Way to go! You’re now on to the exercises to get rid of love handles.
You’ve been struggling to get rid of those stubborn love handles.
You’ve tried countless workouts, but they either require awkward floor exercises or simply don’t target the right muscles.
It feels like no matter what you do, you’re stuck with love handles that make you feel less than your best.
It’s disheartening, isn’t it?
You’ve done crunches until your abs ache, sweated it out with cardio, but those love handles refuse to budge.
You’ve even attempted those floor exercises, despite the discomfort and the pain, only to see little to no improvement.
It’s draining and demotivating, making you question if you’ll ever get that dream body.
This game-changing love handles workout routine is specially designed to target your love handles.
What’s unique about this workout?
No more uncomfortable floor exercises!
No joke!
All the exercises are standing only, aimed at making your workout routine as comfortable and easy as possible.
These stand-up exercises focus on engaging your oblique muscles, making them stronger, tighter, and more cinched in.
Combine them with Koboko Fitness belly fat workouts, and you’re on your way to achieving the dream body you’ve always wanted and totally deserve.
Exercises to Get Rid of Love Handles: Who this Workout is For
This love handles workout is perfect for the woman that is looking to tone and sculpt the waistline.
If the goal is to target excess fat around the waist / oblique muscles, you’ve got the right workout right here.
Although anyone can benefit from incorporating love handles workouts into their fitness routine, this workout is specifically designed for addressing love handles.
This workout also works particularly well when combined with a belly fat workout.
Exercises to Get Rid of Love Handles: How this Workout Works
This workout burns fat stored in the love handles area by combining the best, and most effective standing exercises only. By removing the need to go on the floor, your body is forced to burn more calories and fat with much less effort.
In addition, the exercises in this workout were specially selected by a Certified Personal Trainer and designed to target and strengthen the deep core and oblique muscles to give your waist a tighter, more toned appearance.
When paired with a healthy, balanced approach to eating, this love handles workout is excellent for reducing fat and achieving a slimmer midsection.
Exercises in this Workout for Love Handles
Exercises to Get Rid of Love Handles Exercise 1: wide knee to elbows
Want to avoid doing wide knee to elbows incorrectly? Try this Premium workout video. It’s free for 14 days.
Quick tips to do wide knee to elbows correctly.
- This is an exercise I sometimes jokingly call “hubba hubba” 😂. Keep this is mind and you will find it surprisingly easy to do the exercise with great form!
- Keep your arms in the active position throughout the exercise. You want a straight line from elbow to shoulder
- Use your breath as a tool for stability. Inhale deeply before initiating the movement, and as you exhale, engage your core and feel the power transferring from your center to your limbs.
- Start with a slower pace and focus on maintaining proper form. As you become more comfortable and confident, you can gradually increase the speed and intensity of the movement.
Exercises to Get Rid of Love Handles Exercise 2: hop clap
Want to avoid doing hop clap incorrectly? Try this Premium workout video. So you can be confident you’re not wasting any time. Try it free for 14 days.
Quick tips to do hop clap correctly.
- Stand with your feet hip-width apart and your knees slightly bent. Keep your weight evenly distributed on both feet and engage your core muscles
- Bend your knees and use your leg muscles to jump up and off the ground
- As you jump, bring your arms up to chest height As you reach the peak of your jump, clap your hands together gently. Keep your fingers relaxed and slightly spread apart
- As you land, bend your knees to absorb the impact and then immediately jump again to perform another hop clap. Keep your movements fluid and rhythmic
Exercises to Get Rid of Love Handles Exercise 3: standing 3d crunch
Want to avoid doing standing 3d crunch incorrectly? Try this Premium workout video. So you can be confident you’re not wasting any time. Try it free for 14 days.
Quick tips to do standing 3d crunch correctly.
- Use your elbows as a guidepost for each 3D crunch.
- Keep your elbow at around shoulder level (or lower) depending on your starting point of flexibility.
