My Diet Plan Zone

Love handles are anything but lovely and they are a big problem for most men and women these days. Does it seem the built-up fat that widens your waist never seems to go away no matter how much you diet, how many crunches or how much abdominal work you seem to be doing?

Today I would like to share with you a couple of little secrets about how to get rid of love handles fast and how to keep those love handles off through simple exercise and diet.

Love handles are simply built-up body fat so you will have to clean up your eating habits. For some dieters this will mean omitting the junk food and for some it will require lower calories while others will benefit from carb rotation. Most importantly, quality nutrition is the ultimate key to get rid of love handles.

Increasing your cardiovascular exercise such as an elliptical trainer will benefit the process but you should not over-do it. Instead, you should increase what you are currently doing in small amounts, and challenge yourself with weekly goals. Training your abdominals is important because abdominal work will strengthen the muscle under the fat. In addition to developed abdominals comes increased circulation which can aid in burning fat indirectly.

Abdominal Training Techniques to Avoid

1. Avoid Twists - Twisting exercises, especially the ones done from side to side with a stick, pole or other resistance object can actually widen your waist, not slim it down.
2. Avoid Side Bends - Side bends (weighted or not) can also add size to your waist which will only make it look thicker.
3. Avoid Hanging Leg Raises or Knee-Ups - These do not target the lower abdominal, they actually work the sartorius muscle that runs down the leg.
4. Avoid Adding Resistance - Unless you have a genetically small waist If you lack natural symmetry and have a blocky shape, you should avoid abdominal resistance.

Effective Abdominal Training Techniques

1. Stomach Vacuums - Stand upright and simply pull your stomach in, hold it there for as long as possible and release. Repeat three times.
2. Lying Pelvic Lifts - Lie flat on your back on the floor and put your legs in the air so that your body is in an “L” position. Slowly, in a controlled motion, raise your hips off the floor an inch or two and then return to starting position.
3. Modified Crunches - Lie on the floor with your legs crossed indian style and do a regular crunch exercise.
4. Elbow to Opposite Knee Crunch - Lie on the floor with knees in bent position and crunch your elbow to the opposite knee.

As soon as you get your diet plan in shape, avoid the exercises that can widen your waist and practice the effective abdominal exercises, you’ll be on your way to getting rid of those unsightly love handles forever.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 30th, 2008 at 12:50 pm and is filed under Exercise and Training.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.