Help Me Lose the
Lovehandles!!
This week I received an email titled, "LOVE-HANDLES!! Help me lose them." I
have been working on a routine that incorporates exercises that will help you
work your love handles (the oblique region of the torso). Personally, I like to
work my "obliques" on days I work my legs, so I created the Legs and Love
Handles workout seen below. As with any abdominal exercise, you need to
concentrate on three areas to help firm your mid-section. These are:
1) Healthy
Diet,
2) Cardio-vascular and resistance training, and
(arrangement of workouts too will help burn fat)
3) Abdominal
exercises to firm muscles UNDER the fat.
The number one item if you will notice is food intake. As
with any fitness and health goal - nutrition and exercise are always the main
ingredients to success. Neither can be missing or you will not have the energy
to exercise or you will be part of the yo-yo diet crowd, buying a new diet book
every year. Here is how I would break it down to get rid of those "love
handles":
*note - There are no
isolation exercise that will spot reduce fat from your body. Fat
comes off the body through healthy diet, cardiovascular activity, and water
consumption together. The abdominal routines / resistance workouts
below will help you firm the muscles under fat
#1 Healthy Diet
The most important factor in
acquiring abs is eating a healthy diet. Here is a list of recommended
healthy ways to help you lose a few inches:
Drink at least three liters
of water per day (100 oz)
Eat five servings of vegetables and fruits per day
Eliminate fried foods
Eliminate processed sugar (for example:
sodas, cookies, candy)
Eliminate fatty red meat - only lean red meats (1-2
times weekly)
Diets like the Atkins and other high protein diets may
help at first, but to get rid of that last 10-15 pounds, it is recommended to
lower calories to a range of 1500-2000 calories a day BUT you must make exercise
a habit - both with abdominal exercises and cardio work.
#2)
Cardio-vascular exercise - For your health as well as a
fat burner!
Losing love handles and increasing the
metabolism so you can lose weight more effectively are all tied into a
consistent cardiovascular / resistance training program. You should do 30-45
minutes of activities like walking, running, biking, or swimming daily 4-5 times
per week, but also mix in 2-3 times a week of basic calisthenics like pushups,
pull-ups, bench dips, squats and lunges. It takes a few weeks before you start
to see the physical benefits or your diet and exercise program. You will see
almost immediate results in your energy level, overall mental alertness when
exercising daily. The sample routine below will help you better organize
exercise into your week:
Monday & Thursday
Upperbody
Program
Warmup 5:00 / stretch
Repeat 5-10 times
Pushups -
10-20
Regular Crunches - 20
Bench dips - 10-20
Reverse Crunches -
20
Pullups - max reps
Hanging Knee up
Stretch abs/lowerback
Cardio option 20-30:00
Run, bike, walk, swim etc
Tuesday
& Friday
Legs and Love Handles
Repeat 4-5 times
Walk, bike
or jog 5:00
Stretch legs
Squats - 20
Lunges 10 / leg
Left crunches -
25
Right crunches - 25
Hip rollers - 10/side
Stretch abs /
lowerback
Cooldown walk or bike
5:00 / stretch
Wednesday
LONG Cardio
Day
45-60 minutes of walking, running or combination of the two
Or biking,
swimming, elliptical gliding machines
#3) Ab Workouts - Below are some abdominal exercises
taken from every eBook sold on the
StewSmith.com Fitness ebook Store.
For
pictures of other exercises, see the
Washboard abs
article. Sample abdominal exercises are
the following:
Advanced Crunches - (Bicycles - Legs up)
- Lie on your back with
your feet 6" off the ground. alternate bending your knees as you were riding a
bicycle and touch opposite elbows to your knees. (Do not do if you have previous
lower back injury - place feet on the floor.)
Reverse
Crunch - In the same position as the regular crunch, lift your knees and
butt toward your elbows. Leave your head and upper body flat on the ground. Only
move your legs and butt. (Do not do if you have previous lower back injury)
Left Elbow to Right Knee - Cross your
left leg over your right leg. Flex your stomach and twist to bring your right
elbow to your left knee. Same as below pic just opposite:
Right Elbow to Left Knee - Same as above just switch
sides. Cross your right leg over your leg. Flex your stomach and twist to bring
your left elbow to your right knee.
There are many other ab exercises to add variety in the eBooks and books...
*note - Anytime you work your abs, you should also
exercise your lower back to build balance in your torso.
see
Lower Back Plan
If you are into the aesthetics (looking good) fitness side of health and nutrition - you may
find the following source to be helpful:
The Love Handle Cure Program
Thanks for the e-mails. Keep them coming at
stew@stewsmith.com.
