Love Handles Workout

Getting to grips with love handles.

By far the hardest area of your body to tone up and keep looking fit is your abs, or abdominal area. There are too many different exercises and regimes to list here so I am going to give you a basic breakdown of what will work and what you need to do.

There are two main approaches to the battle of the bulge that need to be taken into account when drawing up your plan of attack.

Number one Building and developing muscle. Turning flab into muscle or simply toning up what you already have will help to pull everything into shape.

Number two Loosing excess body fat. Bringing down the amount of fat your body is needlessly carrying around will obviously help to get in shape and stay healthy.

HOW DO I DO IT!!!!!!!

Many people try to focus on the abs and get bored and disheartened very quickly. It is important to incorporate both of the above approaches into what you do to avoid this.

When looking at the first approach of muscle development there are a few good tips that should keep you on track. Exercises for your abs can be done every day; unlike other muscle groups that require a few days rest before being worked over your abs recover very quickly and can be worked on again daily. If you go nuts and give them a real workout that leaves you sore the next day then ok, give yourself a break! Little and often is a good rule of thumb for this task. Build up a repertoire of ab exercises and vary them. You can use one of those Ab-isolators that stop you from putting strain on your neck or go freestyle crunching/sit-ups. If you have the room then an isolator is good if you are not used to doing a proper crunch.

OK so I hear you say What is a proper crunch?. I have coached fighters and it is very important that all the mid section is toned and protected by well developed muscle; heres how they do it.

The Crunch

Lie flat on the floor on your back and bring your knees up so that the soles of your feet are flat on the ground. Place your hands either side of your head so that your fingertips are touching your temples or thereabouts. Now raise your head so that your chin is as close to your chest as it can be without hurting. This is in itself a position that is going to be gently engaging your abs. Now you bring your head forward towards your knees, you should feel your spine curling and uncurling as you repeat this rocking motion. There is very little movement in this exercise it is all about positioning. Ensure that your head is up and your hands are to the side of your head and not behind the neck. Gently rock forward and back about 10 times and then relax and feel the burn. You can vary the direction of the crunch so that you are working the side abs or love handles. You may want to bring one knee up off the ground as you do this to get a deeper twist by moving the knee towards t he opposite elbow and vice-versa. You will see boxers working their abs in this way, usually on an incline bench hugging a heavy weight or medicine ball.

The Sit-up

This is a close relation to the crunch, a little less intense maybe but still important to a well rounded abs workout. Follow pretty much the same steps as the crunch but leave you legs flat on the ground. Some people hook their legs under something to keep them from waving about, or have a training partner hold them down. The full length sit-up should act just as much of a stretch as an exercise as you will discover when you try out these two different techniques.

There are lots of other exercises that you can play around with such as:-

The invisible bike Lie on your back and bring your legs up into the air and start to pedal as if you were riding a bike. You can support yourself by putting your hands under your hips if you are a little wobbly!

Suspension Torture Nothing kinky here Im afraid just an accurate description! Lie flat on your back ensuring that the small of your back is firmly pressed against the floor. Now raise your feet six inches above the ground and hold it there. That is basically it! Of course you can vary this exercise by going one leg at a time, mixing in a bit of air cycling, bringing both knees up to your chest and out again. It may not feel much but wait until you relax those abs and then feel the burn. This is a good indicator as to how effective each exercise is, and it gets quite addictive!

As I have said there are hundreds of different exercises for you to try out and eventually you will come up with what feels right for you.

Ok so now we come to the other side of getting that mid section into shape. Cardio Vascular. Sorry guys but that is it. Good old cardio workouts are the only way you are going to actually reduce the amount of excess fat you are currently hauling around with you. My advice to someone who is struggling to come to terms with the thought of a cardio workout is to remember that its not all about dressing in lycra and joining a gym.

In fact that is probably the last thing you want to do just yet. By far the best exercise your body can have is a good walk in the fresh air. Close runners upare swimming and cyling, butthe easiest and cheapest way to loose weight is to walk. In England people are setting up early morning walking clubs for like minded health conscious people who want a bit of exercise and good company. This is also a great way to get support in what you are trying to achieve and new ideas about how to achieve it!

It is simply a harsh reality that nothing will change without exercise, so make it fun. Dont make it a chore that makes you feel like you have got to do it, make it part of your master-plan to conquer sloth, batter obesity, punish the paunch and loose the love handles!

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