Spot Reduction & Fat Loss - Learn The Truth About This Fitness Myth

FAT LOSS is the number one goal of nearly all gym goers and fitness enthusiasts… and SPOT Reduction is what nearly every fat loss seeker wants to achieve… But what exactly is spot reduction and does it actually occur?

SPOT REDUCTION - What exactly is it and does it actually occur?
Spot reduction refers to the ability to reduce or remove body fat from specific regions (SPOTS) of the body.... For example, a lot of people assume that if they want to lose abdominal fat... that they do so by performing direct abdominal work... or by performing tricep kickbacks and tricep pushdowns one will be able to get rid of their bingo-wings (the flab that wobbles on the underneath of the upper arm).

Through this article I want to address the training aspect of spot reduction and not nutrition or hormonal issues. I am not a qualified nutritionist or biosignature practitioner, so I will not speak on those matters, but I will address the training issue.

Let me start our discussion on spot reduction by talking about a friend of mine here in LA that I am training at the moment and his recent visit to the watch makers to have a link removed from his wrist watch.

He had to get a link removed from his wristwatch as his wrists had shrunk! YES he's losing fat from his wrists and forearms.

I asked my buddy how many wrist/forearm exercises we had done over the last few weeks... the answer of course was 'ZERO'. You don't need to directly work a certain body region in order to remove fat from that region.

Now of course a lot of exercises we do will tax the forearms in an indirect way... as we are always grasping a dumbbell, barbell or chin up bar... that's exactly my point... why would you need to do additional 'ISOLATION' work on the wrists/forearms when they are indirectly getting enough stimulation from everything else you are doing.

My friend has very little control over where the fat loss will come from... he has to accept that fact and deal with it. He obviously, like most people, wants all the fat loss to be coming from the midsection. I am trying to educate him and have him understand that if he wants to lose fat locally (from a specific region of the body) then he has to train globally... meaning he has to train the entire body.

Now don't get me wrong... I am not anti isolation exercises, not at all. However, isolation based exercises have a specific time and place and for the majority of people kicking off their fat loss efforts… full body resistance training or upper body and lower body split routines are the better option.

For fat loss we need to train metabolically, performing exercises and training routines that will have a great impact on our metabolism, not just during the session, but in the many hours between training sessions. We have got to train for that guy I like to call ABE...

If I haven't introduced you to ABE before... he is the fat loss seekers best friend. ABE stands for 'After Burn Effect'

The best way to train for the after burn effect is to perform routines that target and hit the body's metabolic hot spots and hit them frequently... Usually 3 times per week will do the trick. The body's main metabolic hot spots are back, chest and legs... the areas or spots of the body with the most muscle mass.

No matter how hard you hammer your arms on arms day... it doesn't matter, you still have a limited amount of muscle mass to tax. Now again, I'm not bad mouthing isolation exercises or having an arms day, but an arms day is not what someone seeking fat loss or a newbie really needs, nor benefits from. Like I said, there's a time and a place for everything.

Now my buddy is doing really well. He has lost a total of 17 pounds in one month and a total of over 43 pounds since mid July, so the progress is there... it's just not 'WHERE' he would ideally love it to be... but the abdominal fat loss will occur... in fact, he has lost a couple of inches from his waistline... it's just that he has another 10-12 inches to go!

My FACE and SPOT Reduction
Here's another quick example for you… so you better grasp the idea of SPOT REDUCTION and how it is out of one's control.

That's a picture of me at 7% body fat at the start of April 2009... Now of course I look lean, but when I go for a physique contest I need to lower my body fat and drop down to about 5% or even lower. Problem with that is... my face!

When I start dropping below 6%... not only do my abs start to get seriously lean, which is great, but my face begins to get to lean and I end up looking gaunt, which is not great at all.

Now I don't do any facial exercises... except grimacing when lifting heavy loads, and then my facial muscles also get taxed when I perform certain neck exercises (neck bridges and head supported planks). I don't do anything 'SPECIAL' in an attempt to shrink my face. Maybe I should get some fat injections into my cheeks before my next competition.

What I really want people to understand, especially heavier set people who have a lot to lose, is that you have to train metabolically for fat loss and spot reduction... and sometimes (most of the times actually) that means staying clear of direct exercises for that body region that is your trouble area. The best direct exercises for your trouble spots are most often multi joint compound exercises that work multiple muscles simultaneously... taxing those metabolic hot spots we talked about earlier and allowing you to leave the gym with your new best friend 'ABE'... 'After Burn Effect'.

SPOT Reduction and The Pool Analogy
Here's a little analogy for you to think about. 'If I take a bucket and place it into the corner of a swimming pool and scoop water out of the corner of that pool, the water comes from the entire swimming pool... Not just the corner' right? You have to train your entire body to reduce body fat, your blood stream supplies the energy (in the form of fat) to your muscles, agreed? You cannot select where the fat comes from, your body does!

And I know it seems logical for your body to take fat from the area closest to the muscle working, but it doesn't! The blood is flowing! It circulates around uncontrollably and the fat that happens to be taken up by the working muscle may just have originated in your BELLY or your ASS! You don't have control over this aspect of fat loss! Live with it. Metabolic type work and a clean diet is the key to fat loss, it doesn't matter where the fat is!

I hope you found this article informative and hope it has educated you in better understanding the concept of spot reduction and the reality of fat loss. So remember… the importance of training the whole body (globally) in an attempt to reduce stubborn body fat (locally) and to do so by engaging in whole body metabolic type training routines.

Best of luck to you with your fat loss and physique development goals!

By Ian Graham