- Play with the depth of your crunch, gradually increasing the range of motion as you become more comfortable and stronger in the exercise.
- Move slow and steady to really feel the burn. You can also add a pulse at the end of each crunch to add an extra challenge and intensify the effect of the exercise.
Exercises to Get Rid of Love Handles Exercise 4: burpee with low impact modification
Want to avoid doing burpee with low impact modification incorrectly? Try this Premium workout video. It’s free for 14 days.
Quick tips to do burpee with low impact modification correctly.
- Keeping your back straight and your head up when doing burpees
- Do the low impact modification if you need to!
- Start with a low number of repetitions, and gradually work your way up
- Focus on keeping your core engaged while doing burpees
- Use your legs, core, and booty to power this movement (not your upper body)
- Be intentional about using your arms to support your body as you approach the ground
Exercises to Get Rid of Love Handles Exercise 5: toe touches
Want to avoid doing toe touches incorrectly? Try this Premium workout video. And be confident you’re not wasting any time. Try it free for 14 days.
Quick tips to do toe touches correctly.
- If this is your first time doing toe touches, do the gentler modification. Here we are touching the knee instead of the toes
- Once you are more comfortable and advanced, try the more intense version where you are touching your toes
- Make it a regular habit to stretch the back of your thighs to make this exercise easier 👌
- Focus on the sensation of your abdominal muscles working as you reach towards your toes (or knees)
- Aim to touch your toes with your fingertips, but if you can’t reach them, focus on reaching as far as your flexibility allows without straining your neck or compromising your form.
- Avoid straining your neck or pulling on it with your hands. Instead, focus on lifting from your core and maintaining a neutral neck position.
3 Exercises to Get Rid of Love Handles Tips & Advice
Try Mindful Eating
Practicing mindful eating can help reduce love handles.
Eating mindfully just means eating slowly and with intention.
This was (still is) a hard one for me personally but I try my best each meal.
In the beginning of my mindful eating journey, I actually had to set a timer to force myself to chew more. 😅
Some people recommend chewing each bite 30 times before swallowing.
It’s definitely a worthy goal to aspire to when eating more mindfully.
By eating mindfully, it is easier to pay attention to hunger and fullness cues. It also helps us to pay attention to the emotions driving us to eat particular foods.
This way, we make conscious choices about the food we eat. Instead of automatic, subconscious ones.
Do 30 Minutes of Structured Exercise
Do your best to get in at least 30 minutes of structured exercise everyday (except your rest days).
This can be anything from belly fat workouts to love handles workouts.
The main thing is to have a dedicated 30 minutes to structured exercise.
In addition to this, if you have time, incorporate other forms of movement into your day like walking, stretching, cycling or swimming.
Although any movement is better than no movement at all, 30 minutes of dedicated time for a structured workout is the gold standard for maintaining consistency.
And consistency is the King, Queen, Bishop, and Jury when it comes to losing love handles (or any kind of fat).
We have to stay consistent with our workouts to see results.
Skip These Types of Carbs
Refined carbohydrates include white bread, white pasta, hard candy, gas station food, grocery store donuts, and more.
These foods contribute to weight gain and storage of fat as love handles.
Instead, of these foods, it’s best to choose whole grains such as brown rice, quinoa, and whole wheat bread.
These whole grain foods provide more fiber, nutrients, and support the body in losing love handles.
Exercises to Get Rid of Love Handles Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
What body type gets love handles?
There are two body types that are most likely to develop love handles.
They are the body types known as the “apple” and “pear” shapes.
These are the two body types that are highly pre-disposed to storing fat in the waist, hips, and thighs.
That being said, body type is a TINY factor when it comes to love handles. Factors with much more impact and significance are diet, exercise, genetics, hormones, and sleep.
If any of these significant factors are overlooked, *any* body type can (and does) develop love handles.
Some examples:
- In addition to body type/shape, some people have a genetic predisposition to store fat in their belly area. Such people tend to also easily develop love handles.
