Working those love handles

THEY’RE neither loveable nor cuddly. In fact love handles are the bane of many women’s existence, remaining attached to the body sometimes even with the most strenuous of exercise programmes.

The problem with weight gain and loss is that the fat indiscriminately lodges wherever it wants, often depositing in the hardest areas to tackle with exercise.

There’s no miracle exercise for love handles, but proper dieting and high-intensity workouts should blast fat in all areas, including the troublesome handles that may appear on the sides, stomach, hips and thighs.

Gisel Harrow, personal trainer at Gymkhana, suggests a complete lifestyle change and proper dieting to get rid of love handles. According to Harrow, the following exercises, coupled with a healthy diet, can be done:

Mountain climbing

This metabolism-boosting move burns mega-calories and strengthens your core, hips and thighs.

Preparation: Place hands on floor, slightly wider than shoulder width. On forefeet, position one leg forward bent under body and extend other leg back.

Execution: While holding upper body in place, alternate leg positions by pushing hips up while immediately extending forward leg, and pulling rear leg forward under body, landing on both forefeet simultaneously.

Side bend

This exercise targets the oblique areas, which are where love handles appear at the sides.

Preparation: Grasp a dumbbell in one hand and place it next to your thigh. Keep feet close together. You have the option of placing your opposite hand behind your head or on your waist.

Execution: Bend your waist to the side opposite the dumbbell while exhaling. Repeat several times, but ensure that the dumbbell does not travel more than six inches up and down the side.

Hyperextensions

This exercise works the lower back as well as the mid and upper back.

Preparation: A Roman chair or the floor

Execution: Using a Roman chair to hold the feet down and hips up, slowly raise the torso up and down. Without equipment, this exercise can be done by lying face down on the floor and lifting the torso and arms together up off the floor.

Jumping jacks

This exercise is performed by jumping in position with the legs spread wide and the hands touching overhead. When the arms hit the sides, the jump is tightened and the abs as well as the sides are worked.

Oblique twists

Like the side bend, this exercise targets the love handles.

Preparation: Lie down on a mat.

Execution: Bring your upper body off the floor, lean slightly back and stretch your arms straight in front of you. Slightly crunching at your trunk, rotate your upper body to one side. Reverse the movement and rotate to the opposite side.