Spot Reduction - Is It A Myth?

Why Spot Reduction is a Myth

So you want to get a six pack – what’s the first thing you’re going to start doing in your training plan? Probably sit ups and crunches, right?

Wrong.

When trying to lose fat from certain areas of the body, most people think that they need to work that particular area as hard as possible to burn the fat from it. Unfortunately though, this isn’t the case.

It seems pretty logical – you want to trim up somewhere, so you work that area really hard, and the fat falls off, but they body just doesn’t work like that. Stubborn fat is a pretty common issue for a lot of people. Generally, women hold their fat around the hips and thighs, while for men it’s around the stomach and lower back. You’ll get people who have excess fat other places too, like the arms, upper back and chest, but generally it’s the stomach and thighs that get the most attention.

When you exercise, your body doesn't just burn fat from the area you're working. Instead, it mobilizes stored energy (fat) from all over your body. The pattern of fat loss is influenced by genetics, hormones, and other factors, not solely by the muscles being exercised.

Muscle and fat are two entirely separate components though – they’re not really linked at all. If we use the most common example of spot reduction – doing crunches and sit ups to burn stomach fat, and look at why this doesn’t work.

Losing fat is all about calorie balance

Firstly, losing fat is all about calorie balance – to lose weight, you need to burn more calories than you consume, so that your body has to burn its stored fat for energy. Clearly, the best way to do this is through diet. By lowering your calorie intake by 500 calories per day, you can burn a pound of fat per week without even doing any exercise. Diet is a far more effective way of losing fat than exercising, although that’s not to say that exercise isn’t important.

Crunches, however, are a very low calorie burner, as they’re easy to perform, and require very little effort, meaning that they don’t do much in the way of burning fat. Chances are you will feel a real burn in your abs after crunching for a while, but as muscle and fat aren’t linked, this does little in the way of burning stomach fat. This goes for all other exercises too – squats don’t specifically burn leg fat, curls don’t directly burn biceps fat, and so on.

The other issue is hormones and genetics

Your genetics play a huge role in where you store most of your fat, hence why women and men store fat in different places. This means that while it is certainly possible to lose fat from your stubborn areas, your body will always decide where to lose fat from first. Most people will see fat loss first from their face, and from the stubborn areas last.

Even if you do every exercise under the sun for your targeted body part, and do one thousand reps every day, you can’t tell your body where it’s going to lose fat from. The problem areas discussed above – the stomach and hips are often linked to hormone levels too. Without going into too much detail here, there isn’t that much you can do about your hormone levels, meaning that again, while you will eventually lose your stubborn fat, it will be the last thing to go.

What Can You Do Instead Of Trying To Spot Reduce?

If you’re now despairing, and think it will take forever and a day to lose your stubborn fat, don’t worry.

First of all, you will get there in time, but you need to remember that losing fat is a marathon, not a sprint, and steady, consistent progress is key.

The first step is to nail your diet. There’s an old saying – “You can’t out-train a bad diet” which is one hundred percent true. As discussed earlier, you’ll get far better results from changing your diet than by doing a small amount of exercise.

To begin with, you need to work out your calorie intake. There are loads of ways you can do this. You can find your basal metabolic rate (BMR) using an online tool, use the Harris Benedict calorie equation, factoring in your activity levels, you can use government guidelines for calorie intake, or you can just lower your current intake by a few hundred calories, and see how you go. Constant monitoring is important too – if you’re not making progress, don’t be afraid to adjust your calorie intake to get you back on track.

After working out calories, look at your protein, carb and fat consumption, and food choices. These are all secondary to calorie intake, but still important. Each meal you eat should contain a serving of protein from meat, fish, dairy, a protein supplement, or some beans or pulses. Add a small amount of healthy fats from nuts, olive oil, avocado or nut butter, and then pack on some fruits and vegetables.

As for training, as spot reduction is impossible, you needn’t worry about targeting one particular body part. A full body routine will actually be far more effective at burning fat from all areas of your body, as it burns a much higher number of calories. Include exercises like squats, deadlifts, lunges, push-ups, rows and planks, as these are very intensive, take a great deal of energy, and burn loads of calories.

Do two or three weights sessions per week, and add in a couple of cardio workouts too – either steady state, where you exercise at a moderate intensity for 30 to 45 minutes, or interval training, where you alternate short periods of high and low intensity work for 20 to 30 minutes. Cardiovascular exercises, from running to swimming, facilitate calorie burn and overall fat reduction. High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) is particularly efficient for fat burning.

Addressing stress through techniques like meditation and ensuring adequate sleep can regulate hormones that influence weight. Intermittent movement throughout the day and flexibility exercises also contribute to overall fitness.

Where Spot Reduction Might Be Possible

After saying all of that, there may potentially be instances where spot reduction is possible, or you can at least get the appearance of spot reduction.

Doing lots of exercises for a specific body part may not directly burn fat from there, but what it will do is build lean muscle, which can give the appearance of having burned fat from that area. Take two people, both at 15 percent bodyfat – one who doesn’t train legs at all, and one who regularly performs squats, lunges and deadlifts, and compare their legs. Despite having the same bodyfat levels, the second person’s legs will look a lot better.

Hormones were mentioned earlier too. It’s possible that you could have a hormone imbalance, which is causing you to carry excess fat in certain areas. If you think this is the case, then visit your Doctor, or have a consultation with a qualified sports nutritionist, to see if there are any supplement protocols which may benefit you, and help get rid of your stubborn fat.

Now you can stop wasting your time in the gym, trying to spot reduce fat, and start seeing real results.