My buddy, Mike Deibler, from San Diego, a Masters in Exercise Science and a speaker with Exercise ETC, has posted this piece about spot reducing:
Don’t Burn Fat This Way
In Mike’s succinct and quite manner, he hits the nail on the head, spot on: there is no good way to spot reduce from any part of your body. However, he notes, and I have read this too, that high intensity interval training (HIT, HIIT, or SHIT – for super high intensity training which makes you feel like s..t) does expedite overall fat burning and may even burn it off the midsection better than regular cardiovascular conditioning that’s longer, slower, and less intense. Ultimately, though, it’s just another way of burning calories. Where the body gets those, however, is a matter of genetic luck.
But all the weight training in the world can’t remove fat from an area even though it does help remove fat that has infiltrate muscle fibers. Of course, long term studies on this has not really occured, and when you or someone you know has lost girth in an area of the body consequent to an exercise program, that study of one does not tell us much.
The determinants of where and how much body fat you store is a function of one’s age, gender, activity levels and type, diet, and of course genetics.
As I like to say, esp to women, “If your mama put it there, you’ll more likely put it there too; unless, of course, you’re built like your dad, in which case, guess what?”
So while Mike does not bring anything earth-shatteringly new to the discussion, I’m always glad to hear confirmation of what I’ve read and what I have told others from one of my peers, and friends, who actually knows his stuff. Ultimately, losing fat from a specific body part is a fool’s errand. Exercise for better health, more energy to do what you love to do, and for more functionality so you can do it better and with less risk of injury. And let the fat cells fall where they may.
