How To Get Rid of Back Fat

Love handles are notoriously persistent areas of body fat, especially in men.

Why does fat in this region seem so resistant to leaving?

For many men, it’s the first place where fat accumulates and the last place to shed it.

Even when reaching leaner body compositions, some men still struggle with the stubborn body fat around their waist and lower back.

Today, I’m going to teach you how to get rid of back fat – once and for all.

Let’s dive into this complete body fat guide with a step-by-step plan to help you eliminate those love handles for good.

NUTRITION

Let’s start with the most important factor in getting rid of back fat: your nutrition.

When it comes to the love handles, the main thing to focus on is burning fat through diet – what you eat and what you put in your body.

Exercise has a place – and we’ll get to that soon enough – but if you were only going to attack the problem with exercises like the Hyper Extension, is that going to help you in the long term?

I’m going to tell you that no, it’s not. You can’t outwork a bad diet. You can do as many crunches as you want to try to get rid of that fat, but it isn’t coming off unless you’ve mastered the nutrition game.

Does this automatically mean you need to go into an extreme calorie deficit? Should you obsessively monitor your daily calorie intake?

No, but you do need to make smarter choices when it comes to your nutrition.

People who have a big problem with love handles typically choose the wrong foods. But here’s the thing… This even goes for the clean eater or the guy who eats clean most of the time.

Why?

Because back fat tends to be the most stubborn, holding on to the very last pound. Sometimes, even 80/20 won’t cut it, and you might just have to be better in your approach, if losing back fat means that much to you.

Here are some healthy habits that you can consider incorporating into your daily routine.

USE A 90/10 APPROACH

Now, with that said, this is actually a lot simpler than you might think. It might not be easy, but it’s definitely worthwhile.

I’d recommend using a 90/10 approach to nutrition.

If you’re new to dieting and eating healthier, this is a good place to start. It doesn’t involve calorie counting and it helps you pay attention to the quality of the foods you’re eating. That means for every nine healthy and well-balanced meals that you eat, you can indulge with your tenth meal.

Obviously, don’t go crazy and eat an entire cake or anything with excess sugar.

Be mindful of the portion size, of course, but enjoy a food that might not be considered one of those nine perfectly healthy meals. The goal here is to indulge at a lesser frequency without the need for excessive calorie restrictions.

FOCUS ON LEAN PROTEIN

Of all the macronutrients in a healthy diet, lean protein plays a critical role in your nutrition when your goal is to get rid of back fat. Lean protein provides the body with essential amino acids, the building blocks for muscle tissue.

When you combine great nutrition with resistance training exercises, consuming an ample amount of protein ensures that the muscles can repair and grow efficiently. This growth in muscle mass will lead to an increased resting metabolic rate, which means that the body burns more calories, even when at rest.

Also, foods rich in protein tend to be more satiating. This means you’re less likely to feel hungry after eating lean protein-rich meals.

From a metabolic perspective, protein stands out due to its high thermic effect of food (TEF). In other words, your body expends more energy (i.e. burns more calories) breaking down protein than it does fats or carbohydrates.

This helps in creating a calorie deficit, which is important for overall fat reduction.

Naturally, I want you to focus on proper nutrition with whole food choices, but I’m also in favor of giving yourself a helping hand with supplements. In particular, a whey protein supplement is a healthy way to help you get more protein in your diet.

ALCOHOL

We know that alcohol contains empty calories. And these empty calories start to add up quickly. Still, this will probably be an area that’s a lot easier for you to fix than you might think.

One option: You can just simply cut down the number of times per week that you drink. Or focus on reducing the number of drinks you have when you drink.

Again, it’s all about reducing the frequency that you indulge in things that are going to contribute to your back fat.

TO CARB OR NOT TO CARB?

When it comes to the actual foods we eat, I am going to suggest that you don’t attempt to lose back fat by becoming carb-phobic.

In other words, don’t try to avoid carbs altogether.

First, this is just going to set you up for long-term failure because you can’t deprive yourself forever of these delicious nutrients. But you’re going to find that it also interferes with the fat loss process in another way.

The initial restriction of carbohydrates might cause you to lose some excess body fat and water weight. But over time, you’re going to increase your cortisol levels. And your circulating cortisol levels have a big influence on body composition, particularly stubborn body fat like love handles.

By adding in some whole grain carbohydrates to your diet, you can decrease your cortisol levels and maintain your sanity at the same time.

