So long, love handles: Five fat-burning exercises from Greg O'Shea's Valentine's workout
Get your heart pumping with Greg O'Shea's fat-burning Valentine's workout. Picture: Moya Nolan
With Valentine’s Day around the corner, we all want to be in tip-top shape — and for some of us that can mean tackling areas of concern like ‘love handles’. Love handles occur due to fat retention around the hips and abdominal area. Unfortunately, there is no way to reduce fat in any one particular area and it’s a long process to burn fat, especially love handles. You can only target fat in an overall sense and your body might start taking fat from your back or your legs instead of your stomach.
To put your body in a fat-burning zone, you need to get your sweat on by walking, jogging, running or cycling. For someone who has been sitting on their couch for years, walking down to the end of the street and back might put their body in the fat-burning zone, while an athlete might need a fast run to achieve the same goal. A quick tip is, if you’re sweating, you’re burning.
To get your heart rate up, you'll need to start with at least 10 minutes of cardio. That could be a 10-minute run or cycle — find an exercise you enjoy which will get you sweating and breathing heavier than usual. Your heart rate should be elevated to between 120 and 150 beats per minute for this. To encourage your body to start burning fat as opposed to carbs, your next step should be some high-intensity exercises.
For the circuit below, aim to complete five rounds, spending 30 seconds on each exercise followed by 15 seconds rest. Take a minute break between rounds.
Feet shoulder distance apart
Feet pointed straight out or slightly open
Squat down as if you’re sitting into a chair, don’t go below knee height
Keep chest up facing the wall in front of you, option to extend arms out from the body as a counterweight
Explode up of of the squat and jump off the ground slightly (i.e. 2inches)
In the air, turn 90 degrees until your body is facing to the left
Jump back to the starting position (middle)
Repeat and jump until you are facing to the right
Jump back to the starting position (middle)
That is one rep completed
For an easier option, just do a normal air-squat without jumping and turning
Start in the middle of your mat
Move laterally to the left, lower your height to touch the edge of your mat with your left hand
Make sure to keep your upper body as upright as possible and use your legs to lower your height
Move laterally to the right side and repeat touching the edge of the mat with your right hand
Repeat
Get into a tall plank position (i.e. same shape as if you are about to do a full pushup)
Reach back with your right hand and touch your left foot, and return to the tall plank position
Reach back with your left hand and touch your right foot, and return to the tall plank position
Repeat
Start in the tall plank position (i.e. arms extended)
Tap your left hand off your right shoulder and return to the tall plank position
Tap your right hand off your left shoulder and return to the tall plank position
Repeat
Make sure to keep your hips in line with your head, cue yourself by imaging you have a tray of water on your back and you can’t spill it
Lie on your back, knees bent, heels are a hand distance away from your bum (i.e sit-up position)
Crunch up towards your thighs until your shoulder blades are off the ground
Extend your arms straight out along the sides of your body
Touch your right heel with your right hand, return to the middle
Touch your left heel with your left hand, return to the middle
Repeat
There is no ideal body type. People come in all shapes and sizes which are all equally awesome in their own way. Beauty is subjective and as long as you’re happy in your own skin then you are winning.
However, if your goal is to lose fat for whatever reason then here is some simple advice. It all comes down to CALORIES IN versus CALORIES OUT, or what you eat versus what you physically expend in a day.
An easy way to keep track of calories consumed during the day is to use a tracker app such as My Fitness Pal and entering in what you eat throughout the day. You can track calories burned by using a WHOOP band, FitBit, or a smartwatch. Keep an eye on what your numbers are and, after a few days, you’ll start to see where you might be able to improve.
Aim to complete three 20-30minute high-intensity workouts a week where your heart rate is above 120-150bpm (i.e. you're sweating and breathing heavily but could speak a sentence if you really had to for some reason). In addition, you can make your life easier by choosing healthier foods and making your meals at home rather than high-calorific food choices such as takeaways where you’re unsure how the meals were cooked and what ingredients were used.
Location: Our thanks to The Dartry Health Club, Dublin 6
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