The word “Myth” means a misconception or a false idea. I’m pretty sure that, at one point or another, you must have heard the saying “keep doing a lot of ab exercises, crunches and sit-ups if you want visible six pack abs.” You know what? I also did and I fell for that idea. When I ballooned my weight up to around 70 kilos, I started looking for quick fixes and saw a video on YouTube about ‘Getting toned abs in 6 minutes’. I did those exercises religiously, for quite a long time but didn’t get any results. So the question is, does spot reduction work? Read on for the Myth of Spot Reduction!
When your body starts gaining weight, and by weight I mean body fat, you slowly start looking a bit flabby. But do you just gain weight in one part of your body? The answer to that is no. You gain weight in all parts, be it your arms, legs, obliques, back, chest and, of course, your belly. You never see someone gaining body fat in just the arms or just the belly. Do you? The answer again is, no, you don’t. So, if the body fat gain doesn’t happen in only select parts of the body or in particular spots, how can you expect fat loss from a particular spot?
Weight loss in a human body works by the calories in, calories out formula. You consume less calories than what is required for your daily maintenance, then you will lose weight. During your weight loss process, you will start seeing slow changes in your appearance everywhere. You will start seeing definition in your arms, your jaw line will change, so will your face and your abdominal muscles as well. That’s how the body functions. It’s as simple as that.
You can carry on doing thousands and thousands of sit-ups and crunches but that alone will not result in getting you visible abs. What that does is help you get a stronger core but not what everyone says “it will get you bigger and more defined abs.” I’ve tried it as well, when I was just starting out with weight training and was desperate to lose the fat that I’d piled up in a span of 4 years. Spot reduction didn’t work. What worked for me and helped me in getting a leaner physique in the long term was a balance of strength training, cardiovascular exercise, balanced nutrition and rest.
