10 Best Exercises for Side Fat (Drop That Muffin Top) (2024)

Here you’ll find the 10 best side fat exercises so you can get rid of those love handles. Side fat is one of the most stubborn and difficult places on the body to lose but here I’ll show you how to get rid of love handles as fast as possible.

You probably know what it’s like to lose weight everywhere else on your body except your love handles. Getting rid of this troublesome side fat is a lot harder than you’d think. It’s frustrating you might not have fat anywhere else on your body except the sides of your lower waist.

Yes, it’s true your genetics are going to play a big part in losing stubborn love handles. But it’s definitely not everything! Following some simple dieting tips as well as these side fat exercises can do a lot when they don’t seem to want to budge.

We’ve all heard maybe to eat less sugar will drop that muffin top or maybe even to eat more protein. But the truth is a lot simpler than you’d think… And with the following exercise list for getting rid of side fat, you’ll lose them once and for all.

Even people who have been skinny all their lives can still have trouble losing their love handles. It’s one of the most well known stubborn fat places on the body for good reason. Even if you kicked out junk food from your diet for a while you could still easily have love handles. They just don’t seem to want to go away!

Now genetics do play a big role and you have your ancestors to thank for that (1). For thousands of years, your ancestors struggled to survive every day. Some times their food was easily available but at other harder times, it wouldn’t be so easy to come by. So they had to have fuel reserves in case of a future food famine. And these fuel reserves came in the form of love handles.

Those who were more likely to survive to pass their genes on to their children had the genetics to easily store excess calories in their love handles (2). But nowadays this bulging waistline is a lot more unattractive since we can eat as much food as we want whenever we want. Yet since your body is wired to store excess fat in your side stomach that’s going to make it that much more difficult to lose it (3).

Think of it like this… your body essentially takes the fat off in the reverse order it comes. So when most people gain weight they’ll usually first gain it in their belly fat area or their hips and thighs. Then it’ll eventually spread out throughout the rest of the body too. So even though you may have kicked out the junk food like pizza and soda it doesn’t guarantee you’re going to get rid of the fat in your most troublesome areas.

How to Slim Your Side Fat

First and foremost you’re going to have to lower your body fat throughout your entire body. Your body fat is how much fat you’re carrying compared to muscle. Most people have high body fat even though they might look skinny. This can bring about the “skinny fat” look. And being skinny fat isn’t good for you (4). The trick isn’t just to lose weight but to replace your flab with some lean toned muscle.

To do this you’re going to have to hammer down on your dieting even more. Plus adding in these specific exercises for your side fat combined with intense cardio. This is going to be the secret recipe for getting real results in the shortest amount of time possible.

Now it’s true you can’t “spot reduce” fat in certain areas of your body (5). But that doesn’t mean you can’t lose body fat throughout your entire body and tone up your side flab with targeted exercises. Plus when you add in these side fat exercises with intense exercise you’re going to get the best results possible (6).

But like with anything the majority of your results are going to come with how consistent and committed you are. When you see a super fit person walking down the street with a body to be proud of it’s taken a lot more work then most people think. Throughout my years as a personal trainer and nutrition coach, I’ve noticed those who get the best long term results were also the ones who were the most committed and consistent.

Side Fat Exercise List

Side-Ups

T-Stab Pushups

Side Planks

Mermaid Crunches

Woodchops

Rotating Planks

Russian Twists

Reach Throughs

Cross-Body Mountain Climbers

Reach Overs

Combine with HIIT Workouts For Maximum Results

Now just doing the above exercises can give you some fairly good results. But the best thing you can do is to combine them with HIIT cardio.

When combined together these two forms of exercise will work synergistically to help you “target” fat loss. You’ll be burning fat and building lean muscle throughout your entire body PLUS toning up your side fat area.

An example would be to pick a couple of exercises in the above list and perform them after sprinting on a treadmill for a minute. Or you could alternate between jumping rope for a minute then doing a couple of different exercises on this list. One final example would be to do burpees for 30 seconds, followed by jump squats for 30 seconds, and then finally add in some of the above love handle exercises.

How can I lose my love handles fast?

The basic reason why it’s so hard to get rid of your love handles is your body fat is too high and you don’t have enough lean muscle on your sides. So to fix this you’re going to have to replace flab on your body with some muscle while toning up your love handles at the same time.

How do I tone my sides?

If you’re not dieting the right way then I hate to say it but you’re never going to get the results you’re looking for. Dieting makes up the bulk of your results when it comes to weight loss so it’s something that can’t be neglected even if you’re working out a lot. I start off with Intermittent Fasting and cutting out all junk foods if you haven’t already. Check out The Flat Belly Formula for my complete easy-to-follow nutrition system.

The Last Word

We all have stubborn flabby areas on our bodies whether they’re your love handles, flabby arms, lower belly fat, or saggy hips. But the good news is that even if you’re born with the genetics for them it doesn’t mean you’re stuck with them forever.

By implementing the above strategies to tone up this troublesome side flab you’ll be able to get results despite your genes. But like with anything you’re going to get the best results the more committed and consistent you are. Now I’m not saying you can’t have another slice of pizza for the rest of your life but the majority of your time should be spent eating right and working out daily.

Now that you know the best methods and exercises to get rid of side fat it’s time to put it into action so you can start getting the results you want now. Best of luck and go get ’em!