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8 Yoga Poses To Reduce Your Love Handles

By Ned Taylor

June 21, 2019

Have you longed forever to wear your favorite game shirt but dread to do so because of the fatty cushions at the sides of your belly?

Well, the good news is that you aren’t alone in this.

And the bad news is that you need to get rid of those love handles as fast as possible.

Honestly, the extra fatty cushion at the sides of the belly isn’t the most pleasant thing to host.

And now, you can call it love handles or muffin tops or by whatever name you may like, the fact remains that they needed to be tightened.

The problem with belly fat at the sides or love handles is that it’s one of the hardest types of fat to get rid of and require regular exercise with a highly controlled diet to shed.

Now according to studies, the visceral fat or what we generally refer to as belly fat has various health concerns ranging from metabolic syndrome to liver, cancer, heart disease, and even diabetes. 

To top it off, a large percentage of visceral fat tends to make you feel sluggish.

And the most interesting part about love handles is the fact that they aren’t restricted to fat or obese people, rather even the otherwise slim and skinny people may also host a large percentage of visceral fat on their bellies.

However, nothing is impossible, right? 

Yes, just like you need to work hard to achieve any other life achievement, you can also work hard towards getting rid of your stubborn fat deposits a.k.a love handles.

And one way to fight it off is to start practicing yoga.

Yoga is one of the most simulating health activity that tones your body as well as calm your mind. There are in fact dedicated yoga classes to lose love handles or visceral fats from your body and reclaim your self-esteem and confidence.

Apart from directly impacting the stubborn visceral fat deposits inside your love handles yoga also tend to encourage an overall healthy lifestyle; that’s so crucial to your overall health.

Remember, the essence of yoga lies in inspiring you to adopt a healthier lifestyle; a lifestyle that gives you control over your body and mind and once you are able to reclaim your body and mind, you can bet to lose the stubborn love handles.

Now, to give out a lethal blow to your love handles, you can go with Power Yoga what also incorporates cardio and transform your body into a fat burning machine… literally!

Below we will be looking at some highly useful yoga poses that will keep pushing your belly to the core by working on your abs to make them sweat and finally shredding the damn love handles…

8 yoga poses for love handles

And if you are looking for some more yoga poses and further guidance do check out our ultimate yoga assessment guide. As it comes with every thing, a yoga practitioner needs when practicing solo.

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You can check out our YOGA ASSESSMENT GUIDE™ by clicking here!

Best Yoga Poses For Love Handles

01. Bird Dog Pose.

Benefits: A great back pain reliever while improving your balance. Strengthen the spine and core muscles and increase the range of motion in shoulders and hips. Great exercise for those who want to jump higher and swim faster. This pose is also great to tone your lower abs and gluteal muscles.


Directions:

  • Start in a tabletop position with your palms and knees on mat.
  • Keep your neck inline with your back and raise your arm straight.
  • Keeping your back straight raise the opposite leg straight.
  • Extend your arm with fingers pointing forward.
  • Engage your core and extend your back leg heel, pointed toward ceiling and toes pointing to the mat.
  • Try to make a straight line from back heel to extended fingertips.
  • Hold the pose for 5 deep breaths (50 seconds).
  • Repeat the pose from other side.

Tips: Keep breathing and focus on your thighs and biceps muscles to keep your limbs lifted. Look forward instead look down to avoid extra tension in lower back.

02. Upward Dog Pose.

Benefits: A great pose to challenge you for lifting and opening your chest. Which results in improving our posture and enhancing lung capacity. Also strengthen the spine, arms wrists and shoulder muscles for visible improvisation in athletic performance.

Directions:

  • Start with Lying on your chest with your hands under your shoulders. With your legs extended behind you, spread a few inches apart.
  • Inhale as you lift your chest and straighten your arms.
  • Roll over your toes to the tops of your feet.
  • Keep your shoulders down and back, away from your ears.
  • Pull your shoulder blades toward each other and open your chest.
  • Press your palms down while keeping hands straight and align your shoulder over your wrist.
  • Gaze forward to lengthen and relax your neck.
  • Hold the pose for 5 deep breaths.

Tips: If you are feeling too much pressure in your hand, shift your weight towards legs by elevating your hands on a yoga block or chair. If you are having difficulty in lifting your legs in the air, tuck your toes inside. Engage your abdominal muscles to release excessive pressure in the lower back.

03. High Plank Pose.

Benefits: Strengthen your wrist shoulders and core muscles. Tone your abdomen. Improve your posture and reduce back pains. Improve your balance which results in better movement and coordination. Along with other enormous benefits, this is a foundational pose for beginners to train them for advance hand balancing poses.

Yoga pose High Plank

Directions:

  • Start with lying on your chest with hands beneath your shoulders. Leg straight with toes tucked in.
  • Push your hands down and lift your upper body above the floor.
  • Push your toes down and lift your hips and knees up in the air.
  • Balance yourself on hands and toes with shoulders over hands, forming a straight line with your body from heels to head.
  • Engage your arm muscles with a slight bend to the elbows to prevent locking out.
  • Engage your core and avoid your hips to lean forward.
  • Keep your Shoulders away from the head, neck straight and long, and gaze straight down.
  • Hold for 5 deep breaths

Tips: If you start to feel your core failing and your lower back begins to arch, take your knees down. You risk injury to your lower back by continuing plank with an arched back. If holding a plank for a longer period is difficult, rest your both knees and alternate knees time to time.

