You Can't Spot Reduce, Or Can You?????

TyFit08
TyFit08 Posts: 799 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I have read numerous posts here where people say you can't spot reduce. I do get that you have to work on losing body fat as a whole, but realistically exercises target specific muscles. So if your routine focuses on a specific muscle group, wouldn't that be spot reduction? I don't think anyone does spinning 4 times a week because they want highly developed biceps, they want to work their legs. And if you think about it, there are those guys when huge upperbody and skinny legs, they spot increased since they didn't gain muscle all over, why can't the same be applied in reverse?

Replies

  • Martiangeneral
    Martiangeneral Posts: 2
    No, spot reduction does not work. At least not with humans! Meaning, when you lose fat in your body, it is lost throughout your body's fat resevoirs. (and not from on specific place)

    And don't confuse spot reduction (loss of fat in one specific part of the body) with what you are calling "spot increasing" (gaining muscle in one specific part of the body). These two are not the same thing.
  • wellbert
    wellbert Posts: 3,924 Member
    Actually, yes.

    Some studies show that the increased heat and blood flow to a certain area will increase the turnover of fat tissue. The effect is, however, minuscule. Like, microscopic.

    So, in reality: No.

    You can spot increase, if we're talking about muscle. Muscle comes from direct stress on the specific muscle group - though even just working one muscle group can increase growth potential all over the entire body. That's why people say squats build your upper body.
  • TyFit08
    TyFit08 Posts: 799 Member
    So I'm confused, how can you spot increase if you can't spot reduce. I can't see how one might be possible if the other isn't.

    Also wouldn't a routine that focuses more on certain muscle group eventually show the greatest results in that muscle group. Years ago when I worked with a trainer, I used to hit legs harder than upperbody because legs were my focus. Now I combine legs with upperbody so I am always working legs. Spinning for example is a total body workout, but the focus is the legs and I'm sure most people who take spinning want to focus on their quads and hams. I'm just saying maybe we oversimplify when saying you can't spot reduce, because people tailor their workouts to their goals.
  • Holmfridur_Gestsdottir
    Holmfridur_Gestsdottir Posts: 83 Member
    You are talking about two different phenomenons. One being muscle development and the other fat burning.

    Muscles can be trained in isolation if you would like to. For example the Y shaped guys are probably doing a lot of curls and bench presses but they ignore deadlifts, squats and other lower body exercises. Hence, they are only building the muscles on their upper body, not losing inches/cm on their lower body. Usually, you can't do both at the same time, anyway.

    If your goal is to burn fat, not build muscle, the body is going to be holding on to fat in certain places but losing faster in other places. It's just genetics. My body tends to hold onto belly fat, but I lose thigh and butt fat pretty easily. That, in spite of having had ridiculously little leg muscles and a pretty strong core. Actually my legs are coming along so I am pretty happy about them these days, both lean AND muscular. At last!
  • jshort152
    jshort152 Posts: 80
    Spot reducing is a myth, just like toning. HOWEVER, you can work certain areas with different exercises to grow the muscle, this growth in muscle gives the appearance that you are reducing the fat or even "toning" the muscle. Hope this helps clarify a little bit!

    Jesse Short
    ISSA Certifed Personal Trainer
  • TyFit08
    TyFit08 Posts: 799 Member
    Spot reducing is a myth, just like toning. HOWEVER, you can work certain areas with different exercises to grow the muscle, this growth in muscle gives the appearance that you are reducing the fat or even "toning" the muscle. Hope this helps clarify a little bit!

    Jesse Short
    ISSA Certifed Personal Trainer

    That makes sense. I never even heard of spot reducing until I joined MFP. I always just said i want to focus on this or that and tailored my workout to target certain areas more aggressively. I guess where the confusion lies, is "spot increasing" is about building muscle and people think "spot reducing" is losing fat, but in essence "spot reducing" is also building muscle too, its just that one gives the appearance of bulk and the other give the appearance of "toned" . Did I get that right

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