You CAN Spot Reduce

If you could spot reduce fat, people who chew gum would have skinny faces.

You cant spot reduce, but with muscle you can spot tone and gain.

Not to be controversial BUT, I think the poster has a point. Certain exercises can make certain areas smaller or larger, and certain conditions you exercise on makes a difference. I noticed this while watching the Olympics and noticed that the sport a person played determined body shape even more than race. I noticed that the female swimmers, while having serious muscle mass also had a fat layer for insulation. The ladies had large backs and slim waists. The gymnasts had wide waists and large thigh and shoulder muscles, but very low body fat. The type of exercise and the conditions you do the exercise on make a big difference in what areas get small or big. So, in essence, you can spot reduce, just maybe in a different way that people normally think of spot reduction.

This is very similar to what I am saying. If you do the correct exercises for your body, you can reduce areas.
Thank you for posting this even if it was controversial.
A lot of people hear things, read thing and believe things for a long time, and then when someone opposes if even a little, they jump on immediately saying it is wrong.
I am just trying to give people hope that they can improve themselves when a certain "spot" is really bothering them. Because it has worked for me.

And we're back again to the term "reduce". Even the people that agree with you are saying that "reduce" is not the correct term. The reason swimmer's backs are big is because they have built those muscles up, not because they have reduced fat in any specific area on their body.

Another reason these individuals have these body shapes is about self selection. With regard to the top quote, gymnasts are not that way because of the exercises they do. Gymnasts have that body structure because if they don't, they can't be a gymnast. To a certain extent, exercises can change body structure, but in general, if someone doesn't have a very particular body type, they can't be a gymnast and that's why all gymnasts look very similar.

By "reduce" she means losing inches.

I get what she is saying.

Sure, you cannot focus on WHERE you lose fat from. But, if you are consistantly losing fat and toning the muscles in a particular area while losing fat, as the fat goes, THAT area is smaller, because you ARE increasing muscle, If you have a lower BF%, which you get with more muscle, less fat, then even though you are just toning that area, it improves faster than others may.

It can be explained without being rude though. Not every one knows everything, so, when you get the chance to educate someone, why not do THAT instead of making that person feel like a fool for even suggesting the idea?

I get what she is saying.

Sure, you cannot focus on WHERE you lose fat from. But, if you are consistantly losing fat and toning the muscles in a particular area while losing fat, as the fat goes, THAT area is smaller, because you ARE increasing muscle, If you have a lower BF%, which you get with more muscle, less fat, then even though you are just toning that area, it improves faster than others may.

It can be explained without being rude though. Not every one knows everything, so, when you get the chance to educate someone, why not do THAT instead of making that person feel like a fool for even suggesting the idea?

they tried, it didn't take and she wasn't all peaches and rainbows about being incorrect

That's not spot reducing, that's building muscle. You CAN target which muscle you want to work. You CANNOT spot reduce fat. Maybe you'll look a little firmer and leaner with some extra muscle underneath, which is why strength training is important. But if I just do crunches, it doesn't mean I'm going to lose fat from that area. In all likelihood, I won't lose any fat, since strength training doesn't tend to be a huge fat burner in the first place.

Well we are saying the same thing (you cannot spot reduce bf), I was just trying to incorporate the importance of muscle as to why you would even spend time doing things like push ups or squats or whetever.. you can turn a big apple into a small apple with cardio and diet , but only strength training can turn an apple into a pear or banana or whatever haha, cheesy I know.. I read that once and thought it made a good point. Also, I have to disagree that "Strength training doesn't tend to be a huge fat burner".. maybe traditional do a set, wait 3 minutes do another set strength training, but if you are keeping your pulse elevated and doing circuits, HIIT , crossfit type stuff or one of these "Insanity" type programs that incorporates strength training (especially fasted in the morning in my opinion), you'll burn fat in a fraction of the time you would spend bored to death jogging or bouncing around on an elyptical (sp?). Although it's good to throw those things in the mix too, just not as important in my opinion..

If wishes were horses, we'd all be eating steak.

Ye Olde Spot Reducer!

You can tone areas up by building muscle in said areas. When people say "you can't spot reduce" they mean that doing crunches over and over WILL NOT burn the fat off your stomach (I mean unless you incorporate into a cardio routine- now we're talking) It will only build up muscle so that it may look like you are slimmer but to lose that fat you have to do cardio and eat clean.

Of course you need to eat clean and burn fat with cardio, but you can build muscle in certain "spots" to improve the amount of muscle vs. fat in those spots.

I just hear so many people so frustrated with certain spots on their bodies and people are not giving them helpful info regarding how they can improve those spots.

If I do bicep curls, and my arms get bigger an look better, I'm not really "reducing" anything am I? I'm growing my arms. If you can spot reduce, then I want my 36D's back. And I still want to be at 14% body fat.

*Puts on seatbelt*

ha ha Don't get too excited people ! :flowerforyou: