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Fact or Fiction: Spot Reduction & The Fat Burning Zone

Copyright © 2009 Neal Spruce

Republish: EasyPublish™ Published: 03Jul2009 Word count: 1041 Viewed: 317 time(s) Get Free Content For Your Site

MYTH: What muscle you work determines where you lose fat (spot reduction)

FACT: Genetics determine where you lose fat

Let's get right to the point: a muscle has no control over the fat between it and your skin. At some point everyone has tried to spot reduce. Plié squats for the inner thigh? Every ab device ever invented? Butt and gut classes? Fitness professionals are often asked questions such as

a) What is the best way to tone your legs, stomach and back?

It's the word "tone" that confuses people. What does it mean? People think it means something like "create muscle definition", but what they really want is less fat, and what is often overlooked is the fact that muscles become more visible by reducing the layer of fat that conceals them. No specific exercise will create muscle definition by removing fat from an area. So what's the solution? Lose body fat, and your muscles, that are as hard and toned as any bodybuilder (however smaller), will be revealed. In other words, simply consume fewer calories than you burn until your fat levels are reduced to your satisfaction. All that said, weight training can add muscle so that when you lose fat your body has more pronounced lines or muscle definition. Larger muscles may help accentuate the body's natural contours.

b) How can I get rid of the excess fat around my thighs specifically?

You can't. Consider this: your thighs generally move more than any other body part but the fat still ends up there. As you maintain a calorie deficit (eat less than you burn), body fat will leave from whatever area your body was genetically programmed to draw it from at that point in time. As a rule of thumb, the last place on is the first place off, but this can change as you age. And again, if you consistently consume fewer calories than you burn, that stuff on your thighs will go, it just might be the last to do so.

A word of caution--many exercisers, in an attempt to accelerate the loss of fat from a trouble area, will launch an all out exercise attack on that area. Performing a high volume of resistance training for an area that is viewed as fat or bigger than one likes may have the undesired affect of increasing muscle size (called hypertrophy) in that area. If caloric intake is sufficient (and it often is), and body fat is not being lost systemically, then the area of focus can increase, pushing the fat over it farther out.

MYTH: If your goal is body fat reduction, you'll burn more fat in your target heart rate zone; if you go over it you will burn muscle

FACT: If you're maintaining a calorie deficit, then the harder you work the more calories you'll burn and the faster you'll lose fat

Let's look at the evolution of this myth. Heart rate zones and tracking intensity were measures designed to aid endurance athletes. This was to ensure that an athlete did not work at a rate that would cause them to prematurely fatigue. If the athlete worked at too high an intensity, they would deplete their muscular CHO stores and "hit the wall" which impedes performance. Training in the proper "zone" ensured that muscular carbohydrate would not be depleted and that activity could continue for the required time or distance.

At rest, our bodies are primarily burning fat. As the intensity of activity begins to increase, so does the contribution of muscular and systemic carbohydrate. At about 20% VO2 max, fat contributes 60% and CHO 40% of the energy used. This contribution equalizes (50/50) at about 35% VO2 max. By 70% of VO2 max, CHO makes up 80% and fat 20% of the energy used to fuel activity . So, while it is true that fat makes up a bigger contribution of calories burned at a lower intensity, this has no application to a weight loss client. Fat or weight loss is ensured by being in a caloric deficit. The practical goal for the typical exerciser is how to maximize their time working out, so as not to "live in the gym". At a higher intensity of exercise, more calories, and usually even more fat, are burned; period. Additionally, there is a phenomenon called EPOC (excessive post oxygen consumption) that indicates a higher rate of fat usage for many hours after the exercise session, BECAUSE of the exercise session. EPOC is directly correlated with higher intensity exercise , . Ultimately, you would have to exercise for twice as long at a lower intensity as you would at a higher intensity to get the same degree of calorie burn. As for muscle being burned, that is influenced by total caloric intake, availability of glucose and duration of activity1. It can be a good thing if muscle is called upon to supply energy needs for the body as this leads to new muscle growth, just as weight training disrupts muscle tissue and leads to growth. In both instances, exercise served a stimulus to "damage" muscle, leading to a rebuilding response.

In summary, exercise itself does not burn a significant amount of fat. It is the contribution of exercise to a person's total daily energy expenditure, including the intensity, that affects overall fat loss . In other words, exercise simply adds to your daily calorie needs, so do all you can during your workout time because the longer and more intensely you move, the greater the amount of calories you burn, leading to a greater fat loss. And the less fuel you put back in, the more must be drawn from your fat stores during the non-workout portions of your day.

References --

Powers SK, Howley ET. Exercise Physiology: Theory and Application to Fitness and Performance. 6th Ed. New York, NY. McGraw-Hill. 2007.

Phelain JF, Reinke E, Harris MA, Melby CL. Postexercise energy expenditure and substrate oxidation in young women resulting from exercise bouts of different intensity. J Am Coll Nutr. 1997 Apr;16(2):140-6

Saris WHM, Schrawen P. Substrate oxidation differences between high- and low-intensity exercise are compensated over 24 hours in obese men. Int'l J of Obesity. 2004; 28:759-765.

LaForgia J, Withers RT, Gore CJ. Effects of exercise intensity and duration on the excess post-exercise oxygen consumption. J Sports Sci. 2006 Dec;24(12):1247-64

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