The Spot Reduction Myth Challenged

Philip Pape 0:01

You've been told for years that spot reduction is impossible . You can't do crunches to lose belly fat , tricep exercises to lose arm fat or squats to lose thigh fat period . But what if there's actually a way to spot reduce , just not how most people think ? Today we're examining what's really happening when people finally lose stubborn fat after years of struggle , why the traditional approach fails and the three factors that actually create the results people want from spot reduction . The answer isn't in targeting those areas directly . So what is the answer ? Tune in to find out .

Philip Pape 0:46

Welcome to Wits and Weights , the show that helps you build a strong , healthy physique using evidence , engineering and efficiency . I'm your host , certified nutrition coach , philip Pape , and today we're tackling one of the most persistent questions , or myths , in the fitness world , and that is can you actually target stubborn fat areas ? Now , the short answer is no , at least not how most people think Traditional spot reduction , where you work one area and the fat just melts off . The long answer , though , reveals a different approach that does deliver the results people want from spot reduction , but without the frustration that most people experience . And before we get into this , this episode is actually based on two different listener questions that I've smushed together into one topic and if you want to send your question in and get it featured on the podcast whether it's training , nutrition , mindset , building your physique , any of it just go to witsandweightscom slash question and you'll get a personal response by me by email and potentially get it featured on the show and a shout out if you'd like . And again , that's witsandweightscom slash question . So that's what we're doing today . We're going to share two listener questions . They're almost stories about these listeners that capture what most people experience with stubborn body fat , and you might definitely relate to this .

Philip Pape 2:04

The first one is a 58 year old guy from the Philippines , uh , who wrote , quote I've been training for a little over six months now and I've achieved both my target weight and target muscle to fat ratio . I've even developed visible muscles on my upper abs . My problem is that my lower abs still protrude with a healthy dose of belly fat . I can't seem to get rid of it . And then he continued . He said I don't want to lose more weight as I'm happy where I am , so I'm hesitant to go on extended calorie deficits . I'm also concerned that I may lose muscle if I go on extended calorie deficits To try to lose the belly fat . I started to do targeted exercises leg lifts , sit-ups , side pulls , russian twists to try to focus on losing the belly fat , with no visible progress . And I picked out this one in particular because here's a person who has done a lot of the right things . He's achieved the weight he wanted and the muscle mass and body comp , except he has a stubborn area of belly fat , and men and women relate to this in different ways , but definitely starts to occur more and more as we get older . So if this sounds familiar , I think that's because it captures what most of us experience .

Philip Pape 3:08

The other listener and I'm going to address both all of this together in one topic . The other listener is Aubrey , who is 41 , and she wrote me on Instagram . She said , quote I would love to hear your take on trouble areas leaning out more with each cut phase . I think it has to do with continued leanness from adding muscle and maintenance through the year and then just having less fat overall , and then when I go to cut , it impacts my trouble areas . It takes time , so I don't think people understand that things can keep improving and body shape can change for the better as years pass on . And then she added , quote I am in a cut now and I'm seeing muscle definition in my butt that I know I've never had before . It's like my body said okay , she's mastered the leanness up top , let's start hacking away the lower . Finally , now , these are two completely different experiences , different stories , but they all link together in a very amazing way that we're going to address today and kind of look at what the key is to all of this . And you want to listen to the whole episode because we're going to take you through the story of what the research says , what's actually going on , what approach most people take and why it doesn't work , and then the actual way to do it . So you're going to want to listen all the way through if you want to understand the full context and what to do for your own situation .

Philip Pape 4:14

So let's address the elephant in the room , and that is that there is recent research suggesting some limited spot reduction might be possible . Ooh , shocker . You didn't know . I'd say that , did you . There was a study in 2023 , I think it was actually reviewed in the May 2020 , may or March , I forget which one 2024 issue of Body by Science by Bill Campbell that I had the pleasure of contributing to as an expert contributor and it talked about ab training , but I want to talk about the study itself . The study found that combining ab exercises with cardio led to slightly more trunk fat loss over 10 weeks , and it's a very tiny bit , but it's interesting Now why this misses .

