Mythbusting: Spot Reduction

“I want to just shed the fat off my belly or my hips but definitely don’t want my breasts to be affected or get smaller!”

I can’t even remember how many times I heard this sentence. That seems to be one of the most common misconceptions in the realm of fitness. People assume the human body is a tweakable entity that can be controlled down to spot reduction details. News flash girls and boys, the only spot reduction in real life comes from the scalpel of a plastic surgeon.

Most people think that if they run or cycle or do whatever, they can consciously target the body part they wish for reduction or fat loss. Sadly for you, the human body does not operate based on your whims and desires. It is a cold, calculating machine and it differs from man to woman. For instance, in the case of women, the majority store fat in the hips, it’s just how your genetic code is wired, and therefore, it is usually the last place where you end up losing the fat. As far as men are concerned, losing abdominal fat will always prove to be the hardest task on account of the fact it’s the male body’s place of choice for blubber storage.

Your extremities (arms, legs, face) are usually the parts to shed off fat the first then your body works more towards your center as your progress. Sure there are things you can do to help it do everything at once such as exercises that have your entire body moving (think swimming or rowing) but at the end of the day, it’s up to your body’s discretion to discard fat.

Fat loss also works different from one person to another depending on their body type with some people shedding it off with considerable ease while others find it somewhat of a Herculean task to do so. Your genetics play a major role in that process but saying you have bad genes and just accepting it is just being a lazy bum. I have shit genes. One grain of rice would show up on me as fat within hours of consumption. So I learn not to eat rice. You learn how to work with your genes (not against them!) because otherwise you’d be fighting an uphill battle against your very nature.

That being said, spot reduction is usually perceived from the wrong end of the spectrum, most through the fat loss lens. But what if you could change a specific spot on your body? Despite what I said up there, it is somewhat possible to target specific areas, but it won’t be cardiovascular training that does it alone; it’s weightlifting baby. Weight lifting, and specifically a good combo between compound and isolation exercises, can help target specific muscles in the human body. Muscle building directly correlates with boosted metabolism and consequently; improved fat burning.

Simply said, if you’re aiming to shed off the pounds from your hips and thighs, then girlfriend you best be ready to do some serious lifting on legs day with barbell squats, leg extensions, leg curls, deadlifts and adductor/abductor workouts. And for fuck’s sake, stop worrying about “getting bulky” if you’re a girl. Shit don’t work like that. You end up looking toned and fit, not manly. Unless you do steroids, but that’s a different story.

Compound exercises (think squats, deadlifts and bench presses) are arguably best for instigating overall fat loss and releasing growth hormone in the body (which contributes to increased metabolism/fat burning) while Isolation exercises are perhaps the right choice for smaller muscle groups to which you’d like to dedicate focus. For instance, if you’re a lady suffering from a case of flappy chicken arms where your triceps ought to be, you might want to consider incorporating triceps extensions and triceps pulldowns as a regular part of your upper body/arms day workout. Weights help tone your body, they help stretch the skin so it doesn’t look flappy and help boost metabolism and fat burning.

That’s it from me today on the ridiculous myth of spot reduction. Get crackin’!

Ladies, Please Cut That Shit Out

This one’s for the ladies in the house. Or the ones in the office. Or the street. Or the track. Or the gym. All the ladies really.

This is a topic I’m particularly passionate about and today’s blog post is about making a plea to all women.

Ladies…

STOP

FUCKING

SAYING

WEIGHTS

WILL

MAKE

YOU

BULKY

Let’s get one thing real straight because I’m about to science the shit out of your brains right now. Both men and women produce testosterone (most people think it’s a male only hormone but is indeed produced by both genders). The main difference is, men produce nearly ten folds the amount women do; for obvious reasons. Testosterone is one of the main hormones responsible for muscle synthesis and promoting fat burn.

When you ask a woman why she doesn’t lift, her response is usually along the lines of “OMG EW you want me to look like those oiled up freaks?! They look like men they probably have balls!”

This what you think will happen to you if you lift. You silly, silly woman

Now that you’ve expressed your narrow minded and stereotype/ill-founded belief regarding the effects of weight lifting on women, allow me to do you the honors of correcting your misbeliefs.

