Does anyone else hate these damn things. No matter how much more my abs show day these things DO NOT want to go away. I’m not sure but i think it might be muscle because i used to wrestle. Maybe i have big hip muscles? Is there any way to find out?
Muscle contracts, fat doesnt.
Love handles are made strictly of fat. I doubt your wrestling would make you look as if you had love handles by adding muscle. Trust me, you should know the difference.
I tend to have a thick waist from all of the core and standing overhead work that I do. I do not really care as I do not want a wasp waist or some pretty boy look. If your love handles are hard then it might be a result of your wrestling etc. If they are flabby, then you have some fat to lose. UFC fighter Ken Shamrock has thick obliques or love handles. However, he is a rock and definitely does not have a flabby midsection.
Yohimbine is also good for targeting abdominal fat so that is another option worth exploring.
Mike Mahler
*nervous giggle*
Well stupid me just did a little test. The fat is more or less the same there as it is on the rest of my stomach. I was doing an excercise that uses the “hip?” muscle and pinched the fat lowering of the movement. My handles aren’t really that bad of handles at all. It’s mostly muscles.
Exactly.
Nearly any oblique exercise, or anything that throws off your lateral balance, will enlarge the muscle directly beneath the ‘love handles.’ Professional bodybuilders, ripped to bone, still have 'em.
Though I hate to recommend it, if aesthetics rank above functional strength on your priority list, lay off the heavy side bends.
DI
i dont mind it. I like the fact of being able to hip toss someone. also ill take every pound of muscle i can get.
I feel your pain. Even at just a pinch below 8%BF I still show love handles on my lower back. Trust me, they arent “thick obliques” lol.
Of course, they quickly spread from my lower back to my sides as soon as I start putting on any fat. On the bright side, I could nail that skinny-fat look with little effort.
As far as solutions? Everyone swears by yohimbe (or bine, whichever), maybe I’m expecting too much out of it, but it hasnt worked wonders for me.
Sucks, but its the only thing stopping me from being perfect, and we all know no one could be , so 
A cheap way of telling is by following the line of muscle from your pubic region to your side. If it appears to be one large musclar unit, then it’s definitly muscle (try flexing and relaxing and flexing) You’ll get the gist.
Also, if you can see any veins, it’s likely muscle, as it’s hard to see veins through layers of fat. I had this same concern early on, and then I realized it’s thick muscle, when I saw a giant vein bulging out. Actually, it’s become one of my prides hehehe.
Sure is nice to be able to do a search and not annoy the vetrans with another newbie question.