When you have back fat and love handles, the slang term spare tire could not ring out any truer. In this case, the tire goes all the way around the body. If you want to make this fat a distant memory, you definitely need to exercise, but you also have to honor your diet and cut back on the calories to promote weight loss. Once you have done that, perform rotational exercises to target your love handles, pulling and extending exercises to work your back and fat burning exercises to target both areas.
Whole Body Cardio
To slim down your sides and back, perform cardiovascular exercise which burns calories. Maximize your results by doing cardio that involves your upper and lower body like rowing, kickboxing, swimming, elliptical training, versa climbing and jumping rope. Perform 45 to 60 minutes of cardio, three to four days a week.
Supine Rows
Supine rows work the middle and upper latissimus dorsi muscles as well as the rhomboids which are found in between the shoulder blades. The lats start in the lower, middle of the back and flare up at an angle toward the shoulders. To do supine rows, position a barbell waist-high on a Smith machine, lie on your back and grab the bar with a shoulder-width, overhand grip. Keeping your body perfectly straight, pull your chest to the bar, lower yourself back down and repeat. A Smith machine is a piece of equipment that has a sliding barbell in the center that can be fixed at various heights. Do 15 to 20 reps.
Straight Arm Pushdowns
Straight arm pushdowns work the upper lats, serratus muscles and obliques. The serratus muscles wrap around the upper ribcage and the obliques are found on the lower ribcage. The obliques are what get hidden under love handles. After fastening a revolving straight bar to a high setting on a cable machine, face the weight stack and grab the bar with an overhand, shoulder-width grip. Push the bar straight down to your thighs, slowly raise it to chest height and repeat for 15 to 20 reps.
Good Mornings
Good mornings work your lower back muscles which are known as the spinal erectors. After placing a barbell across the top of your shoulders behind your neck, stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and hold the bar with a wide grip. Slowly bend forward until you feel a strong contraction in your lower back. Bend back up and repeat 15 to 20 times. When doing these, keep a slight bend in your knees.
Russian Twists
Russian twists work your obliques and lower back simultaneously and you can do them on a stability ball, bench or from a standing position. To do them on the stability ball, lie face-up with your shoulders and head on the ball, hands together and extended above your chest. Keeping your lower body still, slowly rotate your torso back and forth to each side.
To do Russian twists from a standing position, hold a medicine ball straight in front of your chest and rotate your torso side to side in a steady motion.
Back Extensions with Twist
Back extensions with twists work your lower back and obliques and they are done on a stability ball. Lie face-down with your toes on the floor in a wide stance, your hands on the sides of your head and your hips near the top of the ball. Slowly bend at the waist to lower your body over the ball, lift yourself up by contracting your lower back muscles and twist to your right side. After holding for a second, lower yourself down and repeat to your left side. Alternate back and forth for 15 to 20 reps.
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