Philip Pape 4:57

The point is that even if you can achieve some small amount of localized fat loss , it's just not enough to solve the real problem people have with those stubborn areas , and that's why our first listener question he was doing everything and still , even after targeting those areas , it didn't seem to work . And the real issue is not that you need to target them directly . The issue is most people are missing the requirements for accessing stubborn fat stores in the first place . What do I mean ? All right , let's get a little sciencey here , because here's what's happening when you have stubborn fat . Okay and I'm just using that word a little bit loosely , but we all know what it means it's the areas of fat that seem to be the last to come off , or maybe they don't even seem to be able to come off . They're just like if we lost all the fat in our body , somehow the stubborn fat's still going to be there . Well , what it is is they have more what's called alpha-2 adrenergic receptors that inhibit fat breakdown , and they have poor blood flow . This is very reminiscent of visceral fat around our organs , for example , and this makes them resistant to fat loss , even in a calorie deficit . All right , there's a big caveat on that , because we're gonna talk about ultimately what it takes . A calorie deficit is gonna be part of the solution , potentially , but they are more resistant during a calorie deficit .

Philip Pape 6:17

So for men , it's typically the lower abs and the love handles I feel like . For me it's my butt , so that's just me . For women , it's my butt , so that's just me . For women , it's often the hips , the thighs , the lower body . But and this is the big but pun intended fat loss is still primarily systemic . It's system-wide . Your body mobilizes fat from throughout your body , based on your overall energy balance , your hormones , your muscle mass and your genetics .

Philip Pape 6:47

And the reason people get obsessed with spot reduction is they're looking for a shortcut around the fundamental requirements of fat loss . They want to keep their current body composition and just target the problem area . And I'm not calling you out to our 58-year-old caller . He didn't want me to use his name , so all cool . I'm not trying to call you out as if you're not-old caller . He didn't want me to use his name , so all cool . I'm not trying to call you out as if you're not trying to do the right thing .

Philip Pape 7:08

But it may require more fat loss than you believe and that's one of the issues . What have I told you if there actually is a way to spot reduce ? But it requires a different approach that works with your physiology and it takes time . It's not just a one-and-done thing . So let's talk about . Let's talk about the

Two Listener Stories on Stubborn Fat

Philip Pape 7:26

different approaches . All right , our 50 year old , 58 year old guy from the Philippines is experiencing exactly what happens when you try to spot reduce without addressing the underlying issues . He's addressed a lot of them , so congrats , kudos to him . For sure , he is a far ahead of where most people are right now . So congrats on that big win to be celebrated .

Philip Pape 7:45

He's achieved his target weight is muscle to fat ratio , but he called in , or he wrote in with lower belly fat that he's frustrated with . He doesn't want to lose more weight and he's trying to target the fat , but the problem is he may not have enough muscle mass in his core to reveal the definition , even at his current body fat level . That's one thing , because if you don't train your abs properly and that's a key word , properly , we'll get to that . They won't be developed enough to show , even when you're lean right . And that's independent of genetic differences , because we all have different . Not everybody has a six-pack under there , some have , you know , eight packs , four packs , different kind of shapes .

Philip Pape 8:22

So that's the first thing . He may not have enough muscle mass . Some people think you do . You said you're at your ideal muscle-to-fat ratio , but usually it's a lifelong process and you want to keep adding muscle . Second , his overall body fat might still be too high , and that's probably actually where I'd go first in his case , potentially , knowing that he has trained for a while If you're brand new , I would definitely lean more toward the muscle side of the equation . But his body fat might be too high for lower ab definition , even if his total muscle to fat ratio looks good from his perspective . Lower abs , the lower section of the abs , are typically the last place that men lose fat and you usually have to get down to something like 10% to 12% body fat or lower to see them clearly .

