Is Spot Reduction Real?

You will find so many articles and videos online with titles like, “How to shred belly fat”, “How to lose chest fat”, “Lose your love handles”, etc. These are all clickbait which appeal to what we all want. What these titles refer to is spot reduction or the act of targeting and removing fat from a specific part of the body through exercises or diet. However, have you ever seen someone with a chiseled six-pack, yet fat everywhere else?

Any expert in the field of nutrition and fitness would agree that spot reduction is a myth. There are some surgical techniques but that is it. Your body decides where to burn fat mostly based on genetics, but it generally happens all at once throughout the entire body. To lose fat in one area, you need to simply burn more calories than you consume through full-body exercise and diet, and you will eventually burn fat in the area you are seeking.

How Does the Body Burn Fat?

Fat is used by the body as a slow burning, efficient energy source. Only recently in human history has excess fat really become an issue due to an overabundance of high-calorie foods. Historically, fat storage served an evolutionary purpose by preparing for times of scarcity. When there wasn’t a lot of food, the body could access some of the stored fat from the times of abundance. Now, in developed parts of the world, few people experience real hunger. This is why obesity is now an issue.

Fat is used primarily as a fuel source for normal daily activities such as working, sitting, and walking. As the activity gets more intense the body prefers to burn carbohydrates, a faster burning sugar. The fat cells are like containers around the body that store energy in the form of triaglycerol. When the energy is needed, the body triggers a release of the triaglycerol, converting it to free fatty acids. These free fatty acids then move through the bloodstream to the intended muscle. They then move into the mitochondria of the muscle where they are “burned” for energy. So the fat cell never goes anywhere. It merely shrinks as more energy or free fatty acids are needed. When you have excess body fat, the fat cells expand which make it harder to see definition in your muscles. People who look lean, simply have emptier fat cells (source). 

Your body will decide how and where to burn fat mostly based on your genetics, gender, and previous habits. Fat in the belly region is generally the most stubborn, meaning it is often the last to go as you are losing fat. But, it will eventually go away if you keep at it. So you need to continue to burn fat through a caloric deficit and exercise until the body decides to utilize the fat in the region you are wanting to target.

Which Exercises Burn the Most Fat?

Exercises that burn the most fat will be those that utilize the most muscle groups, and increase your heart rate the most. I’m sorry to say that situps are one of the worst exercises you can do if you want to lose your gut. They only exercise your abdominal muscles underneath the fat, and barely burn any calories, hence less fat loss. 

Cardio such as running, walking, cycling, and swimming are much better options because they recruit multiple different muscle groups which elevates your heart rate, increasing calorie burning. This signals a release of fat cells for energy. 

In the gym, compound lifts such as squats, deadlifts, bench press, and shoulder presses will be better than an isolated movement like a bicep curl for example. Working out your lower body is probably the best way to burn fat because those are the largest muscles in your body and will need the most energy to work and grow. So do a squat if you want to reduce that belly fat!

Importance of Building Muscle for Fat-Loss

Many people only focus on cardio when they are trying to reduce fat but they are missing out on the benefits of weight training when they do. Cardio will burn more fat during the exercise but muscle building will help to increase your overall metabolic rate. One study showed that just 11 minutes of weight training 3 times a week resulted in a 7% increase in daily metabolic rate over a six month period. And it makes sense that if you have more muscle mass, you will need more fuel to go to those muscles. That is why a bodybuilder can eat more calories than a skinny guy, but the skinny guy will gain fat and the bodybuilder won’t. The bodybuilder is simply burning more calories passively. So in addition to cardio, don’t forget to build muscle for long term results.

So How Can I Get a Six Pack?

Everyone wants a six pack. The thing is that everyone already has a six pack. It’s called your rectus abdominus. Anyone that has been in an anatomy lab and worked with cadavers has seen their perfect six packs. This is because the skin and fat has been removed. The six pack is there, but your fat cells over the muscle are too inflated. Direct training is maybe 5-10% of the equation when it comes to ab training. It helps them pop a little and have a little more form. However, if you have a low enough body fat percentage, you will see a six pack.

First, focus on burning fat through full body routines, cardio, and a healthy diet. Then, your abs will start to appear. Don’t even worry about ab exercises at this point. Get your body fat to where you can see abs. Then, you can start to do some ab work to make them look a little nicer. 

So unfortunately there is no way to really spot reduce. You will just have to do the work to burn fat in your entire body until it decides to burn the fat deposits you desire. It’s not as easy as it sounds, but it is that simple.