The Best Moves to Get Rid of a Gut & Love Handles

Love handles are probably the most difficult area of the human body to trim and tone. After thousands of crunches, getting rid of your gut and love handles may seem impossible, but there are a few exercises that target and trim these troublesome spots.

Trunk Twists

• Trunk twists are an easy and effective exercise that help trim unforgiving love handles. This exercise will warm up your muscles and give you somewhat of a cardio work out. To do trunk twists, stand up straight with your arms out in front of you, your palms up like you're pushing against a wall. Rotate your entire upper body to the left, then to the right. Repeat this exercise around 100 times to complete a full set. Don't rotate too fast or you might cause injury to your muscles.

Oblique Crunches

• You will definitely feel the burn after doing oblique crunches. Lie on the floor with your legs at a 90-degree angle. Place your hands behind your head and slowly raise up so that your left elbow touches your right knee. When they touch, hold this position for a second and squeeze your abs. Do this for your other elbow. This exercise requires three sets of 75 reps.

Leg Flutters

• Strengthening your back is important if you want to tone up your mid-section and love handles. Leg flutters will do just this. To do leg flutters, lie on your stomach. Lift your head up and keep your arms at your side. Slowly raise your legs up and flutter them like you're swimming. Do this for 20 seconds, take a 20-second break, then repeat.

Side Bends

• Side bends are another popular exercise for getting rid of love handles. They place stress on external oblique muscles directly, which forces the muscles to tone up. To do side bends, stand up straight then lower your upper body to the left slowly. Then raise yourself up and lower to the right side. Your torso should not go in front of or behind your legs--they should be in line at all times.