Love handles sound like they’re some great, alluring body feature to spice up your most intimate times — but for many guys, the stubborn fat that sticks to their upper hips is something they’d rather not have hanging around.
You might have put on the weight after you settled in with a new partner, or maybe you’ve always carried a little extra heft around the hips. Your love handles are composed of subcutaneous fat, which sits just beneath the skin.
Good news: Outside of cosmetic and general health concerns, you don’t have as much to be worried about that subcutaneous fat as the insidious visceral fat in your belly that can cause all kinds of health issues. Better news: You don’t have to resort to extreme measures like burning or freezing your love handles to get rid of them.
Here's a plan to ditch your stubborn love handles from former Men's Health fitness advisor Craig Ballantyne, CSCS.
Find the Right Intervals
Studies have shown that interval-based exercise programs, most specifically high intensity interval training (HIIT), are more effective for burning off your love handles than steady state cardio. Instead of running for miles on end without any clear goal, fine tune your work and rest periods to strip away the fat.
So what type of interval program should you use? You can use a jump rope, or apply the principles to running or weight room work. Ballantyne recommends this setup to banish that pesky midsection fat:
After a thorough warmup, alternate between 20 seconds of hard exercise and 40 seconds recovery. Repeat that pattern 6 to 8 times. Afterwards, finish with 5 to 10 minutes of cooldown exercise.
If you have extra time, do 10 minutes of regular cardio pace.
Don’t Overload on Cardio
Even though Ballantyne recommended cardio for a cool down, he's wary of its effectiveness when performed alone. Extended periods of steady state cardio, like jogging, won’t do much to cut down your spare tire. "It's not going to work as well as interval training," Ballantyne said.
This is related to another issue, according to Ballantyne: Many guys don't have enough muscle in the first place. Losing love handles, like bodybuilding, is a game of illusion. Muscle on your chest and back can essentially "hide" excess fat in your love handle area.
"So most guys are “skinny-fat,” and then try to lose love handles with cardio only, and basically become even smaller versions of themselves — but still skinny-fat," Ballantyne said. "It's better to use intervals and weight training to gain muscle and lose fat at the same time — which IS possible — and change your body's overall appearance."
Rethink Your Ab Routine
"Ab exercises like crunches are generally a waste of time," Ballantyne said. The problem is, you’re only working the muscles around your lower spine with crunches and situps.
Instead, you should build up your core with moves that focus on spinal stability, like planks and hollow body holds. Check out this quick core circuit for an idea of what you should be aiming for:
Build Yourself Up While Slimming Down
While you're cutting down your midsection, do yourself a solid and work on some other areas of your body that can take attention away from your ample hips. Build up your pecs, lats, deltoids, and traps to create the illusion of smaller love handles.
"Most guys don't have enough muscle to focus on just losing weight," Ballantyne said, "so every guy must build some muscle in these areas."
How can you build the muscle and lose fat at the same time? You're hoping to "culk," so you should start by training hard, eating properly, and sticking to a consistent program.
Ballantyne also recommended a plan based around two to three total body workouts per week. Use 5 exercises per workout (1 lower body, 1 upper push, 1 lower body single leg, 1 upper pulling, 1 total body ab exercise). Do that as a circuit three times through, with 8 to 12 reps per exercise. Finish with interval training.
Get Out What You Put In
If you want advanced results, you have to do advanced things,” said Ballantyne. “Such as cutting all the processed carbohydrates from your diet. One cheat reward meal per week — that's cheat MEAL, not cheat DAY."
Replace breakfast cereals and grain carbs with fruits, vegetables, and nuts. "Losing your love handles isn't going to happen if you insist on treating yourself to a Frappuccino, Pepsi, and a slice of pizza every day," he said. "It means eating meals of lean protein, fiber-rich vegetables, and snacking on apples and nuts between meals."
"It's diet. It's just too easy for most guys to cheat, Ballantyne said. "They have to realize that they have to have more discipline if they want results."