Many people, especially people with an endomorph body type, carry larger pockets of fat in certain areas of their body compared to others. Using myself as an example, I tend to carry more fat in my midsection than I do in other parts of my body. For people like me, there is a temptation to focus on exercises specific to those areas in the hopes that they burn off the fat in a targeted way.
It is a concept commonly referred to as ‘fat spot reduction,’ and unfortunately, it is not a concept that is based on science. For a solid explanation I will turn to people far more knowledgeable than I am, the fine people at the University of Sydney in Australia.
“Contrary to what many spot-reduction ads would have us think, our muscles can’t directly access and burn specific fat stores when we exercise.” Dr. Nick Fuller writes on the University of Sydney’s website. “Instead, they use a process called lipolysis to convert triglycerides into free fatty acids and a compound called glycerol, which then travels to our muscles via our bloodstream.”
“As a result, the fat stores we’re using for energy when we exercise come from everywhere in our bodies – not just the areas we’re targeting for fat loss.” the doctor’s article on the University website also states.
Dr. Fuller cites a 2021 meta-analysis involving 13 studies and over 1,100 subjects which found that working out a specific area of the body did not reduce fat in that area. Dr. Fuller points out that while there may be a study here and there that hints at finding the opposite, those studies have subject participation amounts that are way too low to be able to draw credible conclusions from them.
I touched on this in a previous article discussing how long it takes to get 6-pack abs. Belly fat is a popular target that aspiring fat spot reduction folks focus on. As I pointed out in that article, some people falsely assume that they can do spot reduction in which they do ab exercises and it somehow burns the fat layered over their ab muscles, however, spot reduction is a myth. The same is true when people do a calorie-deficit diet, which can help reduce your overall body fat, but not necessarily one particular part of the body.
“When the body is in calorie deficit and begins metabolizing fat for energy, it doesn’t go to an area where the muscles are doing a lot of work in order to get additional energy resources. The body has a genetically programmed pattern by which it determines from what adipose cells to access stored fat energy.” states Arnold Schwarzenegger in his book The Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding (page 538).
I will end this article by pointing out that building muscle in a specific area can somewhat alter how that area looks, even if there is a layer of fat covering those muscles. For example, if you are struggling with having ‘flabby arms,’ you can increase the muscle mass in your biceps and triceps to make them more solid. It won’t get rid of the arm fat, but it will hopefully make the arms less ‘flabby.’
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