One of my Clients asked me “Jay, I hate my love handles and my arm fat, can we just focus on those areas, I really want to lose weight in those 2 areas.” This stimulated the ever going question for beginners and advanced alike: Can I Spot Reduce Fat????
In my own weight loss/ gain journey I have battled with the wish to take the fat from around my midsection and throw it away leaving only a muscular, slim physique. However to really dissect this analysis, you have to realize what kinds of fats are inhabit our bodies.
There are different types of fat that are within the human anatomy:
1. Subcutaneous
2. Visceral
Subcutaneous Fat is the unsightly fat that we can all see, for example those love handles, the giggly arms, thighs etc. Whereas, Visceral Fat is the type of fat that is within our bodies and covers our most important vital organs.
Overall genetics has a lot to do with how your specific body type deals with, distributes and handles the production of fat and fatty tissue. Also your diet, primarily sugar, plays a massive part on your body gaining and or losing weight. Sugars are broken down into Glucose, which acts like energy for the body. In short, glucose is broken down into carbon dioxide and water or bond together and form fat. Lastly, even healthy foods, if consumed in abundance will convert into fat due to the body only needing a certain amount to utilize for energy. When food is converted into fat, its like your body storing some for later “just in case”.
Now with the very general idea of where fat comes, can we target a certain area in order to lose weight in that specific area? Short answer….No, however it has been proven by studies of the American Journal of Physiology, that there is slightly more fat mobilization in areas where physical activity was taken place. For instance, workouts that primarily work the lower half of the body showed that there was more fat burning in the lower half than the upper half. This is due to blood being pumped towards those specific muscles during the length of the exercise. Within the blood that is being pumped are fat shredding agents like Epinephrin and Norepinephrin, however, this is not a significant amount of fat burning to your desired area. There is also the thermogenic affect which raises the core temperature of the body in which will have a fat burning effect overall instead of just one specific area.
Additionally, within the journal of strength and conditioning research, there were 7 men and 4 women conducting a study for over 12 weeks where they went to the gym a few days a week and conducted 900- 1200 reps of leg press on their non-dominant leg. This was to see if that specific leg would lose more weight than the other. The results were very eye opening, are you ready???
The subjects on average lost .3lbs of fat, and lost fat in their torso instead of that one leg that they were training so hard.
In conclusion, even though it would make sense that if we do 1.2 million crunches and hours worth of tricep dips, we should be able to build masterful six pack abs and have arms that look like Dwayne Johnson! However, as we saw in both studies, even though the blood flow is more significant towards the spot area, the thermogenic affect heats up your whole body, and not just that one area. If you are ready to take the leap and change your body for good, The Spartan System was created to be a fully customizable workout plan that is specifically tailored to your level of fitness, body type and your specific 1 Rep Max. Join the Alliance now!!!!!
If you wish for a more in depth analysis and step by step instruction on how to get the body you deserve, check out the Spartan System for intermediate to advanced body builders and the Road to Glory for beginners!
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