Do you long for a firm flat stomach? Are you tired of laying on the floor doing sit-ups and crunches day after day and feeling lots of pain but no gain? Sure, you can buy the latest abdominal exercise gadget you see on TV. You know the ones Im talking about. Those infomercials and TV ads where models with tight firm abs demonstrate the latest gizmo while some exercise guru tells you in a loud excited voice how his new abs machine will miraculously re-shape your midsection and get rid of your love handles in just minutes a day.

You can spend days, months, even years doing thousands of sit-ups and crunches and not see much in the way of results. Why? Because if you have a layer of fat hanging over your abdominal muscles all the sit-ups and crunches in the world will do nothing to make that fat go away.

We used to have a running joke in college. Yeah, I have a six pack; its just hiding behind this beer belly. It didnt matter how much I or my college buddies exercised, and we were very active with mountain biking, skiing, hiking, backpacking and other outdoor activities, as long as our caloric intake exceeded our output we always had that layer of fat hiding our rock hard abs.

There are 3 things you need to do if you want to get rid of your love handles.

Diet, Diet, Diet This has nothing to do with the latest diet fad. This has everything to do with the nutritional value of the food you eat. Your body is a high performance machine. Give it the right fuel and it will respond in kind.

Core Strengthening Exercises - You must exercise and strengthen all your core muscles, not just your abs, if you want that firm toned midsection.

Aerobic Training The key to having great abs is burning more calories than you take in. Aerobic training combined with the tips above does just that. If you want to get rid of love handles then get up off the couch and go for a walk, take a bike ride, or play some hoops. Find something you like to do and keep doing it.

Youre not going to get abs like the fitness models on TV without some work and life style changes. They worked hard for those abs and deserve to show them off, but dont think 5 minutes a day 3 days a week on the Ab Blaster Lounge will make your abs look like theirs.

If you seriously want to get rid of your love handles then you have to work for it. You cant strengthen love handles because all they are is excess fat hanging off the side of your belly. The only way to burn fat is to change your diet and burn calories with some sort of aerobic exercise. Only then will the work youve done strengthening your core muscles begin to show through.