The age old "You can't target areas of fat, lifting" BS!
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I don't think you can really 'control' where fat is loss.
The amount of fat you lose is based upon a bunch of factors already mentioned.
However, I've had a great success in really leaning out my abdominal region with the following (in addition to eating right, etc) -- Starting off with a aerobic activity and then alternate back to an abdominal activity.
Example:
1) Aerobic activity? Anything demanding with the goal of 15 mins or so.
2) Abdominal activity/ Anything that really squeezes the muscle and get the blood flowing in that area. This activity is brief 5 mins max and then back to the aerobic/cardio. OR perhaps, 30 minutes of cardio with a round of longer ab work 10 mins, back to cardio..
..I do this training in a fasted state.
The general premise is that cardio has the helps burn fat/calories and doing short intervals of ab work should increase blood flow around the ab area and hopefully facilitate breaking down fat.
Does this yield amazing paunch to six pack results? No. Do you really need a good diet and lifting plan? Yes, that's way more important for targeting your whole body for fat loss
Small remark:
I'm not suggesting that Aerobic activity is compulsory to burn fat. You can do that with a good strategy with weights only (and of course diet).1 -
It can *seem* to some people that you can spot reduce fat, but that's only because of the way fat may be stored on your body. The first fat to go is always fat on our organs, followed by fat deposits in the actual muscle tissue, followed by subcutaneous fat. Additionally, people naturally have more or less muscle in different parts of the body and that can vary by individual. My body comp testing shows that I carry more muscle in my arms and torso than in my legs (in spite of working my legs more often), and that's just genetics. It also means that my torso may appear more toned than my legs. Because fat stored on organs is burned by the body first, it may seem like your crunches are really working to spot reduce abdominal fat, but really, it's just your diet and the way the body is programmed to reduce unnecessary visceral fat first.0
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I WISH you could target areas. I always lose weight from my boobs first!1
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There is at least one proven way to spot reduce fat. LIPOSUCTION2
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metalmeow1 wrote: »I WISH you could target areas. I always lose weight from my boobs first!
I'm down at least 2 cup sizes.
But I'm a guy so I'm happy about it.
(Anyone sick of me posting this yet?)5 -
I don't know how much fat people carry on their shoulders to begin with, but I don't think it's very much relatively speaking. I think if someone added a significant amount of muscle to that area it would be pretty visible regardless just because of how most people carry their extra weight.
But no matter how much ab work he does they are not going to be visible unless he loses body fat overall, and the belly area is usually the last to go. If you could target it, I think most people would get rid of that first. But you can't so they don't.2 -
Tacklewasher wrote: »metalmeow1 wrote: »I WISH you could target areas. I always lose weight from my boobs first!
I'm down at least 2 cup sizes.
But I'm a guy so I'm happy about it.
(Anyone sick of me posting this yet?)
I am...lol0 -
I saw this obese man at the gym a year ago and he liked to hang out on the ab machine a lot. His belly was huge. He would also do planks and sit-ups as well. Seen him last week and his abs are totally chiseled but still obese everywhere else. I'm sure everyone has seen an example like this before.0
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He does what he calls cardio benching, 135 lbs for 4 to 6 fatigue sets in a row. We're talking 75 reps first set then it dwindles down, 300-400 total reps. Chest starting to show striations now. I've done his chest routine with him and 225 lbs til you reach 250 reps. I thought I was gonna die,lol.
Like over training a certain muscle, been watching too much CT Fletcher.
225 lbs for a total of 250 reps?? Not smart. Check out rhabdomyolsis. Very dangerous
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Deadlifting_Away_Doritos wrote: »I saw this obese man at the gym a year ago and he liked to hang out on the ab machine a lot. His belly was huge. He would also do planks and sit-ups as well. Seen him last week and his abs are totally chiseled but still obese everywhere else. I'm sure everyone has seen an example like this before.