Philip Pape 9:03

So again , not wanting to lose weight piece of it comes into here with his fears because then we have to understand okay , well , how do we get to that level of leanness if it's not strictly through losing more weight or fat ? The third thing here is he's afraid of losing muscle in a deficit , but I think this fear could be preventing him from doing what might be necessary . So if the reason you and I say you , because I wish I could use your name but if the reason he doesn't want to lose more weight is because he thinks he'll lose muscle , well that's an easy problem , right . A strategic cut with the proper training to hold on to muscle , with enough protein , that's an easy problem . We do it all the time . That's the very definition of a fat loss phase , when done properly , is you're going to lose very little to no muscle . So if that's the only thing holding you back , then that's great , because you're gonna be good if you're training , eating protein , doing all the right things , right . And so I think overall , this actually represents maybe the most common mistake people make is trying to solve a body composition problem without changing body composition . And again , I know he's saying he wants to improve body composition but without losing weight . And you can do that . You can do that by building more muscle and then losing fat . That's what I alluded to already . But the targeted exercises that he's doing , um , yeah , they might build some muscle , done properly , but they're not going to spot reduce the fat . And I did allude to training abs , and of course you want to do that , but it's not going to be the only thing you know . Plus , you have to be progressively overloading and actually building that muscle , which we have to confirm that you're doing . So that's that's the big uh takeaway in terms of why things don't work . It's if your your body fat's not low enough , you haven't had enough muscle or you're afraid to lose weight to reveal the muscle because of other reasons , like in this case , um , losing muscle in a deficit , uh , but that's , and that's that's the one . That's one listener .

Philip Pape 10:50

Now let's look at Aubrey , our other listener , who wrote in because she's discovered a , the real way to spot , reduce , so . So in her case she's not asked , calling in at a frustration . She actually wants to share the fact that this can work and I think that's that's awesome . Um , and she's done it by improving body composition systemically over time . That's how you actually get the results people want , but it's through a different mechanism . So let's talk about the um . I'll say three factors for doing this , because this is really the . The money here is what do you do ? So the first factor is you have to have a foundation . I've said before and I stole this from someone years ago you can't sculpt a pebble , but you can sculpt a boulder , and you need to become that boulder first that you can then sculpt down .

Philip Pape 11:34

Aubrey mentioned adding muscle and maintenance through the year . She said that in her quote in her message to me adding muscle in maintenance through the year and I think this is crucial because you can't reveal what isn't there . If you want to find abs , you have to build abs . If you want a shapely lower body , you have to build those muscles . There's nothing to show otherwise , right . And this means training your target areas like any other muscle group , with progressive overload , sufficient volume and consistency . And , yes , you're going to hit your abs , like , let's say , abs . Specifically , you're going to hit your abs with big compound lifts . But then you also want to have some special ab work in there once or twice a week , like , like they say , 10 to 20 hard sets per week per major muscle group , using exercises that allow you to add weight or reps over time , like a a loaded ab crunch , for example , or if you did hanging leg raises , it's increasing your reps .

Philip Pape 12:24

But here's the key you have to do this during periods where you're eating enough to support muscle growth . You cannot build muscle in an aggressive deficit or even a moderate deficit . Unless you're totally new to this , you're not going to build much muscle , and the amount of muscle we want to get this lean shredded look that I think you guys are going for when we talk about spot reduction does take at least one or two cycles of truly building muscle . And Aubrey mentioned , you know , doing it at maintenance , like being in maintenance throughout most of the year . That's a great strategy If you're willing to actually gain weight and go into a surplus . That could be even more optimal short term , especially if you're on the younger end of the training spectrum younger as in , newer to training , not young in age . End of the training spectrum . Younger as in , newer to training , not young in age .

Why Traditional Spot Reduction Fails

Philip Pape 13:11

So that's the first foundation is building the foundation becoming the big granite of muscle that you can sculpt down rather than being a skinny pebble that has nowhere to go ?

