Spot reduction refers to the supposed ability of losing fat from one specific area of the body. Thanks to the tons of useless ab workouts, exercises and fancy abdominal machines that currently exist, spot reduction is typically mentioned most of the time in reference to losing fat from the stomach. People think that if they do a certain exercise for a certain body part, they can directly target the fat on that body part.

Guess what... you can't! It’s impossible!

Spot reduction is nothing more than a myth. Actually, aside from being a myth, it also happens to be a way to trick uninformed people into buying useless crap (usually in the form of abdominal machines) because they think losing fat from the specific area of their choosing (in this case, the stomach) is actually possible. It’s not.

You can’t decide where on your body you will lose fat from. Spot reduction implies that you can. Reducing fat from a specific spot just can’t happen. A person with the goal of losing fat can only lose it from the body as a whole. There is no way to change that no matter what any stupid abdominal product or exercise machine claims. They are just flat out lying.

Don’t misunderstand me here… the myth of spot reduction only applies to losing fat, not building muscle. You CAN certainly target specific muscles. What you CAN'T do is target specific fat. Exercises build and strengthen the muscle of a body part. They do nothing directly to the fat on that body part. It's impossible!

Abdominal exercises will NOT get rid of fat on your stomach. Leg exercises will not get rid of the fat on your legs. Back exercises will not get rid of the fat on your back. Bicep exercises will not get rid of the fat on your arms. I'm too lazy to type it all, but this holds true for every single muscle group and body part. Exercises will take care of building muscle and strength, diet and cardio takes care of losing fat.

I know a lot of people wish spot reduction was actually possible. I also know a lot of people still think it is. I’ve watched the same people do the same ab exercises in my gym for years because they truly believe it’s helping them with losing fat from their stomach. You’d think they’d catch on when their waist size doesn’t ever change. That just goes to show you how big of a myth spot reduction is.

So… be sure to tell your friends. When it comes to losing fat, nothing you do will change what spot that fat reduces from.

Questions, comments or feedback? Feel free to e-mail me at:
IntenseWorkout@gmail.com

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