willgetyoufit

By: Will Power

          A lot of people walk around making love to the idea that if they want to trim a certain area of their body then spot reduction is the way to go.  But what is spot reduction and does this technique actually work?  Spot reduction is the idea that exercises consistently done for a certain area of the body will reduce or eliminate fat in that area.  As for whether it works, well…and I apologize for being anti-climactic so early on but, yes and no.

Studies published in the American Journal of Physiology have indeed shown evidence that when exercise is localized to a certain region of the body, blood flow to adipose tissue (fat) in that area is increased significantly.  This increased blood flow triggers higher levels of “lipolysis” (break down and releasing of fat into the bloodstream to be used as fuel) in the targeted area suggesting that you do burn body fat in the specific area being trained.

The problem with this course of action when it comes to body fat reduction, and the reason spot reduction is constantly discredited, is that any fat loss through the spot reduction techniques, if any, is often insignificant in relation to the body as a whole.  Overall body fat must be reduced to lose significant fat in any particular area.  Fat deposition and reduction patterns are determined by genetics (see “Where Did My Fat Go?!”), hormonal distinction (sex) and age (lifecycle).  Now it is true that despite the fact that fat is both gained and reduced throughout the entire body, a multitude of people tend to accumulate significant fat in their midsections (men and some women (usually post menopausal)) and hips and thighs (women and some men).

However, let it be known that you can do all the sit ups you want, the crunches, the leg raises, the torso rotations; you can try all those gimmicky products you see advertised on those infomercials made to take advantage of gullible consumers if you like.  If you do, I promise you will have the nicest abs, legs and thighs you can imagine, right under all your layers of fat.  At the end of the day, and I can’t reiterate this enough, if you want to reduce fat, exercise and proper dieting are your best keys to victory.