Will A Treadmill Reduce Love Handles?

man running on a treadmill to reduce love handles

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By Simon Gould

Love handles can affect men and women and they are stubborn fat deposits around the waist. For men, they can be the last place you lose weight as we deposit fat around the midsection. For women, they can be difficult to get rid of too. But it can be done and a treadmill will be your number one go to, to rid yourself of those love handles.

How to use the treadmill to reduce love handles

The treadmill works best because of the type of exercise you can do on it. That is aerobic exercise. This is the best way to lose fat and the good thing is, you will lose fat all over your body. Your love handles may not go straight away, but over time as you get on your treadmill regularly, you’ll notice their size going down. That’s what exercise does.

Aerobic exercise is brisk walking and faster like jogging and running. It’s the kind of exercise that makes you sweat and increases your heart rate. The CDC recommend we do regular exercise anyway for great health benefits and one of the other benefits will be a reduction in love handles. So it’s a win win situation.

So we’ve established aerobic exercise is the weight loss solution. If you don’t do any exercise yet, then you need to build up slowly. You won’t be able to run for a longer time yet. That’s where my couch to 5k on a treadmill routine comes in. It’s a walk/run method to get you running for 30 minutes by building you up slowly over 9 weeks. I recommend you give it a try.

If you maybe slightly overweight and you’re not able to run far. Then you may want to do some brisk walking to help you lose weight. I have a few routines that will help you lose weight by brisk walking and jogging below. This involves inclines and other longer exercises. I shall list these here and you’ll find them a good variety in your quest for weight loss.

Walking

Jogging

Include the diet as well

I recommend, when you’re exercising, is that you eat enough calories needed for men and women. That is 2,500 for men and 2,000 for women. You need a decent calorie intake if you’re exercising. Let the weight come off naturally, you’ll be burning more than you intake. There is no need to cut calories and it’s not something you can easily stick to if you’re exercising as well.

So this means you should be eating fair portions and have 3 meals per day and a few snacks if needed. Don’t eat too much or too little. You may feel slightly hungry at first due to the calorie deficit but you’ll get used to it. Weigh yourself weekly at the same time and you’ll soon see the weight come off. Then you’ll begin to visibly see it and this means the love handles will go too.

Abdominal exercises

I’ve included this but it’s something you don’t have to do really. Abdominal exercises will build muscle. But love handles contain no muscle. The exercises don’t burn fat around the abdominal area just because you’re exercising that part of the body. But all these advertisements for abdominal crunch machines feature a close up of well toned abs. This is a myth.

This is called spot reduction where exercising a part of the body reduces fat in that area. It’s not the case. There’s even a wikipedia page about it if you’d like further information. You’re merely building muscle around the area instead, that’s not a bad thing. If you want to do some abdominal exercises then do it.

The abdominal exercises I would recommend is the good old fashioned abdominal crunch. You don’t need any machines or weights to do this. Just lie down and place your hands behind your head. Move yourself up from the waist using your abdominals and not your hands. This will work the entire area and make it stronger. Lose enough weight and you’ll get a six pack.

Summary

Love handles are difficult to get rid of. But give it time and you’ll succeed. Weight loss is a big goal but doing more and more exercise will greatly benefit your health. If it’s only love handles you want to get rid of then that shouldn’t be so difficult. It’s time that is your enemy. The more time you spend on exercise the more you’ll lose.

The thing is with a treadmill is the cost. The cost to buy one or the cost to become a member of a gym. When you buy one I advise you pay for assembly. A gym usually means a contract tying you in to any number of months you have to pay for. A gym also has many other facilities for you to enjoy. So there you have it, a treadmill will reduce your love handles and make you feel a whole lot better.

Speaking of handles, you can use extension handles on treadmills at home and in a gym where treadmills tend to be located away from other equipment or people. You may need a treadmill extension handle if you want the additional range of motion it provides in combination with resistance bands to stabilize yourself while working out.

Thinking of buying a treadmill? Here’s my favorite, I always recommend it when asked.

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