees are bent slightly in front of your body, while your feet are tucked behind you. Bent your left elbow, resting your forearm on the ground so that your left arm is in front of you. Put your right palm on your chest to give you balance and support. Contract your abs, lift your hips and trunk off the floor. Hold it for 20 seconds, while focusing on allowing your abs to do all the work. Remember to keep your lower back, neck, and shoulders relaxed. Slowly lower to starting position, and rest briefly. Do twice before performing this love handles workout on the other side.
Finding the right love handles exercise in combination with an improved diet will be the only way that you will lose the fat around this area of the body. If you perform exercises regularly that focus on the oblique muscles (the muscles beneath the love handles), they will tone and become firm, but it will still be necessary for you to burn the existing fat. And that can only be done by spending those excess calories that the body stored there.
When it comes to exercising in order to help tone and firm up the muscles around the stomach so that you eliminate the love handles you now have, I suggest doing between 2 and 5 abdominal exercises at least two times a week. Doing this will help to train the muscles and which will improve the appearance of your stomach and waist as you lose the fat.
When you have decided which love handles exercises you are going to be using, you need to recognize that the abdominals require more repetitions to get in shape as opposed to other body parts, such as the biceps (arms) and pectoral muscles (chest). Plus it is crucial that you initially do each exercise slowly and deliberately so that you will create the habit of having great form and also place more force on to the muscles as you exercise. As you become familiar with exercises you will want to vary the speed so that the body does not adapt to the exercise and hinder your progress. Below we look at just a couple of the kinds of exercises you may want to consider trying so you can get rid of those unwanted love handles.
1. Basic Crunch Exercise - This works on the wide flat muscle which runs from the breastbone down to the top of the pelvis and is referred to as the rectus abdominis. You need to lie on the floor with your feet apart (same width as your hips) with your your knees bent and your feet flat on the floor. Now cradle your head in your hands. I prefer to lace my fingers and make sure that your elbows are at least rounded slightly inwards or pointing toward the ceiling. Then tilt your chin just a fraction towards your chest and pull those abdominal muscles in. Now as you curl your head, neck and shoulders up and off the floor exhale through your mouth and remain at the top of this movement for a moment before slowly lowering yourself down once more to the floor. Remember to inhale as you do this part of the exercise.
2. Twist Crunch - This exercise is designed for improving the condition of the rectus abdominis muscle and also the external and internal oblique muscles that wrap around your waist. As with the basic crunch exercise lay on the floor, feet apart and hands behind your head. Then as you begin to raise your neck, head and shoulders off the floor, twist them and your body towards the left breathing out as you do this movement. Hold for several seconds before lowering yourself back down to the floor and breathing in. Now you need to repeat this exercise again but this time you twist your body to the right. When doing this particular love handle exercise make sure that you are not just twisting your elbows but your neck, shoulders and head also. The only way you can really be able to tone and firm up the muscles that surround your waist and stomach is to concentrate as you do each exercise and make sure that you twist your body from the middle with this particular one.
Years ago I read quite a few books on bodybuilding and I'd like to pass this little exercise along to you that I learned from Franco Columbo, a well known bodybuilder in his day. I'm sure you've seen how bodybuilders strike a pose and you've probably seen a few guys who were not truly bodybuilders do the same. You know, how they show their biceps and at the same time pull their stomach muscles in to instantly appear like one of the "after" photos in a contest. Well the actual movement of drawing in those stomach muscles is an exercise that we can do anytime we think about it and it doesn't matter where we are. Of course I'm not recommending that you suck them in as far as you can, but only to a point that is comfortable to you. Over time this little exercise will strengthen those muscles and it will become increasingly more comfortable to maintain.
From now on begin to monitor your self talk. Everything you say to yourself is being recorded by your subconscious mind and is either working for you or against you. This is how your self image was created and it is continually being recreated everyday. If you are to be successful at achieving your desired physical condition, you will want your self talk on your side.
Also, make sure you are thinking positively. Self talk and thinking go hand in hand. I'm sure you've heard the old cliche that you can do anything you set your mind to. So set your mind on your desired result and think about how it will feel to be the you that you want to be. Be determined. Others have done it. Why not you? Why not now?
Both Tiffany Fitzroy & John Winaby are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Tiffany Fitzroy has sinced written about articles on various topics from Wedding Gowns, Health and Family. 99 that can Lose Love Handles? . Tiffany Fitzroy's top article generates over 74000 views. to your Favourites.
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