Exercise for Getting Rid of Love Handles

Love handles form when your body stores energy as fat above your hips. To get rid of them you will need to burn this fat by doing exercise that uses a lot of calories. When you have an excessive amount of fat anywhere on your body, exercising that particular area with sit ups, bicep curls or squats will not help. These exercises are used to build muscle and enhance definition while getting rid of love handles requires simply burning off the fat.

Your main goal when trying to get rid of body fat stores such as the love handles is to burn as many calories as you can. Sit ups, crunches, and twists build muscle but they burn an insignificant amount of calories. Running or walking for even small distances will do a lot more than hundreds of sit ups or crunches if your body fat percentage is high: as is found in people who have love handles.

When trying to get rid of your love handles, you need to lower your body fat percentage. A calorie restricted diet combined with high intensity cardiovascular exercise (running, biking, swimming, tennis, basketball) will force your body to use its fat stores for energy. You will need to engage in some sort of cardio 3 - 5 times per week at 30 - 60 minutes per session in order to lose body fat. Remember that exercising more often and longer will yield quicker results.

After your cardio routine is on a solid foundation (meaning you're following it without skipping any days: 3-5 times per week) you need to start targeting your oblique and abdominal muscles to show definition. You can do this at the gym on machines or at home with your own body weight (sit ups, crunches, leg lifts, twists). Doing hundreds of sit ups everyday is wasteful so do not go overboard.

Remember that the main rule to getting rid of love handles (which are stores of fat) is giving your body less calories than it burns by eating less and exercising more. If your body burns 2,000 calories every day and you only give it 1,500 calories of food, it will be forced to use body fat stores to get those extra 500 calories.

If your exercise routine is good but you go home to a bad diet, your results will be significantly delayed. The quickest way to get rid of love handles is through a combination of diet and exercise, not just one of the two.

For more ways on getting rid of those love handles, visit the Guide to Getting Nice Abs and Six Packs and then share what worked for you at the cardiovascular exercise and weightlifting forums.