Spot Reduction, Myth or Truth?

I was at the supermarket checkout counter yesterday and couldn’t help but notice all the magazines with front page headlines enticing consumers with articles on reducing body fat in certain areas. The most popular being the midsection.

While waiting my turn, I flipped through a couple of magazines to see if there was some secret I failed to learn through all my professional training.

Most of these articles talked about doing excessive ab workouts “for those 6 pack abs”, or some other type of strength training workout for great legs.  Part of the deception is this:  We cannot spot reduce.  You cannot pick an area that you are unhappy with, focus all your exercise on that and get the results they claim unless you are at an ideal weight and only need to tone those areas.

Your body will decide which fat stores to attack.  Doing sit-ups and crunches will NOT eliminate the belly fat but WILL strengthen that area.

Therefore, if you need to lose weight around your midsection, a combination of interval training and strength will eventually reduce the fat throughout your body.  Leaving your body to decide which areas it will reach first. As for us women, too often, I find our bodies choosing our chest, which for some of us, I know it is not where we would like to begin.

Hang in there.  The good news is that consistency will show results.

If you have any questions about any articles you may read, email it to me and I will be happy to include it in an upcoming email.