Let’s clarify something, as the above picture indicates, weight lifting CAN indeed lead to that type of physique developing. But you ought to know that she put in more work, effort, dedication (and possibly some hormonal experimentation) than you could ever muster if you work, go to school or have kids. This is her entire life. She gets paid to look like that. Plain and simple.

Back to hormones. As mentioned, both genders produce testosterone, but since men produce it on a much larger scale, its effect on the male body are more notable because it makes muscle synthesis and fat loss a much easier process for men than it is for women. Women also ought to know that they’re constantly fighting an uphill battle against their biology when they’re striving for fat loss. Aside from the body viewing fat as a survival currency for energy, being a woman also puts your body on extra guard mode because fat is essential for maintaining your menstrual cycle and supporting you through pregnancy; which is why the female body is even less forgiving about releasing fat from storage.

It is exactly for that specific reason that women must take weightlifting more seriously. Cardiovascular training is good and dandy but it’s very easy for your body to hit a plateau doing nothing but cardio every day. Weightlifting can prompt your body - via triggering the appropriate hormonal response - to burn more fat and put on muscle mass (albeit in much smaller growth percentages than men training at the same level). Weightlifting is also quite recommended for women due to the fact that a regular weight lifting routine prompts your body to increase bone density - something many women suffer from and lack due to pregnancies which suck out calcium from your bones to support the growing miracle (Read: monster) brewing inside of you.

In fact, if you are pregnant, your doctor will likely recommend that you do take up a weightlifting routine - albeit with serious reservations on what you can and cannot do - because of the aforementioned reasons! You can also check out this amazing article by a great friend of mine who found her inner gym beast in her pregnancy (not that she wasn’t a fitness freak before)

Now it’s important to note that I’m not asking you to bench press 100 kgs or squat 300 lbs here, but I am saying that your 2 lbs dumbbell bullshit isn’t exactly the trigger for your body to change a damn thing about itself. The trick is choosing moderate weights that are challenging but not impossible and to progressively increase/decrease/fluctuate weights per body part/muscle group as you progress and as your fitness goals change.

I personally know no less than 200 women who have complained to me personally about their disgruntled attitude with having arm wings (flabby triceps). You can do all the cardio in the world to make your arm (and body) thinner, but it won’t do jack shit to pull back loose skin and help your arms get a toned and firm look; that’s all weights baby girl!

“Right so that’s all nice talk and no walk so far, I’ve never seen a girl who lifts weights AND looks good. They all look dudes to me!”

Oh yee of little faith.

The above picture shows Bella Falconi, my absolute favorite reference in the realm of female fitness. 95% will think she’s “too much” and that she’s “push it too far” and I’d be tempted to agree with you for one reason. This is what she does for a living. It’s her job to look the way she does, but what’s more important is that she looks feminine whether you’d like to admit it or not. She’s muscular, she’s toned and she’s strong; but she sure as shit doesn’t look like any dude I know; even the most fabulous ones.

The point being, while you definitely won’t get to where she is at unless that is specifically your goal and you have an insane amount of dedication and patience (it took her YEARS to look like that), what you can achieve via incorporating weightlifting as a regular part of your fitness lifestyle has no limits!

Most of the women I know complain the most about how they’re putting in 6 days at the gym, sometimes for upwards of two hours doing all kinds of cardio on the treadmill, stair master, EFX machine and stationary bike but reporting little to no changes despite their massive efforts and dedication; ironically leading to their frustration, quitting and resort to comfort food. It doesn’t have to be like that! Your progress plateaus because you’re not changing what you’re doing, the human body is the pinnacle of evolution, not because we’re the strongest, fastest or smartests, but because we’re the most adaptive. Your body can quickly adapt to fitness routines which stop being challenging once your body builds a tolerance to their effects; rendering them just above useless.

Weightlifting changes all of that. There are a billion varieties in terms of the weights you’re lifting, the number of repetitions per set, the numbers of sets per exercise, the rest time between sets, the width of your grip, the type of weight you’re using (dumbbell, barbell, pulley, machine, etc.)

Needless to say, consult an expert trainer as well as a nutritionist in order to come up with a safe to execute plan that tackles both exercise and nutrition in a wholesome manner. You need to eat to give your body the nutrients it needs both to pack on muscle AND to burn fat. Yes, you need to eat to lose. Hard to believe but it’s true.

Fire up your questions my way by commenting on this post or by tweeting at me on @Foxicakes