- Elevated cortisol is a very common hormonal imbalance. This imbalance can cause increased fat storage around the waistline = love handles.
- Consuming a lot of simple processed sugars (like soda or sweetened lemonade) also help to boost fat storage in the love handle area.
My advice: don’t worry too much about body shape / type.
Your natural shape is exactly the right shape that was perfectly meant for you.
How do I know if I have love handles?
Good news! If you’re not sure if you have love handles, then most likely you don’t have them.
But if you want to be SUPER sure, put on a fitted bodysuit and look in the mirror.
If there are 2 or more bumps on the sides of the bodysuit, then you probably have love handles.
If there are no bumps then you don’t have love handles.
Please don’t pinch your waist to do this test. Let’s leave that for the ladies in stock photos.
Are there any specific diet tips or nutritional recommendations that can help in getting rid of love handles?
Yes, there are specific diet tips and nutritional recommendations that can help in getting rid of love handles.
Love handles, also known as excess fat around the waistline, can be stubborn to get rid of, but with the right diet and nutrition, it is possible to reduce their appearance.
1. Correct Nutrition Goals
The first thing to look at is your nutrition goals.
Why?
Because the way to eat to lose love handles is totally different from the way to eat to grow a booty.
I see WAY too many women trying to lose love handles and GROW a booty at the same time.
Let’s not do that this year 😊
This year, let’s eat according to our goals.
The next tip follows from here.
2. Calorie Deficit Goal
To lose love handles, the correct nutrition goal is to create a calorie deficit.
A calorie deficit means consuming fewer calories than your body needs to maintain its current weight.
The amount of this deficit (200 calories? 300? 500?) is totally and completely up to you.
To achieve a calorie deficit, you can reduce portion sizes, choose unprocessed foods, and avoid drinking calories (soda, lemonade, etc.)
📝 Please don’t assume that a bigger calorie deficit is automatically better.
Some people make progress faster by following a more conservative deficit goal.
Experiment with different goals and follow the deficit that works for you!
I’m a moderate deficit girlie myself. I can’t do the whole huge calorie deficit thing. I like food too much for that 😂
3. Stay hydrated
Drinking enough water is essential for overall health and keeping love handles away.
Water helps in digestion, keeps you feeling full, aids in the removal of waste from the body, and boosts post-exercise recovery.
Most adults should aim to drink at least 8 cups (64 ounces) of water per day.
You can even boost the effectiveness of your water intake by adding electrolytes.
How fast do love handles go away?
Give yourself a minimum of 4 weeks to start to see visible reduction in love handles.
The love handles will go away with a consistent regimen of healthy eating and daily exercise.
For some people, the appearance of love handles may start to reduce quicker than 4 weeks. For others, it may take longer.
The key is to eat healthy, workout, and patiently watch the changes happen. Personally, I don’t recommend hyper-focusing on love handles.
It is much better to focus on the following:
- – Are you eating responsibly? (not too much, not too little)
- – Consistently exercising for at least 30 minutes daily?
- – Does your daily life have room for you to get up and move at least once every 40 minutes?
- – Do you have a handle on your sugar intake?
- – Is your sleep hitting 7.5 hours or more daily?
These are factors within your control that all contribute to losing love handles quickly.
I strongly recommend focusing on those factors. And loving your body – whatever stage or state it is in.
It’s not easy, but you can do it and Koboko Fitness is here to help you do just that.
How do you get rid of love handles?
Love handles, also known as excess fat around the waistline, can be stubborn and difficult to get rid of.
But it can be done.
Here’s how to get rid of love handles.
1. Workout
To get rid of love handles, you want to make sure you have a regular and consistent workout routine.
Ideally, your workout routine should include love handles workouts like the ones provided on this page.
This will stimulate your body to burn the excess fat stored around the waist.
2. Caloric deficit
To lose love handles, you need to create a caloric deficit. This means consuming fewer calories than your body requires.
This forces the body to use some of the fat currently stored as love handles for energy.
