The five easy exercises personal trainer recommends to get rid of love handles

Our body shape and weight is determined by a number of different factors. This can include genetics, meaning it can sometimes feel like it’s impossible to make a change.

However, some factors depend on your lifestyle habits, including your diet and exercise routine. One expert spoke exclusively with Express.co.uk about how exercise can be used to target a specific area of the body.

David Wiener, training specialist at fitness and lifestyle coaching app Freeletics, shared his tips for getting rid of unwanted “love handles”. David explained: “Love handles are the part of your body on the side of your pelvis, located just above the hips.

“They can be caused by fat retention, and are one of the most common places on the body where fat cells can accumulate when you consume more calories than you burn.

“Whilst excess fat can accumulate anywhere in the body, there are certain factors which can increase the chance of the fat forming on your hips, such as your hormone levels, age, diet, activity levels and sleep.”

Having love handles could put you at greater risk for health issues, in certain instances.

“In some cases, love handles can be inheritable, and therefore will not affect your health in any way,” he said.

“However, when that area of skin notably becomes more and more extended outwards, this can indicate a higher level of excess body fat, which can lead to certain health conditions such as high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes and heart disease.”

David shared five exercises you can do at home to target love handles.

But he warned: “A lot of people think you can participate in certain exercises to try to get rid of love handles, however fat reduction can’t be achieved with spot exercises alone.

“You need to work on your cardiovascular exercises to try to burn fat, and then participate in weight strengthening exercises to help tone your muscle around the abdominal area.”

Bicycle crunch

This exercise targets the abs and the obliques in one go.

David said: “Bicycle crunches are a complex movement and speed is not the name of the game. Go slowly to focus on your form and your breathing.

“To do them, lie flat on the floor with your lower back pressed to the ground (pull your belly button in to target your deep abs).

“Keep your feet and shoulders off the ground at all times. Put your hands next to your head, then bring your left knee up towards your chest and rotate your upper body to the right, so that your right elbow is touching your left knee above the hip.

“Be sure not to pull on your neck. While you are doing this, straighten your right leg out but keep it off the ground. Make sure your shoulders and torso are moving and not just your elbows.

“Now switch sides and do the same motion on the other side to complete two reps.”

Climbers

To start climbers, begin by getting into the plank position with your arms extended, keeping your hips, shoulders and knees aligned.

“Proceed by lifting your knee and foot up towards your hand and repeat on each side,” David said.

“Try and complete these movements as quickly as you can while keeping the correct form.”

Crunches

Similarly to bicycle crunches, these start by lying down with your back on the ground, your feet on the floor and knees at a 90-degree angle.

David continued: “Then lift your shoulders up off the ground and touch your knees with your hands, as you’re lowering yourself back down, stretch your hands behind your head so that they touch the ground behind you and repeat.”

Side plank twists

“Starting in a plank position, lift up onto one side so that one foot is on top of the other and one arm is up and pointing to the ceiling,” David said.

“Your knees, hips and shoulders should all be aligned at this point. Then bring your arm down towards the floor and bring it underneath your body.

“Once you have completed the exercises on one side, flip over and repeat the exercise on the opposite side.”

Table twists

Table twists engage your obliques and strengthen your core.

“Start the exercise off by sitting on the floor, with your knees up, heels on the floor and lean back slightly,” David added.

“Then extend your arms out in front of you and twist your upper body to one side and then repeat on the other side.”