This is the most debatable question in the fitness and model industry; some people have excess body weight. However, there is some section of the population that is not interested in building muscle or losing weight. They just want to eliminate the embarrassing big tummy or love handles. This is often common in women because the excess fat deposits in the right places could be very attractive in ladies, while losing fat in specific locations can make you more attractive. These groups of people are not ready to sacrifice this asset and lose body weight. Moreover, they want to have a flat tummy and lose their love handles.
In the gym, I see a lot of people doing hundreds of sit up and going back home with a facial expression screaming, today’s workout was efficient and enjoyable. Most times, I wish I can tell them that the repetitive numbers of sit-ups and squats with a post-workout pizza and fizzy drinks are the best combination for disaster and weight gain. What exactly is spot reduction? It is a process, where fat elimination is targeted at specific body parts, by repeating particular exercise frequently. Spot reduction is more of a psychological myth that defiles the law of fitness which states: thou shall not decide or choose for your body, where it would lose fat. Most spot-reducers are like walking time –bomb, waiting for a trigger. They want to lose weight and are waiting for someone to prove them right or encourage them on this spot reducing quest.
There is an excellent glance given to anyone that tells spot-reducers that their effort is a waste and not useful. However, the big question is, Can you spot reduce Fat? Yes, there has been some research to back up, that spot reduction works in some scenarios, before, you close this page in anger, continue reading to see, the scientific backup. Before we talk about spot reduction, let’s talk about how fats are stored. Eating more calories than you burn, would lead to excess fat stored in different parts of the body especially the lower portion of the stomach, this science of fat storage, is the principal driving force for spot reduction, is this a dream worth having? Yes, it is according to research carried out in 2007. The analysis was carried out on specific people performing knee extension for high repetitions, different factors such as the amount of blood flow, and the difference in fat loss when compared the fats tissue surrounding the working leg and inactive leg (American Journal of Physiology-Endocrinology and Metabolism).
Initially, the subjects perform knee extension for about 30 minutes unilateral, and switching legs. The subjects perform the same exercise for 120 minutes with increased weight and the same parameters where measured and recorded. It was discovered that there were increased blood flow and fat loss around the working the muscle.The results gotten from this experiments reveals that increased blood flow and fat loss can be experienced in the fatty tissue surrounding a working muscle when specific exercises are performed. This shows that spot reduction to some extent could work if executed correctly. The downfall of this research is that the increased in fat loss experienced with spot reduction is little, which means, it could be Negligible and not so obvious or evident. This is the reason, why those that said spot reduction doesn’t work might be right due to little increment experienced in fat loss with spot reduction. The fat loss experienced after spot –reduction can be likened to picking some grains of sand form a beach, You definitely would not see your abs popping through your shirt after 100 sit-ups or crazily high repetitions of the abdominal exercise. Spot reduction doesn’t work realistically correct but technically wrong.
Most professional and successful bodybuilders such as frank zane and previous Mr. Olympia winners often testified to the benefits of spot reduction for their eye-popping abs and mid-sections during the competition. You can argue that this Arnold-like physique is due to pre-contest diet, but Frank Zane once talked about the benefits of high repetition or 100 reps of sit-ups before a bodybuilding contest. The advantage of this high repetition workout is to increase blood flow to the specific part of the body. Fitness enthusiasts and people that work out frequently often know the experience of having a muscular pump after a high repetition workout, combined with a low rest period in between.
The increased blood flow experienced during spot –reduction is not sufficient enough to eliminate the excess fats around our body (Diabetes Journal). The rate of blood flow and perfusion is directly proportional to the amount of fat loss. This means that increasing the blood flow to specific muscle group, would enhance the fat burning capacity of the muscle group and surrounding fatty tissue. If you want to spot-reduce fat in a particular area successfully, you would need to increase the blood flow to that specific region by combining high-intensity cardio and high repetition workout.
Combining HIIT and high-repetition training is a perfect training routine for losing weight overall, and spot reducing fat in specific muscle groups or parts of the body. It also ensures that you utilize the excess fats stored in your stomach as the source of fuel during this intense workout.
The best way to spot –reduce is to combine interval training with high-repetition training in one workout. You can alternate between 7-10 minutes of HIIT or cardio exercises and 1-2 minute of specific strength training exercise for the muscles you want to spot-reduce.This help in eliminating unwanted fat and avoiding time wastage. It helps in achieving your spot-reduction goals within the shortest period possible.
However, this combination technique is likely to perform miracles or wonders in an obese person or someone with lousy feeding pattern or diet plan. Spot reduction works, but the fat loss is too minimal to get the significant result we want, especially when combined with a bad diet or feeding plan. The best way to get that physique you dream of is to have a good diet plan and training regimen.
References
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Currell, K. (2014). Diet of an Olympian: Food with a purpose. Nutrition Bulletin, 39(2), pp.213-217.
Lindeberg, S. (2005). Paleolithic diet (“stone age” diet). Food & Nutrition Research, 49(2).
Stanner, S. (2012). Is a high-carb diet ‘poison’ for people with diabetes?. Nutrition Bulletin, 37(4), pp.350-354.
Weichselbaum, E. (2011). Dairy and the 21st-century diet: nutrition and sustainability. Nutrition Bulletin, 36(2), pp.276-279.
Weichselbaum, E. and Buttriss, J. (2014). Diet, nutrition and schoolchildren: An update. Nutrition Bulletin, 39(1), pp.9-73.