After hearing this, some women try to create a huge calorie deficit in hopes of getting faster results.
Usually, this approach backfires because it can throw some hormones off and create fat storage (instead of loss).
My preference as a Certified Personal Trainer is to stick with a small to moderate caloric deficit.
This tends to be a more sustainable and highly effective approach to reducing love handles.
3. Healthy eating:
This goes along with the previous point. It is much easier to create a caloric deficit while eating lightly processed (or unprocessed) foods.
I personally enjoy a few raw brazil nuts every morning 😃
I’m not even going to play you. They don’t taste anything like oreos but they feel good in my belly when I eat them.
They are also so satiating that I don’t crave more after eating just 3. I can’t say the same for oreos. haha
So – focus on unprocessed foods. They are less likely to trigger cravings and overeating the way highly engineered foods can.
4. Aim for 4 weeks
Here’s a secret I don’t want to share.
Love handles take at least 4 weeks to appear and become visible to the point that they bother us.
Given this fact, you should also give yourself at least 4 weeks of consistent exercise and healthy eating to start to notice visible changes.
This doesn’t mean the love handles will disappear in 4 weeks. It just means, don’t quit before 4 weeks is up.
It’s okay to “mess up” along the way. For example, missing one workout. Or eating oreos for breakfast one stressful day.
Those things are just a part of life. The key is to keep going and make yourself proud by being consistent 4 weeks – minimum.
Workout Options (Exercises to Get Rid of Love Handles)
There are two workout options for exercises to get rid of love handles in this post.
Regardless of the option you choose, please be sure to do a thorough warm up and cool down.
Here’s a good multi-purpose warm up that most people can easily do.
- 20 sec jumping jacks
- 20 sec squats
- 20 sec lunges
Do twice.
For your cool down, I recommend doing your favorite gentle streches for at least 5 minutes.
Exercises to Get Rid of Love Handles Workout Video (Option 1):
Do you want to try a follow along love handles workout?
Simply press play on the video below.
It’s only 10 minutes long. You’ll be done before you know it!
Workout Video: Love Handles Workout + 5 Tips || The *Truth*
Exercises to Get Rid of Love Handles (Option 2):
Do you want to try a self-paced exercises to get rid of love handles workout?
I have you covered.
Follow the workout outline below.
Exercises to Get Rid of Love Handles: Workout Outline
⏩⏩ swipe right to see the next move
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wide knee to elbows -
hop clap -
standing 3d crunch -
burpee with low impact modification -
toe touches
Disclaimer: This or any other exercise program may result in injury. Always consult your doctor / physician before beginning this or any other workout or exercise program. By performing any of the exercises in this program or on this site, you agree to the full disclaimer and assume ALL risks of injury from doing so. Koboko Fitness is NOT responsible or liable for any injury or loss you may sustain by participating in this workout or any exercise program. Read the full disclaimer here before you begin.
Workout Instructions (1/2)
Do each exercise for 30 seconds. Take a 10 second break between each exercise.
- wide knee to elbows
- hop clap
- standing 3d crunch
- burpee with low impact modification
- toe touches
Workout Instructions (2/2)
Once you complete all the exercises above as explained, take a 1 minute break, then repeat the exercises as follows
- toe touches
- burpee with low impact modification
- standing 3d crunch
- hop clap
- wide knee to elbows
Once you complete this second round, congratulations! Your exercises to get rid of love handles workout is complete!
Want another workout? Try this love handles workout.
A few things to note:
- Whenever there are 2 exercises shown side by side, one is a lower impact modification. Always go with the lower impact version if you are a beginner or have not exercised in a long time.
- If I show an exercise that you do one leg (or arm) at a time, do the leg (or arm) shown for 15 seconds. Then do your other leg (or arm) for the remaining 15 seconds.
It’s easier for me to show you how to do it with just one arm or leg in this post. But if you’re doing my full-length follow along Premium workout videos, I always show both sides of every exercise.
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Exercises to Get Rid of Love Handles – Printable
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