Philip Pape 13:18

Factor two is then strategic fat loss phases , not crash dieting , not cutting super aggressively . Again , going back to Aubrey , she talks about each cut phase impacting her trouble areas more each time she does it and I've seen that myself . I've seen that with clients , and that is you have to actually lose enough fat to reach those stubborn areas and the first time you do a fat loss phase you just may not have enough muscle and then you may not get lean enough . But first time you do a fat loss phase you just may not have enough muscle and then you may not get lean enough . But each time you add muscle it's easier to get lean in terms of you don't necessarily have to cut down to as low of a body weight to get lean . So more muscle , cut fat , more muscle , cut fat . That's why we like bulking and cutting generally as an optimal way to do this .

Philip Pape 14:00

Again , for most men , lower abs they're not going to show until you're around 10 to 12% body fat . I don't like living at that percentage . I usually get down around 14% when I'm pretty lean , like for the summer , and I have a little bit of , not a little bit . My abs are showing but they're not like super cut because I don't want to , I don't want to diet down to 10 to 12% . Generally . Some clients I have love living around you know 8% body fat as men , or and to the point where some of them are even afraid to gain weight , and that's a separate issue .

Philip Pape 14:29

For women , lower body definition is going to require getting quite lean . I'm just sorry to say it , to tell you the truth , but it's usually somewhere around 16 to 20% body fat , or potentially lower for women . And again , percentage body fat doesn't directly correlate to scale weight . It correlates to how much muscle and fat you have . So of course , if you have more muscle , you can be at the same percent body fat at a higher scale weight . And that's what Aubrey , and that's what we're trying to get at here .

Philip Pape 14:57

It's easier , each cut phase , each bulk , each cut to get there , and that means accepting that you might need to lose more total weight than you initially wanted the first time and maybe less the next time and the time after that , not because the scale number matters , because that's what it takes to access those fat stores . Listen , your body's going to run out of places to get fat and then it's eventually going to go to that trouble area and it may just require getting a lot more lean than you've ever been . It may also let's be honest about it require getting more lean than you want to be , or that is super sustainable for you , and part of that is genetics . It's just genetics , but that's okay . Anybody can do it .

Philip Pape 15:33

However , so it's a very strategic thing and to me , fat loss needs to be done intelligently , moderately and keeping the protein high , continuing to strength train , planning in diet breaks or refeeds all of the things we talk about a lot on this show and recently have covered in other episodes , like the three plus three model of optimal fat loss . You can go find that one . I did an episode quite a while ago called your very first cut , which you can search in the feed . So that's . The second factor is doing strategic fat loss , knowing that in between you're going to be building muscle and kind of going back and forth . And then the final factor here maybe this is the biggest one for all of you is time and patience , and I know you're rolling your eyes like oh , here he goes again , but you know how much of this is just psychology . 90% of it is psychology .

Philip Pape 16:19

Now , aubrey's been at this for four and a half years . Okay , I've been at this for four or five years four or five years myself and I have a long way to go to where I could really be at the place where I feel like super lean and it's easier and I can carry a lot more body weight . But if I drew a

The Three Factors For Success

Philip Pape 16:35

graph for you up and down with body fat , with weight , with all the things you would see it trending toward being leaner at a higher body weight and therefore being easier to see my abs or get the fat off my butt or whatever . It doesn't mean that I always live that way . I live many times with more weight on my body because I love to lift and make progress and feel great as well . Aubrey said quote things can keep improving and body shape can change for the better as years pass on , and that is what most people miss .

Philip Pape 17:02

Real physique transformation happens through multiple cycles of building muscle and losing fat over years , not weeks or months . I'm sorry . I know you want the quick fix . I know you think I've got to lose the weight . It's not about that . It's about building muscle and losing fat . You have to be training that is a non-negotiable and then each time you go through one of these cycles , you build muscle for , in my opinion , six to 12 months and then you cut for maybe eight to 16 weeks right , that's two to four months . And then you maintain for a period . That's improving your body composition at a fundamental level and being able to see more of your definition the more you do it . So the muscle you build . How many times do we have to talk on the show about the benefits ? But it does , it's everything . It raises your metabolism , it improves your insulin sensitivity , it changes how your body partitions nutrients right , and that's what muscle gets you . Fat loss phases will get easier and more effective because you have more of this metabolically active , what we call expensive muscle tissue . Right , and you notice . I didn't even get to things like specific exercises , because at the end of the day , if you simply do basic strength training with progressive overload , you get stronger , you build muscle generally systemically over your body and then you use nutrition to cut fat , you probably can get to the leanness you want doing that alone .

