Welcome back to Get Fit Guy, Kevin Donne here. And this week I'll be doing the right thing by sharing with you some new, at least to me, evidence that you can indeed spot reduce fat. If you've been listening to my shows, you'll be aware that I'm a huge proponent of objectivity

and trying as much as possible for a human being to remove bias. So it's important to me that I draw

some attention to new information I've uncovered, even if it's in direct conflict with something

I've said before. Sometimes we end up so far down

our own rabbit holes that we can't turn back and say something different. But to me, integrity is not

about doubling down on your beliefs. It's about being open to new ones. It's often presented,

including by myself, that it is a myth that one can

spot reduce fat. I'm here today to tell you that this myth is itself a myth. Before introducing the

idea that you can spot reduce, let's figure out where the idea that you cannot came from. In 1983, a study

investigated if a sit-up exercise regime helped to target and reduce belly fat. And it didn't.

The sit-up exercise protocol in no way influenced the size of the fat cells or the fat layer thickness in the abdominal region more than it did on the backs and glutes of the participants.

And a similar study in 2011 had the same finding.

An abdominal exercise program did not achieve greater abdominal fat loss

than a non-exercising control group who simply consumed a reduced number of calories.

However, a recent study, and check the show notes for the links to all of these studies,

suggests that spot reduction is possible after all. In this study, lower body strength training resulted in relatively

more fat loss from the lower body, whereas upper body strength training resulted in relatively

more fat loss from the upper body,

this trend appearing in both dexascans and fat caliper readings.

The key takeaway from the study was that the spot reduction was probably enhanced

by the addition of cardio after the strength work. Based on our understanding of

spot lipolysis or fat burning, high intensity exercise is the most effective way to do this

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