Is Spot Reduction aka Targeted Fat Loss Real? A New Study Says It’s Stupid
The idea that specific exercises can reduce localized fat tissue depots is known as spot reduction or targeted fat loss. If it was true, training only one limb, say, your arm, would lead to greater fat loss in that arm in comparison to the other — untrained — arm, right?
That’s exactly what a recent systematic review with meta-analysis investigated:
What did they find? Well, there’s a scientific term for what they found — trying to target abdominal fat with crunches or lower arm fat with tricep extensions is stupid and you need to stop doing that ASAmotherfuckingP (I’m quoting the researchers pretty much word for word here):
There’s a lot of obsession with flat belly/stomach/tummy and so I get it — the idea of exercise-based spot reduction may be very appealing. But…
