Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Health & Fitness

4 easy Pilates exercises to shrink your love handles

4 Pilates moves to get rid of love handles

Christine VanDoren
By
man doing pilates leg and arm stretch seated wooden floor
Photology 1971 / Adobe

Having love handles can be frustrating. No matter how much you diet or exercise, those pesky fat deposits around your waist won’t budge. If you’ve tried everything under the sun to lose your love handles with no success, it may be time to give Pilates a try.

Pilates is a great way to target your core and slim your midsection. The controlled movements help build lean muscle mass while burning fat. 

Recommended Videos

Regular Pilates practice can help you sculpt a stronger, tighter waistline and zap those undesirable love handles. This low-impact exercise is gentle on your joints yet challenging enough to transform your body. 

Related

The good news is that Pilates exercises can be done at home without any fancy equipment. A pilates mat is all you need to start strengthening and stretching those obliques.

Ready to say bye-bye to your love handles? Here are four of the best Pilates moves to help shrink your waistline fast.

Man using Pilates reformer.
Kampus Production / Pexels

Can you lose love handles with Pilates?

The short answer is yes, you can lose love handles with Pilates! 

Pilates is an effective workout method for losing love handles and reducing overall body fat. Core-focused exercises target the abdominal muscles like the obliques, rectus abdominis, and transverse abdominis. Over time, regularly practicing pilates can result in a leaner, more sculpted waistline.

Some of the ways Pilates helps eliminate love handles include the following:

  • Building lean muscle mass: The resistance training burns fat while adding definition. Increased muscle mass boosts metabolism, which further aids fat loss.
  • Targeting deep core muscles: Pilates zeroes in on hard-to-reach muscles that traditional crunches may miss. This trims and slims the waistline.
  • Improving posture: By stretching and engaging core muscles, Pilates builds a strong center. Good posture minimizes the appearance of love handles.
  • Reducing stress: The mind-body practice alleviates stress. High cortisol levels contribute to excess fat storage around the midsection.
  • Burning calories: A Pilates workout torches calories and fat. Overloading the muscles increases calorie burn even after you exercise.

While you can’t spot reduce fat, Pilates’ multi-dimensional core training delivers results. Just be sure to combine it with a healthy diet for maximum love handle shrinking effects.

Love handles.
Tatiana / iStock

How do you target your love handles?

While you can’t actually “target” fat loss from any specific part of your body, you can perform targeted exercises to help build muscle and lose fat overall. Strengthening and slimming your midsection will reduce the appearance of love handles.

Here’s the reality — where you store fat is largely determined by genetics. If your body tends to accumulate fat cells in the abdominal area, that’s where you’ll likely have excess fat. You simply can’t dictate where your body sheds fat from first.

However, you can perform targeted abdominal exercises to engage your obliques and tighten your midsection. Combined with full-body strength training and a calorie-controlled diet, this comprehensive approach will torch fat all over. That will slim your waistline and reduce the size and appearance of stubborn love handles.

Man doing Pilates at home.
Mikhail Nilov / Pexels

4 Pilates moves for getting rid of love handles

Try incorporating these four pilates exercises into your workouts two to three times a week to get rid of those love handles. Be sure to squeeze in cardio like walking, cycling, or swimming on your off days. Over time, you’ll start seeing results from this integrated approach.

Side leg lifts

This exercise targets the obliques and abductors to trim your waist.

Instructions:

  • Lie on your side, legs extended. Prop yourself up on your forearm and elbow.
  • Keeping legs straight and stacked, exhale as you lift your top leg up towards the ceiling.
  • Inhale as you slowly lower the leg back down without letting it touch the floor.
  • Complete 10-15 reps, then switch sides.

Shoulder bridge

This total core exercise strengthens abs, glutes, hamstrings, and obliques.

Instructions:

  • Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor.
  • Inhale as you engage your core and lift your hips up towards the ceiling. Your body should be a straight line from your shoulders to your knees.
  • Squeeze your glutes and hold the bridge position for two to three breaths.
  • Exhale as you slowly lower your hips back down.
  • Complete 10-12 reps.

Leg circles

Smooth, controlled circles target obliques to whittle your middle.

