The age old "You can't target areas of fat, lifting" BS!
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Gotcha. Still seems weird that the fat disappeared from his shoulders and no where else while replacing fat in that area with muscle while staying the same weight. Too see striations on one body part and no where else is weird. I personally have striations in different places while maintaining my 2 pak. My fat is mostly in the belly with a thin layer all over while being considered obese with a BMI of 30. I am 6'3 255 lbs,
You've already been given some explanations that seem way less weird than "All the scientists in the world are pulling the wool over our eyes, and it's only the people of MFP that know the truth."4 -
I hear this all the time and am kinda confused or doubtful about the conclusions. Why can't you target a certain area and reduce the fat in that area lifting?
My answer is, I call BS on that.
So how about you come up with some evidence for otherwise?
Repeatable, peer reviewed. Not anecdata.0 -
Okay,okay, it just seems weird to see striations on someone that over weight.0
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If hes your brother why dont you post a photo so that we can also see how weird it is?2
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Gotcha. Still seems weird that the fat disappeared from his shoulders and no where else while replacing fat in that area with muscle while staying the same weight. Too see striations on one body part and no where else is weird. I personally have striations in different places while maintaining my 2 pak. My fat is mostly in the belly with a thin layer all over while being considered obese with a BMI of 30. I am 6'3 255 lbs,
Are you familiar with recomposition?
3 years ago I weighed 180 lbs, today I weigh 180 lbs. I have gained a significant amount of muscle and lost quite a bit of body fat. The concept seems kind of strange - to stay the same weight and have muscle and fat change, but yeah, it can happen.
The girl I mentioned with 15% body fat almost has visible upper abs if she really flexes, but her legs have no definition whatsoever. None, nada. It's weird, but people carry their weight differently and lose it differently as well.0 -
TresaAswegan wrote: »Gotcha. Still seems weird that the fat disappeared from his shoulders and no where else while replacing fat in that area with muscle while staying the same weight. Too see striations on one body part and no where else is weird. I personally have striations in different places while maintaining my 2 pak. My fat is mostly in the belly with a thin layer all over while being considered obese with a BMI of 30. I am 6'3 255 lbs,
Are you familiar with recomposition?
3 years ago I weighed 180 lbs, today I weigh 180 lbs. I have gained a significant amount of muscle and lost quite a bit of body fat. The concept seems kind of strange - to stay the same weight and have muscle and fat change, but yeah, it can happen.
The girl I mentioned with 15% body fat almost has visible upper abs if she really flexes, but her legs have no definition whatsoever. None, nada. It's weird, but people carry their weight differently and lose it differently as well.
I get it now. Just kinda odd. I understand the re-composition part.0 -
If hes your brother why dont you post a photo so that we can also see how weird it is?
I don't have a pic of it. Not doubting everyone, I get it. It's just he started cutting his fat in the shoulder first. Probably where he had the least amount. I'm proud of him, we're older and don't do that much cardio anymore. Except for his cardio benching we do, breaking a sweat and out of breath.0 -
Cardio really has nothing to do with it...0
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Wait! Did you say calves aren't a major muscle group?0
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So, I think the problem is that you can make the muscle larger, but if you still have a lot of fat on top of the muscle, it's not going to magically disappear. When I started losing weight, it's amazing how much more muscular I "suddenly became." It was like magic! The thing is, I had been lifting weights for a long time but was never very skinny, so you couldn't tell.
So now that I'm thinner, when I work out particular muscle groups (like my core), they really stand out! So it's almost like the fat in that area just "went away."3 -
@Z_I_L_L_A serious question, how much fat do you actually see on people shoulders?
When I was overweight, with a big set of moobs and a beer gut. One thing I didn't think about when I looked at myself in the mirror was the amount of fat that I was carrying on my shoulders.1 -
So, you worked out with "a guy," that now happens to be your brother, that does 75-rep sets of 135 on bench?
Yes, I do believe BS is in the air.
I put BS in the topic because had I not, there wouldn't be this much response. But as for BS on him being my brother, it was because a question about genetics or if you doubt he is strong then I wonder why. I must have touched on a nerve or something. You doubt 75 rep because you power lift? Yeah I did it for twelve years and....
Honestly, at those rep counts, he'd be better off doing pushups, unless there's a reason he can't.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
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Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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Also worth pointing out that the theory doesn't say fat is lost equally across the body. It says you can't really CONTROL which areas lose.
I will have the legs and butt of a 22 year old in 4 to 6 weeks because that's where fat comes off first on me, no matter what workout I use. Eventually, my arms and back will get with the program as well and "tone up".
Unfortunately, my stomach and my chin have remained middle aged and jiggly even with plenty of hard work and losing more than 25lbs the last time around. The only thing that ever changes that (for me) is full body recomp through heavy lifting and macro adjustments.1 -
I'll just say this: if one could actually target losing significant fat from an area on the body with exercise, then there should be NO COMPETING BODYBUILDER on stage with any fat deposit where they don't want them. Of course that's not the case and they spend more time exercising body parts than anyone.
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
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I'll just say this: if one could actually target losing significant fat from an area on the body with exercise, then there should be NO COMPETING BODYBUILDER on stage with any fat deposit where they don't want them. Of course that's not the case and they spend more time exercising body parts than anyone.
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
Exactly. If it could be done, people would do it. Especially competitive bodybuilders.
I was just watching a video by Paul Revelia talking about the different places competitors hold fat and how to lose it, no mention of doing a million crunches to bring the abs in. hmm...0 -
Show me 1 person who was able to eliminate just their stomach fat doing crunches, sit ups, etc while the rest of their body remained fat. I've never seen it!!0
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Me neither, like I said early. I get it..0
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Okay,okay, it just seems weird to see striations on someone that over weight.
A high school friend came out to visit me a few years ago, in the summer. I took her hiking. She wore toe shoes. We had to hike across a mile or two of snow leading up to Cascade Pass. She thought it seemed really weird that there was snow on the ground in July or August. But there it was. And her toes got really cold because of it.1 -
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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
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