5 Lower Ab Exercises to Burn Fat and Lose Love Handles

Love handles can be a tricky area to trim. Wondering what love handles are? Well, they're nothing but the excessively fatty areas on the sides of the waist that sit like a muffin top or a spare tyre over a tight pair of pants.

Love handles can be ungainly to look at. They're also quite difficult to get rid of completely. Although some fat on love handles is not dangerous for health, in excess, they can be a sign of obesity. A large amount of uncontrolled fat around the waist can also lead to lifestyle conditions like diabetes.

Cause of Love Handles

Love handles accumulate excessive fat when your calorie intake is more than the number of calories you're burning. Some people are genetically prone to accumulate more fat around their tummy, and this could also be a reason for love handles. Check out some other common reasons below:

1) Hormones: These are chemical messengers that are essential for the proper functioning of the body. It's necessary that your hormones be released in the exact amounts required by the body, as greater or lesser secretion of hormones can cause a variety of health problems.

Certain hormones are responsible for appetite, metabolism, and body fat distribution. Fluctuation in the levels of these hormones can result in excess body fat in areas like love handles.

2) Stress: This can lead to sleep deprivation, and both of them can affect cortisol levels. Cortisol is a glucocorticoid that influences metabolism, increases hunger, and leads the body to accumulate more fat.

3) Physical Inactivity: A diet high in fats, sugar, and high-calorie foods can lead to accumulation of fat, especially when a person has zero to negligible physical activity. Regular physical activity plays a huge role in keeping love handles at bay.

4) Medicial Conditions: Some untreated medical conditions like hypothyroidism can also cause accumulation of weight over time, leading to development of love handles.

Lower Ab Exercises to Lose Love Handles

Check out the following five lower ab exercises you can do to get rid of love handles.

1) Russian Twist

Instructions:

Seat yourself on the floor with your legs stretched out in front of you.
Raise your knees off the floor while keeping your feet on the floor. Lean back a little while keeping your back straight.
Twist your torso towards the left side, and hold it for about five secs.
Turn towards the right, and hold for the same amount of time. Repeat for about 30 repetitions.
If you want to increase the difficulty level, perform the exercise with a weight like medicine ball, dumbbell, or kettlebell.

2) Mountain Climber

Instructions:

Begin by getting into a plank position on the floor.
Keeping your hands firmly planted on the ground, bring your right knee up towards your chest while keeping your left one in the same position.
Hold for two seconds before switching legs.
Perform the movement swiftly, bringing one knee after the other towards your chest quickly.
Continue doing that for 30 seconds. Distribute your weight evenly between both feet. Only the feet should move.
As you become better at the exercise, increase the number of sets you do.

3) Bicycle Crunch

Instructions:

Lie down flat on the floor on your back, keeping your legs lifted and knees bent.
Contracting your abdominal muscles, twist your right elbow towards your left knee while fully extending your right leg.
Repeat the motion with the opposite pair of limbs.
Do it 15-30 times.

4) Jumping Burpee

Instructions:

Start the exercise by standing upright with your feet together.
Bending at your waist, bend forward to touch the ground in front of you with your hands.
Perform a frog kick backwards so that you come onto your hands and feet in a plank position. Perform a push-up here.
Frog-kick your feet forwards, and stand back up.
Immediately jump into the air with your hands straight above your head, and land on your feet to complete one rep.

5) Battle Rope Wave

Instructions:

Stand with your feet hip-width apart, knees and hips slightly bent, and core tight.
Grip the rope's ends with both hands, and hang your arms straight down the middle of your torso.
Lower yourself into a half-squat position.
Explode your body upwards in a single action, extending your knees and hips as you swing your arms up over your head.
Return to the start, and continue the movement.

Takeaway

Love handles can be managed through proper diet and exercises that target the core and back muscles. Performing the aforementioned exercises in combination with a calorie deficit diet can help you lose love handles.