Twists Alone Won’t Get You Six Bags: the Stain-Reduction Myth
Many people believe that you can “target” fat loss with certain exercises, such as crunching belly fat. However, the truth is that no amount of crunching or squatting will give you six dice.
A 2011 study in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research measured the effect ofsix weeks of abdominalexercise on abdominal fat loss. Despite the improvement in exercise performance, there was no significant reduction in abdominal fat. This has confirmed several other studies that suggest stain reduction is a myth. You can’t choose where you lose weight, you just need to work on your overall fat loss.
Of course, this does not mean that strength training is useless. Abdominal exercise will certainly strengthen your core muscles, but the six-pack only becomes visible when body fat is reduced to lower levels (around 10% for men and 20% for women). Twisting will do nothing to help you achieve this goal.
(It’s worth noting that some studies support pinpoint reductions, but in very small amounts. One study shows that fat breakdown (or lipolysis) isincreased in fat cells adjacent to contracting muscles – but only about 0.1 grams of fat per 30 minutes. exercise is the equivalent of 0.0008 tablespoons of butter.)
Knowing that “pinpoint reduction” is a myth , the only thing you can do is burn fat correctly at all times . Your current leanness, not the exercises you are doing, determines the area of your body where fat loss occurs. Be patient and you will eventually see fat loss in the areas you want.