Is Spot Reduction Possible?

What is Spot Reduction?

Spot reduction is simply the myth that by working a certain part of your body you can magically reduce the fat stores in that area. Spot reduction is the main reason you can go into any gym and see 25 people doing crunches until they’re brain dead. The myth that spot reduction is possible has led to the creation of thousands of horrible products based off of using just one small sections of muscle. The thought that working a certain area of your body will reduce the fat mass seems like it would make sense, but our bodies do not work that way. Working the muscle of a certain area will not make the fat surrounding it disappear. Once you get this thought out of your mind you can really start focusing on creating the best body from all aspects.  The media has pounded into your head that spot reduction is possible, but don’t fall for it. Practically every infomercial product works on the fact that they try to convince you that spot reduction is possible, when it is NOT.

How is Body Fat Reduced?
You have no control over where your body appears to put fat on your body and you have little control over where you lose fat from. What we do know is that you must lose weight by being in a caloric deficit and your body will decide where that weight comes off of first. Your body will choose where the weight comes off of certain areas dependent on your genes, sex, hormones, and age. Do not fall into any traps that you have control over where your body burns fat from first. Do not let this get you down knowing that you will never be able to control how flat your abs compared to your arms. This is a good thing since you would look pretty ridiculous if you had a ripped six pack, but your arms and legs were still soft and flabby. To get that ripped six pack or lose some flab on your arms you have to simply lose weight. There is no easy way around it, so stop looking and start working on it.

If you really wanted to flatten up your stomach you would be much better off doing cardio and keeping tabs on your calorie consumption rather than doing any crunches at all. Everyone has the same muscles; the issue is that there is too much fat covering the muscle so you can’t see them. If you do crunches for days you will build the muscle, sure, but you will not see it since there is a nice layer of fat over it. The best attack is to work the muscle with some sort of weight training while watching your calories and doing some form a cardio.

Get the Body You Want

In order to obtain the best look you need a good balance of diet, weight training, and cardio. If you just did a million of repetitions of the same exercise you will never reach your goal. If you want to lose some flab in your arms your best tactic would be to do some cardio and watch your diet. This seems like it may be ridiculous that you can throw out all arm exercises and get thinner arms, but it WILL work. If you can manage to get your body to start burning off fat, then it will get fat from all areas of your body. You have muscle there, or else your limbs would be useless so if all you are going for is a slim look than simply losing weight would help you attain that goal. If you want a more muscular appearance you can work on building muscle by lifting weights, but you don’t want to overdo one aspect of fitness. Unless your goal is to get very bulky don’t just stick do lifting weights, and if you just want a slim look don’t only concentrate on cardio. Remember the more muscle you have the more calories you will burn, so muscle is always important. The best way to get the body you want is to attack it from the 3 aspects of diet, weights, and cardiovascular work.  There is not trick or magic workout tool, it just takes hard work and dedication!