While carbohydrates do tend to be foods that you crave, you can certainly approach them more responsibly. I always recommend that you have a 2-to-1 ratio from the fibrous carbohydrates to the starchy carbohydrates.

If you’re not sure what those are, check out a complete list of these two carb categories.

I’m not asking you to take rice, pasta, baked potatoes, or sweet potatoes off your plate entirely. I just want you to have fewer of them during each meal. The easiest way to do that is to first fill your plate with more of the green stuff.

Focus on leafy green vegetables like spinach, broccoli, and asparagus. Put twice as much of that on your plate as you would the starchy carbohydrate.

You’ll still get to enjoy your carbs, but it won’t have the same caloric impact.

TYPE OF TRAINING

Nutrition aside, there’s another side of this equation and that’s what you’re doing with your body.

What are you doing in terms of the output? Is there a lack of exercise in your daily routine?

There are three different things I like to focus on when it comes to your workouts:

• Type of training
• Exercise selection
• Cardiovascular exercise (Aerobic exercise)

First, you need to match the type of training you’re doing to the fitness goal you have.

If your main goal is to lose body fat but you’re doing a Bro Split workout or a Push Pull Legs split, I might argue that you’re following the wrong training approach right now.

So, what’s one of the better types of workouts for fat loss?

PERIPHERAL HEART ACTION TRAINING (PHAT)

There is something you can do that would give you more bang for your buck and it’s called Peripheral Heart Action Training or PHAT. It’s a training style that Bruce Lee and Vince Gironda used.

PHAT involves a combination of exercises done in sequence but rotating around your body. And this isn’t just any combination of exercises; you’ll focus on compound movements.

For example, you might start with a push-focused upper body exercise such as a Dumbbell Bench Press. Afterward, do a lower body exercise like Step-Up, Calf Raises with Dumbbells.

From here, you would go back to an upper body exercise, but this time it’s a pull-focused exercise. Let’s go with the Barbell Bent-Over Row.

Again, once you finish with that, you move back to the lower body and perform an effective exercise like the Romanian Deadlift or Dumbbell Split Squat. And you keep going in sequence with no rest in between until you’ve worked the entire body.

This type of training allows you to use a weight that will also challenge your muscles, allowing you to simultaneously avoid muscle loss and build muscle mass via the metabolic stress route.

And a little bit of muscle goes a long way here. It’s a good thing because the more lean muscle tissue you have, the more calories you burn while at rest.

As for the number of rounds that you perform, I’d recommend starting with one or two and gradually building up. Six or seven rounds is usually the upper limit for a workout like this.

Guys, some training approaches are better than others when fat burning is your focus.

And when you’re looking to lose those love handles, PHAT might be the best type of workout for you.

EXERCISE SELECTION: COMPOUND EXERCISES

It’s not just the type of training you do, but also the exercises that you select.

Forget about spot reduction exercises. We want to focus on the exercises that are going to blast body fat while building and strengthening lean muscle tissue.

Here are my recommendations for which type of exercises you should be doing to ensure you target that back fat.

For guys, the body stores fat around the lower back so you would think the best thing to do would be to perform dozens of Hyper Extensions, right?

Wrong! Zoom out and look at this from an entire body approach – not just the back fat.

When it comes to the overall training program that you’re doing, I recommend focusing on compound exercises that allow you to build muscle. Just like with the PHAT program I talked about above.

Sure, a workout that focuses on high-intensity interval training might involve exercises that burn a few more calories during the workout, but we’re thinking long-term here.

A workout centered around compound exercises will help you build lean muscle. In turn, having more lean muscle will burn more calories overall, not just in the short period of time you’re doing resistance exercise.

Here are some of the best resistance training exercises that target multiple muscle groups, help to build muscle, and burn plenty of calories. Some of these are going to be common exercises for calorie burning, but there’s a reason that the classics are still around: they work!

• Barbell Squats
• Barbell Deadlifts
• Bench Press
• Bent-Over Barbell Row
• Clean and Press
• Overhead Press
• Lunges
• Pull-Ups
• Push-Ups

In particular, I would love for you to incorporate Barbell Deadlifts into your workout.

There is real value in strengthening your lower back and one of the best ways to do this is by deadlifting. More importantly, you’ll target your lower back – the spot where the back fat is.

While you can’t necessarily “spot reduce,” your low back can become extremely active by doing the deadlift and increasing your strength.