Nope, never seen anything like it or even heard of it. And I wouldn't believe it unless I saw it with my own two eyes.0 -
You can call BS all you want but this is definitely a myth! It's impossible to spot reduce as many have already stated. If you want studies just Google it and you'll find numerous ones... This is exploited by several advertisers trying to peddle products like the ab belt lol. Next your gonna tell me muscle weighs more than fat and cardio burns fat(although cardio will increase metabolism & help put you in a caloric deficit state which will burn fat). I think your friend just has less fat on his shoulders, which many people do, and since that's all he trains he built delts.0
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Deadlifting_Away_Doritos wrote: »I saw this obese man at the gym a year ago and he liked to hang out on the ab machine a lot. His belly was huge. He would also do planks and sit-ups as well. Seen him last week and his abs are totally chiseled but still obese everywhere else. I'm sure everyone has seen an example like this before.
Lmao0 -
Deadlifting_Away_Doritos wrote: »I saw this obese man at the gym a year ago and he liked to hang out on the ab machine a lot. His belly was huge. He would also do planks and sit-ups as well. Seen him last week and his abs are totally chiseled but still obese everywhere else. I'm sure everyone has seen an example like this before.
Nope, never seen anything like it or even heard of it. And I wouldn't believe it unless I saw it with my own two eyes.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2028752/Celebrity-Big-Brother-2011-Darryn-Lyons-shows-phony-washboard-stomach.html
You can buy abs if you want.0 -
If it makes you feel better, there was a study done in 2007 where if one did 120 minutes of leg extensions continually, they can loose about .007 ounces of fat on their quad. So there is proof it can be done. It's just not that efficient versus just eating a calorie deficit.Need2Exerc1se wrote: »BishopLord wrote: »Need2Exerc1se wrote: »CipherZero wrote: »The great thing about factual information is our beliefs have no bearing on their truth.
What is the "fact" based on? How was it proved?
Based on the fact that when you get rid of body fat through working out, it comes from all over the body, not just a specific area. For example, say you only did recumbent bike for 30 minutes a day. Sure, your legs will get firmer, but you're still using other muscles, and your body temperature has risen, resulting in fat melting away not only in your legs, but your glutes, abs, chest, back, and lastly the arms.
I know the theory. But what proof is there that different exercises don't cause more fat from certain areas to be used? It's the proof I'm interested in. Genuinely interested.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
That was quite interesting and I made a connection to what I see amongst my cycling peer group where it's really common to see very lean, muscular, defined legs on people who have a moderate to generous covering of fat elsewhere.
BTW - my peer group on Audax events tends to be a demographic of the older, now more recreational rider but with many years of serious cycling miles behind them. One guy doing a 24hr event stood out in particular - big beer belly but legs like gnarled driftwood.
If you work out the "reps" on a 100 mile ride at cadence of 80 that's 28,800 for a six hour ride so if there is some tiny localised fat burning going on that's a powerful multiplier.
Multiply that again by my 4000+ annual mileage and that's a lot of muscle contractions.
So not really comparable to someone trying to "burn belly fat" with a couple of dozen sit ups.
My legs are relatively lean compared to the rest of me, whether that's localised fat burn or just genetics - who knows? Or frankly cares!
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Deadlifting_Away_Doritos wrote: »I saw this obese man at the gym a year ago and he liked to hang out on the ab machine a lot. His belly was huge. He would also do planks and sit-ups as well. Seen him last week and his abs are totally chiseled but still obese everywhere else. I'm sure everyone has seen an example like this before.
Nope, never seen anything like it or even heard of it. And I wouldn't believe it unless I saw it with my own two eyes.
Only time I've ever seen something close to that was roid gut
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Deadlifting_Away_Doritos wrote: »I saw this obese man at the gym a year ago and he liked to hang out on the ab machine a lot. His belly was huge. He would also do planks and sit-ups as well. Seen him last week and his abs are totally chiseled but still obese everywhere else. I'm sure everyone has seen an example like this before.
Nope, never seen anything like it or even heard of it. And I wouldn't believe it unless I saw it with my own two eyes.
Lol! I was being facetious.0 -
If we used our bellies to crawl around where would our excess fat accumulate? Would it end up in an area unused with less muscle?
This started out as kinda joking around. So I'll keep it going.
Can I start another thread and say muscle weighs more than fat,lol.0
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