Hitch Fit Living Magazine Volume 5 - March/April 2016 | Page 13
Secret #4: There’s no such thing as spot reduction
I get really fired up when I see the ads that claim to target belly fat, “Just take
this pill and watch belly fat melt away!” or “Do this ab routine for 3 minutes a
day and you’ll uncover your six pack!” I’m like….dang..THAT’s all I had to do!!
LOL…that would have been SO much easier!! Unfortunately, that’s a bunch of
bologna. There’s no such thing as spot reduction. You can’t say to your body,
“Body, I’m going to eat right and exercise, and I’d like you to first burn off the
fat stores from my stomach rather than the rest of me.” Wouldn’t that be nice!
Here’s the deal. If you have a tendency to hold fat in your mid section more so
than the rest of your body, then it will take longer for those fat layers to
diminish. The first place that your body stores fat is typically the last and most
stubborn place for it to release the fat. It will eventually take the stores from
your stubborn areas if you stay consistent and work progressively.
Secret #5: One Body Fat percentage does NOT fit all
You have to get your body fat percentage low in order to see visual abdominals,
however the number is not going to be the same for each person. I’ve seen
women who carried the majority of their fat weight in the butt and thighs, who
have attained visual six packs with their overall body fat still in the upper teens,
and vice versa I’ve seen women who are busting their butts and have body fat
in the low teens and can still barely see the shadowing of their abs. I’ve seen
similar situations in men. In general for women, some can see their abdominals
when their body fat dips into the lower teens in the 12-15% range, for others
they may need to get significantly lower in the 9-11% range before they can see
them, and for others still, they may have to push even lower. For the men, some
can begin to see abs at 10-11% body fat, while others may need to dip to the
6-8% range, and others still will have to push down below 5% to get the visual
effect. A lot of this is determined by genetics and there’s nothing you can do to
change that side of things. It just means that some people are unfortunately
going to have to put in more effort if being able to see visual abdominal muscles
is a major goal.