04. Half Moon Pose.

Benefits: Strengthens your ankles, legs gluts, and spine muscles. Helps your relive from stress and depression and makes your focus better. Increase balance, core stability while deepening inner hamstring flexibility.

Directions:

  • Start by standing straight and taking a step forward.
  • Shift your weight to your front foot and bend from your hips towards it.
  • Twist your spine and plant your other hand in front of your front foot.
  • Lift your back leg off the mat.
  • Roll your shoulder sideways and raise your other hand pointing towards the ceiling.
  • Engage your core and adjust the planted foot and planted hand distance.
  • Push your shoulders back and slowly gaze to the extended hand.
  • Hold the pose for 5 deep breaths and repeat the pose on the other side.

Tips: Keep your back leg engage and straight not just let it float above the ground. Always start with your hand to increase the balance of the pose. Do not lock your planted knee to allow yourself to do micro adjustments. For modification place a block under your planted hand to help with balance.

05. Spine Twist Pose.

Benefits: Lengthen and encourages the mobility of the spine for twisting motions in various sports. Stretches shoulder, chest, back and hips muscles to relax and re-energize the body. Helps you relieve from stress and anxiety. Increase the blood flow to abdominal organs which results in detoxification of the body and toned waistline.

Reclined-Twist yoga pose

Directions:

  • Start by lying on your back with knees bent and feet planted few inches below your hips.
  • Raise your knees over your hips and extend your arms sideways in alignment with your shoulders.
  • Lower the knees to the side, keeping both shoulders on the ground.
  • Turn your head and gaze your hand in the opposite direction of the knees.
  • Twist you're lower back to create space in the spine.
  • Pull the knees closer to the ground for an assisted stretch.
  • Hold the pose for 5 deep breaths (50 seconds).
  • Repeat on the other side.

Tips: If your knees don’t touch the ground, don’t worry about it. Just focus on getting the gentle twisting stretch throughout your spine. The focus of this pose should be on stretch.

06. Side Plank Pose.

Benefits: Strengthen the core stability and concentration. Tone your thighs which result in a significant decrease in your waistline. Develop core endurance along with balance and coordination which results in enhanced performance in endurance sports such as running cycling etc. Want to get rid of your love handles? This single pose is enough.

Directions:

  • Start with going in a high plank pose.
  • While holding plank pose, put your weight in one hand.
  • Turn your shoulder and balance your body on the outer edge of your foot.
  • Stack your other foot on top of your bottom foot, and roll your right hip and shoulder back to stack up with your left hip and shoulder.
  • Extend opposite hand skyward, forming a straight line from planted hand to extended hand.
  • Pull your head away from the shoulders to lengthen the neck, and look up at the extended hand.
  • Hold the pose for 5 deep breaths (50 seconds).
  • Repeat on the other side.

Tips: Keep your toes flexed toward your shin, and make sure to prevent your chest from splaying out and arching your back. If you find this pose too hard to attempt, lower your forearm to the floor, and do side-plank on your elbow.

07. Side Angle Pose.

Benefits: Stretches and relieves stiffness in neck, shoulders and back muscles. Provides a deep stretch to the groins and hamstrings for better hip flexibility and strength. Strengthen core muscles for better upper body control tone your abs and side muscles.

Side_Angle yoga pose

Directions:

  • Start by standing with legs about 4 - 5 feet apart.
  • Rotate upper body toward one of the legs.
  • Rotate the front foot to face forward.
  • Bend forward and bend your front knee.
  • Bring your front hand closer to your front foot and twist your upper body.
  • Raise your backhand and bring it straight above your front hand.
  • Hold the pose for 5 deep breath and repeat from another side.

Tips: Keep your upper body lifted. Use the leading arm to further open the hips and pressing the knee further outside. For an easier version rest your front elbow over front knee.

08. Triangle Pose.

Benefits: A great stretching pose which relieves stress strengthens legs and core muscles. Simulate the function of abdominal organs results in better digestion. Reduce the risk of hamstring injuries, increase the range of motion of your legs to improve kicking power and increased speed.

Directions:

  • Take a step from the edge of the mat with almost 3 feet distance between both feet.
  • Rotate your back foot about 60 deg away from the front foot.
  • Extend your arms in the alignment of your feet.
  • Keep your legs straight and Lean your upper body forward sideways.
  • Keep your spine long with no rounding. And reach for your front foot with your front hand.
  • Push your right hip back. Once you feel the stretch, relax your hand down to your shin or the floor.
  • Reach your other arm up to the ceiling right above your shoulder.
  • Hold the pose for 5 deep breaths, and repeat on the other side.

Tips: Squeeze your legs toward one another to prevent your leg muscles from relaxing. Do not lock out your front knee. For modification, place a block on either side of the front leg, and place your hand on top of the block.

Thanks for staying till here!

for more exercises (other than yoga) that can boost you sex life life please check out this awesome article

By the way number of researches have confirmed that that yoga is one of the best and most sustainable form of activity to loose weight and here is why

Take good care of yourself,

and C.Ya

Ned Taylor

About the author

Hey there, my name is Ned and I am on a mission to provide you health and fitness advice that are rational (i.e. back by scientific evidence) and sustainable ( means practical enough to be incorporated in normal people's routines with busy lives).

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