Now that spring and summer are coming up, bikini season is fast approaching. Yikes! It’s time start exercising again to get rid of love handles and get that summer body back. So, whether you’re hitting the gym or doing at-home workouts, be sure to add side planks and bicycles to your routine. 

Now, even though side planks and bicycles are great exercises to target love handles, you really can’t isolate areas of your body to lose fat. “Spot reducing” doesn’t really work. But what you can do is improve your diet and switch up your fitness routine. While you’re exercising and nourishing your entire body, your love handles will gradually melt away.

So, when it comes to diet, cut back on added sugars, increase whole foods, like fruits and vegetables, and make sure every meal contains some carbohydrates, protein and fat.

When it comes to exercising, remember that certain exercises will build muscle around the abdomen, and will actually make you look wider, rather than slimmer. For example, doing side bends with heavy weights will make your abdomen muscles stronger, but if the body fat is still there, you’ll just look wider.

So, to burn fat, try high-intensity interval training, or HIIT, which is a combination of strength training, alternating with cardio exercises. This will help to remove love handles. Then, tone your sides without bulking up with side planks and bicycles.

The good news is, you don’t need any equipment to do either of these simple exercises moves. So, you can easily add them to your workout. With time, you’ll lose body fat – including love handles – and tone up. Just in time for summer!