love handles

If you're looking to say goodbye to your love handles this Summer, try out this five-minute workout. Along with a sensible diet and ample cardio, the combination of these exercises that strengthen your glutes, lower back, and abs will help diminish the appearance of the dreaded muffin top. Perform each of the following moves for one minute each, but feel free to repeat this plan two or even three times for a more intense session.

Number 1: Seated Russian Twist

• Sit on the ground with your knees bent and your heels about a foot from your bum.
• Lean slightly back without rounding your spine at all. It is really important, and difficult, to keep your back straight, so don't let it curve.
• Place your arms straight out in front of you with one hand on top of the other. Your hands should be level with the bottom of your rib cage.
• Pull your navel to your spine and twist slowly to the left. The movement is not large and comes from the ribs rotating, not from your arms swinging. Inhale through your center, and rotate to the right. This completes one rep. Lift your feet off the ground for a more advanced variation.
• Do as many full rotations as you can for one minute.

Number 2: Elbow Plank With Twist

• Come into a side plank on your right side, with your feet stacked one on top of the other and your weight on your right elbow with your fingers reaching away from your body.
• Place your left arm behind your head, and inhale to prepare.
• Exhale and pull your navel to your spine to engage your deep abs, and rotate your left rib cage toward the floor so you are resting on both forearms in an elbow plank. Stay there for a second, and deepen your abdominal connection, pulling your navel in toward your spine even more.
• Return to starting position, repeat for 30 seconds, and then switch sides. Repeat series again until a minute is up.

Number 3: Mountain Climbers

• Start in a traditional push-up starting position — shoulders over hands and weight on just your toes.
• Bring your right foot forward, bending the knee and putting weight on the ball of your foot.
• Switch legs, bringing the left knee forward while moving the right leg back. It feels a little like running in place in a plank position.
• For an advanced variation to work your abs more, keep the ball of your foot off the floor as you bring the knee in toward your chest.
• Quickly move through this exercise for as long as possible without taking a break — at least 30 seconds! Take a quick breather if need be, but pick up again until one minute is up.

Keep reading for the last two moves in this muffin top workout.

The Muppets star Amy Adams admits that 18 months after giving birth to Aviana Olea she's OK with the baby weight, "I have a muffin top, and that’s OK right now." Most new moms can relate to holding on to post-baby weight since they're sleep-deprived and way too tired to exercise, or are too busy taking care of their little one to hit the gym, but if you're ready to get rid of your post-baby muffin top, here's how.

• Ramp up your cardio sessions: Unfortunately you can't just do back exercises and expect a muffin top to disappear as fast as you can eat one. To slim down trouble spots like love handles and back rolls, you must reduce overall body fat. Aside from eating a healthy diet, you need to burn fat through heart-pumping cardio. Aim to do 60 minutes, five days a week. Mix it up with running, swimming, cycling, hiking, and cardio classes. Be sure to include speed intervals as these are proven to get rid of stubborn belly fat.
• Pay attention to your core: Once that layer of fat disappears, you want to reveal sleek, toned muscles underneath. Be sure to complement your cardio workouts with strength training moves that target your entire core. Include crunches for your abs, deadlifts and Supermans for your back, side bends to target the sides of your waist, and push-ups for your abs and upper back. Try doing moves on an exercise ball or Bosu as the instability forces you to engage your core. Building muscle is also a great way to burn calories and rev up your metabolism.

We are excited to share one of our fave stories from Shape here on FitSugar. This week Shape turns to personal trainer and strength coach Joe Dowdell for some help!

Q: How can I get rid of love handles?

A: There isn't just one secret to losing love handles — it's a combination of factors. It's true that the typical answer of total-body strength training, high-intensity cardio intervals, proper nutrition, and sound recovery strategies are the keys to long-term success, but there are more secret strategies for burning belly fat.

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You've probably heard that cortisol, the "stress hormone," is responsible for excess abdominal fat, but that's only part of the story. Your body produces cortisol in response to stress—physical, mental, or emotional. This may include extremely low-calorie diets (fasting or starvation), infection, lack of quality sleep, emotional trauma, or intense exercise, as well as daily stressors such as job pressure or relationship trouble.

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Stress and cortisol alone do not make you fat, but research has linked high cortisol levels with storage of body fat, particularly visceral belly fat. Visceral fat is packed deeper in the abdominal cavity and around the internal organs, whereas "regular" fat is stored below the skin (known as subcutaneous fat). Visceral fat is particularly unhealthy because it is a risk factor for heart disease and diabetes. Therefore, the key to avoid storing excess fat around your middle is controlling your cortisol response, or the amount of stress on your body.

Learn the top tips for getting rid of love handles after the break!