The Myth of Spot reducing

If you’ve been on Instagram...ever, you’ve seen videos touting workout programs promising to “reduce that stubborn belly fat with these 3 easy moves!” or “5 moves to get rid of back fat!” Or my personal favorite “Do THIS exercise to target your love handles!”

And if you’ve been on Tik Tok recently, you know somehow the content there is much, much worse…

You might have thought to yourself that this sounds too good to be true, and I’ll let you know a secret that shouldn’t really be a secret: it is! Spot reduction is a myth that has plagued the fitness industry far before the internet, with the help of magazines, blogs, and now the wonderful world of social media and its abundance of misinformation.

It would be so simple if we could tell our body where we would like to lose weight from, but like most things in life, it’s sadly not that simple. It just might take a little more commitment than those 3 easy moves on Instagram…

It is possible to target a specific muscle group that we want to see gain strength, muscle mass, and definition. However, this doesn’t mean these areas will also decrease in body fat first.

Nothing worthwhile comes quickly, and that applies to most things fitness and health related. To avoid believing myths like spot reduction or people who spout lies very convincingly, We must understand how these common myths and fads are used as leverage by bigger companies and individuals on social media to influence you to buy their products that will never actually do what they market it as.

Whether it’s a company pushing a “fat burning supplement” or a “waist trainer” promising to help you ‘shed fat’ and ‘tone’ in 30 days, these companies are seeking to make money off of those looking for a quick fix.

Luckily spot reduction has been disproven enough times to help people already on their journey understand the truth!

But there will always be people new to fitness who are eager to reach their goal, but are unaware of the tactics companies use to increase their profits such as using buzz words, falsifying evidence or results and using click bait.

That’s why Pursuit is dedicated to providing you with science-based truths that won’t send you on a never-ending cycle of yo-yo dieting or chasing a goal that isn’t physically achievable.

Let’s dispel the spot reducing myth:

- While we can’t control where our bodies decide to shed fat first, we absolutely can target a specific group of muscles to gain muscle mass, strength, and desired definition.

- Where our bodies store and shed fat is mostly based on our genetics. However, typically areas where we tend to gain muscle mass first are also areas we might shed fat first.

- If your goal is weight loss, think of training as a tool in your tool box including proper nutrition and recovery used to persuade your body to decrease total body fat levels

- Patience and persistence are key if you’re trying to focus on improving a specific area of your body composition.

Lastly, any fitness goal is possible as long as we check off all other boxes: adequate sleep, recovery, nutrition, and stress management!