Workout for Love Handles

Wednesday, March 16th, 2011 at 6:20 pm

Losing fat is hard, but there are some spots where it is a b*%ch. If you just started a fat loss program then you might have started to lose some weight around your arms and thighs, but nothing around the middle. Love handles seem harder to defeat than love itself. No matter how hard you try they simply won’t go away!!!!!!!

For a couple of years losing fat in specific places was thought to be impossible, but recently science has brought new light to the subject. Research has shown that certain hormones help us store fat in certain places. As you have probably noticed, women tend to store fat around the hips and waist, this is because of the female sex hormone called estrogen. Fat stored around the abdomen or stomach is related with cortisol; the stress hormone. Last but not least we have insulin, the hormone responsible for fat storage around the lower back and “love handles”. All these hormones are not evil, they are the reason why our ancestors survived harsh conditions and long periods of fasting. Nowadays, since we find food very often, these hormones are actually killing us and we have to learn how to control them.

How to fight Love Handles

Estrogen

Estrogen is the female sex hormone as I mentioned above, and its counterpart is testosterone, the male sex hormone. Testosterone is a muscle building hormone and the reason why men can bulk up a lot easier than women. Women have low levels of testosterone which makes it tough for them to gain muscle (so don’t worry about gaining to much muscle). Most steroids found in the market, and used by athletes, are some form of testosterone, but this is not an option for us. Steroids have various side effects that we want to avoid. So what can we do? You can Density Train.

Density Training.

Training density can be defined as the amount of work you do in a given amount of time during a training session. If you want to increase density, you can do more work (sets, reps, or both) in the same amount of time, or do the same amount of work and decrease the time in which you do it.

Example:

So here is how we do it. As an example, let’s pick 3 exercises: the overhead press, the dumbbell row, and the squat. Setting these up in a circuit fashion, you perform them one after another with little rest in between. Sounds like just about any circuit training protocol, right?

WRONG.

Instead of having a set number of reps, we’re going to be forming each of these exercises for TIME–you simply have to do as many as you can in a given time period. To make it easy, let’s say you did each of the above exercises for 30seconds. In performing such a circuit, your results might look like this:

Overhead Press: 25 pound dumbbells for 20 reps

DB Row: 40 pound dumbbells for 18 reps

Squat: 100 pound barbell for 22 reps

Not too bad. Now, HERE is where it gets crazy.

We’re going to take advantage of some cool things that happen in the body;triggers that happen which will make you more efficient and more capable.

To do that, we’re going to INCREASE the weight by 10-20% and try to do MORE reps.

Does that seem impossible? It isn’t. Due to neuromuscular junction and neural activation, in almost ALL cases, you’ll be able to do just that.

Your second attempt at that circuit might look like this:

Overhead Press: 30 pound dumbbells for 23 reps

DB Row: 50 pound dumbbells for 20 reps

Squat: 120 pound barbell for 25 reps

I know you’re having trouble believing that outcome is even possible, much less common, but I implore you–try it for yourself!

Density training is fun, challenge-based, burns a heck of a lot of fat, and–most importantly–is one of the best training modalities around for increasing testosterone production and release.

Training for increased workout density will help you shed stubborn lower body fat, and as we’ve mentioned more fat on the whole.

Insulin

Insulin is one of our greatest enemies when it comes to fat loss (this is why we try to avoid eating processed sugars). Insulin is easily fought with IGF-1 (Insulin Growth Factor). IGF-1 can easily be produced through training. What type of training? With Dynamic Training.

Dynamic training is pretty much the over-arching concept of how John Romaniello designs fat loss training programs–it basically consists of using fast-paced movements to teach your body how to move more efficiently. In Dynamic training you will be doing exercises that combine various exercises, for example: The squat-to-press where you squat with a couple of dumbells on your shoulders that you end up pushing up at the end of your squat.

This type of training is very tough and requires a lot of energy, due to the fact that you will be using a lot of muscles at the same time, this makes it extremely efficient when it comes to weight loss.

With this type of training you will finally get rid of those love handles that tend to stick out when you are wearing jeans.

Cortisol

Cortisol is the stress hormone and science has shown that the best way to reduce stress is by sleep. Getting 7 to 9 hours of daily sleep is necessary to reduce cortisol levels. I not saying that you can sleep through a plateau, but getting a good night sleep is helpful when it comes to fat loss. Cortisol levels are reduced thanks to the production of the Human Growth Hormone during our sleep. Ever wonder why children sleep so much? Well because they need to grow and their bodies need to produce a lot of HGH.

Training wise HGH can be produced through what is called lactic acid training. This type of training is achieved when our muscles really begin to burn. One way to do this is to lower the weight really fast and lift it really slowly. This will get your muscles to burn and to produce HGH. Cool right.

Today you have learned that it is possible to reduce fat specifically and that you can do it through your training. With waht you have read here you can go out and creat your own program or if you prefer you can grab a copy of my friend John Romaniello “Final Phase Fat Loss 2.o” Right NOW. All you have to do is click the link below.