Today I wanted to address a common myth which is “spot reducing” for weight loss. I’m sure you’ve heard of it and I want to clarify what it is and why it doesn’t work.

Spot reducing is trying to gain muscle and reduce fat in one specific area of your body.

For example you might think you have flabby arms so you want to do a ton of tricep exercise thinking that will fix that.

Another common one is abs. How many sit-ups do I need to do to get rid of this gut.

So this is what I mean when I refer to spot reducing for weight loss and if you’ve ever tried this you know that this is not really the way the body works.

You are probably limited by genetics.

Inside each muscle there are fats called tryglicerides. When you start exercising tryglicerides break down into a free fatty acid and a glycerol. Those then travel through the blood stream to your muscles to give your muscles energy. That process then generates heat and that’s where the term “burning fat” comes from. You cannot make the tryglicerides stay in the muscle where it’s located and only burn there. It travels, to where it’s need, so that is why spot reducing really does not work.

You are probably limited by genetics. People have different body types, often that runs in the family. You probably have noticed that when you lose weight you know right where you will lose it first. That is nothing you can change in the gym.

The best overall way to lose weight is to focus on being active, burning calories and muscle toning all over and you’ll reach your goal.

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