What’s more, the fact that this is a heavy compound movement means that you’re metabolically calling on more muscles to participate in this exercise.

BARBELL DEADLIFT

EXERCISE SELECTION: ISOLATION EXERCISES

While the bulk of your workout should focus on compound movements, there are still two specific areas that I think should be given some extra attention.

You want to make sure you’re showing love to your obliques and your lateral deltoids. And here’s why:

OBLIQUES

Some might misguide you by telling you that training the obliques is just going to thicken up your waistline.

The only thing that is thickening your waistline is the layer of body fat that’s laying over the top right now!

Once you get those body fat levels down and reveal the muscles underneath, the obliques look amazing.

They actually do the best job of all the muscles in creating that thinning and tapering effect to the waistline.

So, you have to train them.

But in order to train them properly, you need to learn how to rotate your torso in space.

An exercise like the Russian Twist wouldn’t be a good option for the obliques because you’re just tapping your hands left or right.

You’re not really rotating your torso.

You need to row your arms and elbows back side to side to make sure you’re turning your shoulders in space in order to train that muscle more effectively.

I’d also like to see you get up on your feet for these rotational exercises.

Finally, make sure that you’re moving slowly and focusing on the rotation and contraction of the muscle. If you do that, you’re going to get better activation of the obliques.

How much of this oblique work are we talking about?

Ideally, if you can do a little bit every day, it will go a long way. That being said, even just one or two oblique exercises is enough to get the job done.

You’ll be ahead of the game if you can figure out other ways to incorporate it into the other training you’re already doing.

For example, you can perform a carrying exercise like the Suitcase Lunge to target both the lower body and obliques.

With that said, if you can dedicate time just to your obliques, here are some exercises that I’d recommend using:

STANDING RESISTANCE BAND TWISTS

STANDING RESISTANCE BAND WOODCHOPPER

SEATED OBLIQUE TWISTS

BICYCLE CRUNCHES

TWISTING HANGING LEG RAISES

LATERAL DELTOIDS

So, you’ve picked your compound exercises and you’re targeting the muscles that will have the biggest impact on helping you look trimmer and leaner.

There’s one more thing you can do.

You can create an illusion of a change in your physique, making your waist look slimmer, by building wider shoulders.

The best way to make it look like you have wider shoulders is to work on your lateral deltoids.

You don’t carry much fat in the delts. And just by creating more muscle growth and size there, you can also achieve more definition.

One more exercise that I’d like for you to throw into your roster is Lateral Raises with dumbbells. Here’s how to do it:

LATERAL RAISES

CARDIO EXERCISE

While cardiovascular exercise isn’t how you should start a workout, it can certainly play an important part of your routine.

With that said, a lot of you have probably heard about how fasted cardio exercise burns calories and how important it is for dropping body fat. And the truth of the matter is, it may not be all it’s cracked up to be, depending on how much body fat you have to lose.

While some may swear by it, others have actually pointed to research that shows that there isn’t a huge difference when it comes to losing overall body fat. Although you might be burning more fat during the session while fasted, you burn less fat afterwards.

If you’re going to do it in a fed state, you’ll burn more carbohydrates, but you’ll also have more of a fat-burning effect afterward. Now, when it comes to that stubborn body fat, those last few pounds that you can’t get off, this is where fasted cardio might play a bigger benefit.

I would say that you should explore the option to see if fasted cardio makes you plateau or speeds up your progress.

As far as what you can do for cardio, I believe the only “right” cardio is the one that you know you’ll do consistently. For example, if you love yoga, then I’d rather see you in your yoga pose being active than sitting at home doing nothing.

If you know cardio isn’t your favorite part of the workout, consider a personal trainer, one that can guide you through an intense aerobic exercise routine once or twice per week.

It’s all about the physical activity lifestyle. I want to see you doing the exercises that you know you’ll do, the ones that you enjoy doing. Once you build those healthy lifestyle habits that you do each and every week, then you can explore other more advanced routines and options. Build the habit first.

The easiest thing to do when you’re not seeing the results you want is to quit.

But when it comes to these stubborn areas of body fat that hang around too long, you’ve got to be willing to persevere.

Armed with the right foods, workout, and cardio, you’ll reach your goal. You just have to be consistent and push forward through those frustrating times.

If you’re looking for a workout program to help you build muscle and reduce body fat, check out our ATHLEAN-X programs to see which one is the best fit for your fitness level and goals.

HOW TO GET RID OF BACK FAT FAQS