This is quite possibly the most common myth in the fitness industry:
You can spot reduce body fat.
Spot reduction (or spot training) is essentially an attempt to reduce subcutaneous body fat from specific parts of the body by performing exercises and movement patterns that target those areas.
Why is this belief and practice so common? Probably because everyone desperately wants it to be true.
But here’s the reality: while you can’t spot reduce body fat, you can spot shape lean muscle.
Spot Reduction vs. Spot Shaping
As I previously stated, spot reduction is attempting to reduce body fat from a specific body part (like your stomach, hips or booty) by performing exercises that target those areas (like sit-ups, oblique crunches or barbell thrusters).
Spot shaping, on the other hand, is performing targeted exercises that train specific muscles with the intent to strengthen those muscles and illicit an anabolic, hypertrophic effect.
Now, these two terms — while not the same — are often used interchangeably, which can cause quite the confusion.
But the truth is that it doesn’t have to be confusing. And it’s actually quite simple when you break it down. So let’s do that now:
Why You CAN’T Spot Reduce Body Fat
Fat loss is a result of a negative energy balance — meaning that in order to lose fat you must consume fewer calories through food than you expend through activity and exercise.
Therefore, if you’re simply doing thousands of abdominal crunches to get washboard abs but aren’t respecting the laws of thermodynamics (calories in vs. calories out), you might increase the strength capacity of your abs but you certainly won’t reduce body fat in that area.
In addition, genetics do play a role in determining where on your body you will lost body fat first.
So, while you may be cranking out thousands crunches while in a calorie deficit, you also may have a predisposition to lose fat in your extremities before your core. And that’s just the way it goes.
Why You CAN Spot Shape Lean Muscle
Building lean muscle in a certain area is a result of targeted strength training and progressive overload. Basically this just means that you can increase the strength and size of your biceps (for example) by performing sets/reps of bicep-centric exercises at a specific load and then increasing that load over time. Think bodybuilders, powerlifters, etc.
Now, just because these individuals are increasing strength and muscle size, why doesn’t it always look like they are “toned” or have phenomenally shaped muscles (like during bulking season, for example)? That’s because in order for your muscles (or anyone’s muscles) to ‘pop’, you need to have low levels of body fat. And that’s the bottom line.
Muscle definition is predicated on not just training capacity and experience, but also body fat percentage.
So while you can spot shape (and build) lean muscle, it’s not going to be optimally visible until you reduce your body fat percentage.
Putting It All Together
Now that you know you can’t spot reduce body fat but you can spot shape muscle, how do you put it all together so that you look your best?
Here’s the simple answer:
- Start building lean muscle by targeted strength training (2–4x per week)
- Focus on compound movements (squats, presses, deadlifts and rows)
- Incorporate an extra set of any particular exercise that targets your “trouble area” (ie. for abs you could do an extra set of rope crunches)
- Once you have a solid muscular foundation, decrease body fat (this requires you being in a calorie deficit)
- Track your macros and consume adequate protein (0.8-1.0 grams per lb. of bodyweight)
- Perform cardiovascular exercise to complement your strength training (1–3x per week)
- Stay consistent with your strength training and nutrition plan
Questions For Me?
If you have any questions regarding any of this, or if you would like me to elaborate on anything mentioned in this article, feel free to shoot me an email at: MaxWeberFitness@gmail.com or tweet me right here.
I’m more than happy to help!
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