Weightlifting and spot reducing

Phill2488

Lots of us know that you can't spot reduce body but then why are there weightlifting exercises that target different parts of the body? If you can't spot reduce and fat will come off certain parts of your body when it wants to come off then wouldn't just doing bicep curls 3 times a week (Or any other weightlifting exercise) be just as affect for removing body fat as working different parts of your body all the time?

cafeaulait7

The muscle targeting in lifting is to build strength, or when bulking to add muscle to those specific body parts. Presumably, muscles not used hard would lose more lean mass while in a deficit, too, so you lift for them to retain more muscle there.

As far as lifting for the calorie burn part of weight loss, sure, lift using any parts you like and the burn is the burn. But that's like practically irrelevant compared to the big reasons for lifting

ElliottTN

Doing bicep curls 3 times a week = Building (or trying to) larger muscles, not reducing fat on your arms.

Spot reduction = trying to lose fat from a specific location

Iknowsaur

I don't think they're so much trying to spot-reduce as they are trying to tone. Increased muscle mass would very much improve the appearance of certain areas.

michael300891

At the amateur level, these exercises (isolation exercises such as bicep curl) are mostly done to maximise overload in that particular muscle to maximise muscle growth there. It's done primarily in aesthetically prominent muscles such as the biceps to get maximal results in those muscles, when people often neglect less visible muscles.

At the pro level, its done because it becomes extremely difficult to overload muscle groups.

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