Spot Reducing for Better Abs - Fact or Fiction?

Written by Noel Chelliah

We’ve all heard the ever popular advice - “keep doing sit-ups and you’ll get that six-pack”, or the popular boasting of having accomplished a thousand sit-ups in a day. Is it really true?

Walk into any health club, and you’re guaranteed to see someone toiling away at the abdominals machines - in fact, there’s sometimes even a queue to use these machines. Have you ever stopped to wonder if there is any truth to this claim - that the much desired washboard abs needs you to perform countless sit-ups everyday?

Well sadly, the answer to this may be disappointing to most of you - because spot reducing to burn off fat from a specific area of the body is impossible.

In a landmark study by researchers at the University of Massachusetts, it was conclusively shown that sit-up exercises do not decrease the diameter of abdominal fat cells, abdominal subcutaneous fat (skinfold thickness) or abdominal circumference (Katch et al., 1984).

So this means you could do all the sit-ups/crunches/plank positions till the cows come home, but it wouldn’t melt off any extra fat from your midsection. I believe that today’s media is partially responsible for making us believe that we can smply “melt the fat away” by exercising a specific area. Not only that, but we’ve been exposed to all sorts of devices and so called fitness gadgets to ‘help’ us accomplish this.

So what happens anyway if you do lots of sit-ups? You simply get stronger abs and you increase muscular endurance. No matter where you focus your exercise, your body sheds fat from all areas. If you’re one of those who tends to gain weight around your midsection first, then that will be the last bit of fat your body will burn.

You cannot work one area of the body and hope to reduce the fat content there. The answer? A combination of aerobic and strength exercise, together with a balanced and well-portioned diet which will help you to burn off fat from the whole body.

The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recommends 2 to 3 strength training sessions per week, each with 10 strength training exercises that target major muscle groups. Combine this with 4 or more days of moderate-intensity cardio for a balanced exercise regimen - and you’re one big step closer to seeing those abs. Remember - your abs are just like any other muscles - would you do 1000 push ups? I don’t think so.

About the Author

Noel Chelliah is an American Council on Exercise (ACE) Certified Lifestyle and Weight Management Consultant (LWMC), and ACE-certified Personal Trainer with many years of experience in health and fitness since 2000. Actively involved in the fitness industry as a Personal Trainer and freelance writer, he has coached and inspired countless individuals to successfully reach their fitness goals. Noel specializes in Weight Management, Lifestyle Change and Strength Training.