All the crunches in the world won’t make that pesky bit of fat disappear. You should develop an ab workout that targets the obliques to tone the area and then supplement your ab workout with plenty of cardio exercise. The long cardio workouts are designed to boost your metabolism so that your body can get rid of the extra fat. The ab exercises will help tone those muscles once the fat disappears. But losing the love handles is a two-way street!

So if you’re looking to free yourself of those love handles, follow this simple guide!

Cardio

The type of exercise you choose to do doesn’t matter as much as doing it consistently (5-7 days a week) and working out for long enough - 45 minutes to 1 hour. Whether you prefer walking, running, biking or other cardio machines, any of these cardio exercises will get you burning fat. Depending on your level of fitness, you may want to experiment with different cardio wrokouts. One day you can try a longer, less-intense workout, and other days you can get in a short, interval workout. It's always a good idea to change up your cardio routine every month or so.

Oblique Exercises

Leg Flutters

1. Lie on your stomach with your head slightly lifted up.
2. Keep you arms lying straight at your sides
3. Lift your legs of the floor and rapidly flutter them back and forth.
4. Flutter your legs for 30 seconds and then rest for 20 seconds. Repeat 3 times.

Pushup Dumbbell Row

1. Start in a full pushup position while holding onto 2 dumbbells.
2. Pull one arm up, keeping your elbow bent, while keeping your other hand on the ground stabilizing your body.
3. Bring the dumbbell back to the ground and alternate arms.
4. Do 2 sets of 8-12 reps on each side.

Reverse Crunches

1. Start by lying on a mat with your feet on the ground and knees bent.
2. Keep your hands lying straight next to your body, palms down.
3. Your head and shoulders should be slightly lifted off the mat.
4. Slowly lift and crunch the lower half of your body off the floor by curling your pelvis back toward your head.
5. Avoid using momentum to lift yourself; instead, engage your abdominals and brace them to lift yourself up.
6. Do 3 sets of 10-12 reps.

Oblique Crunches

1. Lie on a mat with your feet on the ground and knees bent.
2. Place your hands on the back of your head, but do not use your hands to move your body.
3. Slowly lift your right shoulder blade off of the ground, moving your right elbow towards your left knee. You should be moving in a twisted motion.
4. Return slowly to your starting position and repeat with your left shoulder blade moving towards your right knee.
5. Do 2 sets of 10-15 reps.