Fat hanging around your sides, known as love handles, are neither lovable nor treatable with a few abdominal exercise. A wholistic approaching including diet and exercise must be applied to achieve the desired results – unloving your love handles so that these disappear. Just remember that love handles, as well as back fat, are among the toughest to lose so your patience and perseverance are a must for success.
Not Genetics
But why does fat accumulate in your back and sides? Back fat isn’t influenced by genetics, fortunately, but it’s one of the indicators of insufficient muscle mass, flawed workouts, and poor diet. These are within your control so there’s no reason not to get rid of your love handles when you change your ways, so to speak.
Getting rid of your love handles isn’t just for aesthetic reasons although it’s a common one. When your back doesn’t have as much muscle structure, you will be less likely to achieve and maintain overall body strength. Your risk for injuries can also increase, especially when you’re into bodybuilding.
Combine Moves
The best way to combat love handles in particular and back fat in general is to combine:
- Full-body moves with high levels of intensity and metabolic impact; and
- Body-part specific exercises
This is because your body will respond best when it’s both burning fat and building muscle in the specific problem area. You can, for example, adopt a cardio-body part split workout consisting of bench presses and bent-over lateral raise followed by cardio high-intensity interval training. Your personal trainer at Gold’s Gym can provide information about the best combination workout for your needs.
You should also work out 3 to 4 days a week. This will give your body time to rest and recover before you get back on the saddle, so to speak.
Watch Your Diet
Effective weight loss and muscle building requires the appropriate diet. Lean meats, such as lean pork and steak, fish, and chicken, as well as vegetables especially dark leafy greens are the best choices in a love handle-busting plan.
You should think of your nutrition as 80% of your overall fitness. So, the healthier your diet is, the fitter your body can be, and the faster you can get rid of your love handles. You must also be able to sustain your nutrition plan in the sense that even when your love handles are gone, your healthy diet remains.
There’s nothing wrong with loving your body whatever size and shape it may be. But when you have love handles, you will not be blamed for wanting to get rid of them.