Instructions:

  • Lie on your back and extend your legs up towards the ceiling.
  • Keeping legs straight, engage your core, and move your legs in controlled circles. The larger the circles, the more you will feel the burn.
  • Complete 15 reps clockwise, then 15 reps counter-clockwise.

Criss cross

This classic Pilates move engages the obliques and rectus abdominis.

Instructions:

  • Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet flat.
  • Extend your arms perpendicular to your body like a T.
  • Exhale and lift your shoulders slightly off the mat, reaching your right hand towards your left knee.
  • Switch sides, reaching left hand to right knee while turning your head.
  • Complete 15-20 reps, alternating sides in a controlled motion.

Stick with these simple yet effective Pilates exercises, and you’ll be flaunting a tight, toned waistline in no time. Just remember that diet and cardio are key to accelerating fat loss. With patience and consistency, you’ll finally kiss those stubborn love handles goodbye!

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Christine VanDoren
Christine VanDoren
Contributor
Christine is a certified personal trainer and nutritionist with an undergraduate degree from Missouri State University. Her…
The 5 best treadmill workouts to gain fitness fast (and feel great after)
Mix up your treadmill routine and make your workout fun
Three athletes running on treadmills at Stride.

Paul Le was used to gyms measured in the tens of thousands of square feet. Recruited out of a Texas college by the UFC (yes, that UFC) as a trainer for the promotion's California-based gyms, Le worked his way up the ladder, advising fighters and everymen alike before moving into management.

But just like big box stores of the same size, he found a lack of personality, even intimacy, in their spaces. And so, in November of 2020, after a decade with the company, he left, assuming a new role as the general manager of the Little Italy San Diego location of Stride Fitness, a treadmill-based interval training concept. The difference, he said, has been night and day.

Read more
The 12 benefits of jumping rope (it’s not just for your inner child)
This classic workout technique has more pros than you may realize
Jump rope with shoes and weights

Unless you’re 7 years old or a regular at the local boxing gym, jumping rope probably isn’t part of your daily workout routine. But, if you’re looking for an easy, inexpensive way to get your blood pumping and burn fat fast, it should be. It’s deceptively simple, but jumping rope is one of the single best cardio fitness exercises, and not only that, but there are so many benefits of jumping rope.

The benefits of jumping rope and why you should get started
It's inexpensive
Let’s get the most obvious benefit out of the way: Jumping rope is cheap. Compared to a gym membership, buying a treadmill, or splurging on a new Peloton, it’s incredibly inexpensive. For less than $30, you can score a complete jump rope set (with or without weights) to get started immediately.
It’s simple and easy
Poor form is one of the fastest ways to injure yourself while exercising. Thankfully, jumping rope is hard to do wrong. Just start with an appropriately sized rope, jump that rope, and repeat at your own pace.
It’s great for recovery
Because jumping rope is so simple, it’s an excellent way to recover from sports-related injuries. Many athletes and physical therapists regard it as the ideal baseline exercise. This is because jumping rope aligns and engages your entire body. Done correctly, it promotes good posture and form while getting you back into “fighting shape.”
It’s versatile and perfect for any fitness level
Jumping rope can be as moderate or as high-intensity as you want it to be, making it a perfect workout for everyone from couch potatoes to pro athletes. Beginners can start with slower, intermittent jump sessions of 30 seconds on, 30 seconds off, and build up their stamina from there.

Read more
The right way to do crunches and get rock hard abs
Learn the basic, intermediate, and advanced ways to work toward your six-pack
Bodybuilder training doing crunches

Training your core is central to any strength training routine, and crunches are a classic exercise to improve your balance and stability, and as an added bonus, get super ripped abs. You've probably been doing crunches for years, so that by now, the move is nearly second nature. But what if you've been doing crunches wrong this whole time? If you're not focusing on your form to execute this motion, you might be cheating yourself of all the great benefits of this core exercise.

Let’s get the most benefit from this lower ab exercise. It doesn’t require any special gym equipment, and it’s customizable depending on your ability and your desired outcome. Here’s what you need to know to incorporate this ab workout into your plan.

Read more