You ever see someone doing 100’s of crunches and then standing up and doing side bends with a plate in their hand? You can bet they aren’t trying to build up their abdominal muscles. They are spending valuable gym time “crunching” away their fat….or so they think. Unfortunately the myth of spot reduction is still very much alive within the general population.

This is essentially the idea that a trouble area can be specifically targeted. You have flabby arms? Well, unfortunately you can’t just do a bunch of tricep extensions and hope for the fat to melt off. The same goes for your legs. There is no such thing as a “thigh toning” exercise. If this were the case people who squat tons of weight would literally have zero fat on their legs. Don’t believe me? Check out this 2011 Study where specific abdominal training had no effect on subcutaneous fat reduction. Or this 2013 Study which found that fat loss was not specifically achieved in the area targeted.

For an educated Fitness Professional this is probably the most frustrating thing to have to address over and over again. Due to unethical marketing tactics from big time corporations this will most likely never die. It would be an awesome world if we could spot reduce and focus specifically on the areas from which we want to lose body fat. Looking great would be much easier and you would not even have to worry about nutrition.

Unfortunately, this is the real world and things just don’t work that way. If you want to lose fat from your stomach you are just going to have to lose fat overall. Your genetics will mostly dictate where the body fat comes from first, and where it hangs out last. There is no use in obsessing and driving yourself crazy over your “trouble areas”. The best thing you can do is maintain a consistent caloric deficit, train with weights 3-5x per week and be patient with the process. Spend your time in the gym more wisely…AKA not doing tons of crunches. With time the fat will come off and more visible muscle definition will start to show.