Ah, love handles—those pesky pockets of fat that spill over your favorite pair of jeans. As you age, they’re common to put on and challenging to lose. But with consistency and just the right workout routine at your fingertips, you can reclaim your waistline. The best part? You don’t need to head to the gym for a long sweat session. We’ve rounded up six standing exercises that eliminate love handles quicker than gym machines after 50.
“Love handles get tougher to lose as we age, especially after 50, because of a multitude of reasons,” says Caine Wilkes, Olympian and certified USA weightlifting coach at Garage Gym Reviews. “Most notably are the natural slowing of our metabolism, natural muscle loss, and hormonal shifts that occur as we age. Your body naturally stores more fat around the midsection, including the love handles, too. So without consistent strength exercise and balanced nutrition, that fat tends to linger, and will be harder to reduce or get rid of with age.”
What makes standing core work an effective workout method of choice? According to Wilkes, it can recruit more muscles at the same time, because you need to stabilize your entire body during these exercises.
“Machines often isolate one motion, while these standing exercises demand balance, coordination, and functional strength, challenging more muscles beyond just the core muscles you’re specifically training,” Wilkes says. “The full-body recruitment of these exercises usually carry over to everyday movement better than isolation exercises as well.”
6 Standing Exercises That Reduce Love Handles Faster Than Gym Machines
Dumbbell Side Bends
“Move slow and controlled so the obliques do the work, not letting your torso lean forward or back as you bend to the side,” Wilkes says.
- Stand tall, holding a dumbbell in your left hand by your side.
- Slowly bend at your waist toward the left, stretching your obliques as you do so.
- Return to standing tall.
- Perform 3 sets of 12 to 15 reps on each side.
Woodchopper
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“Rotate through your core, not just your arms. Try to keep tension on the band the entire movement to keep the obliques firing throughout each rep,” Wilkes points out.
- Set a resistance band to a high position.
- Stand perpendicular to the band with your feet placed shoulder-distance apart.
- Hold the band with both hands.
- With extended arms, pull the band diagonally across your body—a high to low chopping motion—so it ends near your opposite hip.
- Maintain a braced core and square hips.
- Use control to return to the start position.
- Perform 3 sets of 10 to 12 reps per side.
Knee-to-Elbow Standing Crunch
“Lower one elbow and raise the opposite knee up until they meet, crunch with the abdominal muscles and rotate at the waist,” says Wilkes. “This keeps tension on the obliques while working on your balance.”
- Start standing tall with your hands behind your head.
- Lift your knee as you twist your torso and bring your right elbow toward it.
- Continue to alternate sides with control.
- Perform 3 sets of 15 to 20 reps per side.
Lateral Leg Raise With Core Brace
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“Make sure that you focus on lifting your leg to the side deliberately, with control, all while keeping your core steady,” Wilkes tells us.
- Stand tall.
- Lift one leg out to the side and hold, bracing your core.
- Repeat on the other side.
- Perform 3 sets of 12 to 15 reps per side.
Cross-Body Punches
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“Make sure to rotate with your core while punching to engage the core and waistline,” Wilkes tells us.
- Stand tall, feet hip-width apart, knees slightly bent.
- Bring your fists up to your face and tuck your elbows.
- Extend your left arm across your body in a punching motion, rotating through your torso.
- Return to the center.
- Repeat on the other side.
- Perform 3 sets of 20 punches on each side.
Standing Side Plank Hold
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“Make sure while leaning against the wall to keep the body in line, not letting the hips sag to one side. This helps build stability along the obliques,” Wilkes notes.
- Stand tall, feet hip-width apart.
- Hold a kettlebell or dumbbell at your side.
- Keep your other arm relaxed or place your hand on your hip.
- Activate your core and slightly shift your weight onto your heels.
- Hold the position, completing 3 rounds of 20 to 30 seconds per side.
Alexa Mellardo
Alexa is a content strategist, editor, and writer based in Greenwich, Connecticut. She has 11+ years of experience creating content for travel, lifestyle, fitness, wellness, F&B, home, and celeb news publications. Read more about Alexa
