Spot Reduction

Spot Reduction doesn't work

It is quite surprising how many people are still convinced that performing weight exercises for one or the other body-part will affect fat loss in this particular area. Some people for example still mistakenly believe that side-bends with dumbbells would decrease fat deposits in their waist and hip area; sit-ups are thought to reduce the midsection and isolation movements such as leg adductions and leg raises performed out to the side or to the rear are erroneously believed to help reduce fat in the thigh or buttock areas. Working any body-part systematically against weight resistance will however rather strengthen, respectively tone up the muscles in the trained area, but do nothing at all to reduce the fat around the involved muscles. Fat and muscle are entirely different tissues; as there is no energy pathway from the fat to the muscle tissue underneath, the fat overlying a particular muscle can not provide the energy for that muscle's contractions.

Weight training is -due to its high intensity - actually rather fueled by glycogen (muscle-sugar, derived from the carbohydrates in our diet), which is stored within our muscle cells and in the liver. During prolonged activities of lower intensity, such as cardiovascular (aerobic) exercise, the body increasingly uses fat for energy production as soon as glycogen stores within the muscles and the liver start to run low, but the fat being used will evenly come off from throughout the body. In this event, lipids from fat stores throughout the body travel in the bloodstream to the liver, where they are converted into fatty acids. These fatty acids are then taken by the bloodstream to the areas, where they are needed and used for energy production by the working muscle cells. Unfortunately there is no way for us to determine -neither by a particular choice of exercises nor otherwise - where the fat will come off first and where later.

The healthy way to achieve permanent fat loss is optimizing your food choices (no fat, no sweets, alcohol or carbonated soft drinks!) along with slightly reducing your daily calorie intake ; at the same time you should also increase your calorie output by engaging in regular aerobic activity of sufficient intensity and duration.

A sound overall weight training program of appropriate intensity, optimally performed before any aerobic activity, ensures that your metabolism is gradually led back up to its highest possible level, which is your best guarantee against regaining lost fat.