Is Fat Targeting Possible?

Is fat targeting possible?

This is one of the most common questions sent to me via email or on my blog.

It goes something like this:

How can burn the fat under my arms?

How can I burn the lower belly fat off?

So, is the controversy over fat targeting true?

Can you burn fat in one specific location of the body?

The short answer is NO.

This is a long held myth in gyms around the country. It is the reason that you see people doing 100 crunches or 200 leg lifts.

Also, you cannot tone a muscle or body fat. You can gain muscle and lose muscle. You can gain fat and lose fat. But it can’t be toned.

This is a misunderstanding that the fitness industry has created.

With that in mind, let me tell you what can and often does happen to make it appear otherwise.

The first thing is the toning and shaping that takes place as a result of muscle hypertrophy. The second thing that can happen is as you build muscle it takes up space, which briefly compresses the sub-dermal fat.

In other words, while you can tighten and tone specific areas of your body by working the muscles in that region, you cannot effectively target the fat stores.

So how can I burn fat faster?

Although the science shows that you can’t “spot reduce”, as it is often known, there are ways that you can increase your rate of fat loss across your entire body (burning the problem areas in the process).

Here are two ways that I use and recommend to you:

1. Consume a whole foods diet and eliminate all processed foods and refined sugars. Get your calories from as close to nature as possible.
2. Implement highly explosive, compound functional movements at high intensity – as frequently as possible (30 minutes x 6 days per week).

Summary

As you can see, there is no way to reduce fat in one specific location on the body. It is not physiologically possible. But you can get the lean, toned look that you want by following the simple two-step process above.

Remember that you need to stay the course and be patient. That is the way to long term fat loss and a great body.

Please leave questions and comments below. I will get back to you.