Myth Busting #1: Spot Reduction

The other day, I was at the gym setting up for deadlifts when I noticed a woman in the stretching section doing crunches.

At first, I didn’t really pay her any mind.

She was doing crunches after all, and although there’s nothing inherently wrong with crunches, there are far better choices – in my opinion – for bringing up core strength and stability.

However, what eventually caught my attention was that after I finished my workout – a good hour and fifteen minutes later – this woman was STILL in the stretching section doing crunches.

I was pretty shocked.

I went over and asked her why she just spent the last 75 minutes doing crunches, and her answer was simple:

To lose body fat.

Before I comment on this, I want to make it clear that I have a TON of respect for this woman.

She’s in the gym – the “man’s” side of the gym for that matter – doing whatever she can to improve her health and lose body fat.  That’s more than 95% of the population.

Not only that, but she spent 75 minutes doing crunches.  Nothing but crunches.

Whether that’s a well-structured workout conducive to her fat loss goals or not, that’s pretty darn impressive.

However, with all of that being said, crunches (alone) are NOT conducive to her goal of losing body fat, and that’s because spot reduction doesn’t work.

Targeting a muscle with a specific exercise (i.e skull crushers for the triceps, crunches for the abs, etc.) in the hopes of “burning” fat from that one particular area is one of the biggest myths in the fitness industry, and one I hope to bust in today’s blog post.

 

Strength, Size, and Endurance

Before we talk about fat loss and why spot reduction doesn’t work, I think it’s important to briefly touch on what happens to a muscle when it’s trained with external resistance.

This is a VERY simple overview, but three adaptions occur based on the load lifted and the total volume (sets and reps) performed:

 

Increased Strength –

This is largely due to neural adaptions, and is achieved by training with loads at 85-100% of your one rep max (1RM) for 1-5 reps.

 

Hypertrophy (increase in muscle size) –

This occurs due to metabolic and mechanical tension, and is achieved by training with loads of 60-80% of your 1RM for 6-15 reps.

 

Muscular Endurance –

This occurs due to a muscle being forced to work through fatigue and lactic acid accumulation, and is achieved by training with loads below 60% of your 1RM for 15+ reps, with very minimal rest in between sets (30 sec or below).

 

My reason for telling you all of this is to show you that – despite it not leading to a direct reduction in body fat from one particular area of the body – strength training is still important.

Very, very important, as it’s arguably the most valuable tool for enhancing athletic performance and building a great physique.

With that being said, strength training alone – without taking in to account your diet and non-workout related activity – doesn’t have much of an impact on fat loss, because the only way to lose body fat is to be in a caloric deficit (burning more energy than you’re taking in) for a prolonged period of time.

 

“Abs are Made in the Kitchen”

Have you heard this quote before?

I’m pretty sure you have.

Well this statement is true, but not in the way that most people think.

You see, abs AREN’T made in the kitchen.

They’re forged through consistent battle with the iron, and the only way to build a six pack is by training it with some form of external resistance (i.e. strength training).

However, what the quote does a really good job of is illustrating the importance of nutrition.

Everyone has a six pack.  Everyone.

Some people have a more developed six pack than others, but the only difference between person A who can see their abs, and person B who can’t, is that person A has a lower level of body fat.

How did they get to that lower level of body fat?

Simple (well, sort of simple), by creating a caloric deficit – either through decreasing their food intake or increasing their activity level – and continuing to make minor adjustments to their food intake and activity level (when fat loss stalled) until they reached their goal physique.

This is the only way to lose body fat, and the main reason spot reduction doesn’t work is because without creating a caloric deficit, you’re not going to lose any body fat – in any area and no matter how many crunches you do – because you’re providing too much energy for your body to have to use stored energy (body fat) for fuel.

On that same note, the areas of our body that we lose body fat from?

Not in our control.

Fat loss general happens distal to proximal, or from the outside in.

In other words, we tend to lose fat from the outer arms and legs first, with the last places to go being the abs and low back for men, and the hips and upper thighs for women.

Kind of sucks, but that’s the way it is.

Now, what this all means is that – in order to achieve our ideal physique – we have to focus on everything as a whole, and not as individual parts.

Instead of focusing on one particular body part, focus on training your entire body with major compound exercises.

Instead of focusing on training OR nutrition, focus on both, and pay close attention to what you’re putting in to your body, as well as the quantities in which you consume them in.

Instead of only focusing on what you do in the weight room,  focus on what you do when you’re NOT in the weight room, and start trying to increase your non-exercise related activity level by taking the elevator instead of the stairs, parking farther away from the grocery store, going on a brisk walk during your lunch break, etc.

Finally, take things slow, and learn to enjoy the process as that’s the only way to achieve long-term and lasting results.

Does this mean you should never do crunches or isolation work?

No it doesn’t.

Just remember that at the end of the day, spot reduction doesn’t work.

Training, nutrition, cardio, and moving more – outside of the weight room – are all equally important.

And when you go to develop your next fat loss plan, always focus on the big picture.