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The Truth About Spot Reduction

By Baby Boomer Fitness Expert, Stephen Holt

If your fitness program is based on spot reduction - you know, inner thigh lifts, outer thigh lifts, triceps kickbacks, etc. - then, I'm sorry to tell you, but you've been wasting your time.

Here's how ...

Let's suppose you're driving around with a 55-gallon drum of crude oil in your trunk. Even though your engine uses gasoline and gasoline comes from crude oil, your engine still can't use that crude oil for fuel.

You would still have to get fuel that's convenient and in a usable form.

You would still have to go to a gas station even though you had a form of the same thing right there in your trunk.

Your body works similarly.

Even though there may plenty of fat directly above your abs (nothing personal!), the muscles cannot use fat that's in that form.

Abdominal exercises, inner thigh exercises, etc. do not directly burn fat in those specific areas.

When a muscle uses fat as a fuel, that fat can come from anywhere in the body. Typically it comes from the fat cells that were deposited last.

That stored fat, known as adipose tissue, is then sent to the liver where it is broken down into a form that muscles can use, free fatty acids (FFAs).

These FFAs are then sent to the working muscle through the bloodstream.

In other words, the abs and thighs can't even use the fat above them directly. Any fat used by a muscle must be broken down to FFAs in the liver first.

The simple truth is that you have no more control over where you lose fat than you did over where you gained it.

Fat is deposited in a genetically predetermined order that cannot be changed by any specific exercises. Abdominal exercises and outer and inner thigh exercises will not necessarily get rid of the fat in those areas.

Have you ever seen an overweight dog or cat? Where are they fat? In the abdominal region!

That's where all higher order organisms store excess fat - around their internal organs.

Now have you ever seen a lean dog or cat? Do you think they got that way from doing crunches?!

Your best bet for losing fat is the combination of the right eating plan for you, full-body strength training focusing on the largest muscles in the body - the legs and lats - and high intensity cardio (tempo runs and interval training) mixed with occasional long, slow distance (LSD).

About the Author:

Literally millions of readers of fitness magazines including Shape, Health, Men's Health, and Men's Fitness have made their exercise programs both more effective and more effecient thanks to Stephen Holt's exclusive 3-4-5 Total Body Fitness System.

For your free report on the system that led to Stephen being named "Personal Trainer of the Year" by the American Council on Exercise and "Expert of the Year" by AllExperts.com, go to http://BabyBoomerFitnessExpert.com.