Philip Pape 18:22

Some of you , because of genetics or because of a look you're going for , will definitely want to specialize and train certain muscle groups more . You just will . There are phenomena that occur with the body and how it stretches skin , how it stretches the layer of fat on top of those stubborn areas that we're not even getting into here because it's in the weeds , it's in the noise , it's very individual and genetically specific , no-transcript . The one little trick with some of these areas like the abs is , for some people , they do need to have loaded ab work , whether that's hanging , leg raises , reverse crunches , ab wheel rollouts , what's the other thing ? You know , loaded ab crunches ,

Building Your Foundation First

Philip Pape 19:10

like there are plenty of ways to load your abs and make sure to focus on the area that you care most about developing , but all you're doing is you're potentially increasing the muscle mass a little bit , a little bit , like we're doing is you're potentially increasing the muscle mass a little bit , a little bit , like we're talking . You know , millimeters or centimeters , like it depends on which one we're talking about where the real game changer is going to be how lean you get . That's just it , I'm sorry to say , but if you have overall more muscle mass , you could be overall more lean at a higher body weight , and that's what makes it really cool over time .

Philip Pape 19:37

So I think what people really want from spot reduction is to see definition and shape in specific areas , and the secret ? The secret is that you can achieve this , but not by targeting those areas directly . So when you build muscles systematically , when you lose fat strategically over time sometimes years , I'm sorry to say it , it just is going to take time you create what looks and feels like spot reduction . Your trouble areas will eventually lean out , not because you targeted them , but because you've built the foundation that allows your body to access those fat stores effectively . Because your body is a system , it is integrated .

Philip Pape 20:13

When you build muscle , you're not just building that specific muscle , you're improving the entire metabolic profile of your body . When you lose fat , you're not just losing fat from one area . You can't even control that . You're changing your hormonal environment , your insulin sensitivity , your body's entire energy management system . And that's why Aubrey , for example , can see changes in her fourth year . She couldn't see in her first year . She hasn't just lost fat , she's systemically upgraded her whole body's operating system , for lack of a better phrase .

Philip Pape 20:41

Every training session , every meal , every recovery period is programming your body for that long-term lifestyle , as whatever phrase works for you athlete , lifter , healthy , person and when you understand this , then you're going to stop looking for the quick fix , the shortcut , which isn't going to work anyway . It's just not going to work , and then you can start building that foundation and that's the lasting change you're going for . It's going to take time and the irony is , when you stop trying to spot reduce and you start focusing on body composition , your trouble areas are going to start responding , not because you're targeting them , but because you've created the conditions to access those fat stores and that's really all it is . So can you spot reduce belly fat ? No , not in the traditional sense of targeting directly , but you can absolutely achieve the results you want from spot reduction through building muscle and losing fat over time . For our 58-year-old guy from the Philippines , this might mean accepting he needs to either build more muscle or yes , lose more fat , or do both in strategic cycles .

Philip Pape 21:38

For Aubrey , she's discovered the real secret here patience and consistency over the years , not quick fixes over weeks . Your stubborn fat areas are not stubborn because you need better exercises okay , it's not that . They're stubborn because you have to give yourself the time and patience to build muscle and lose fat . That's it . Many people haven't even taken time to build muscle and if you're one of those , listening everything else I talk in this episode , almost doesn't matter until you do that , all right . If you have any questions about building muscle , losing fat , applying any of these strategies we talked about , or you have follow-up questions about specifics , submit them at witsandweightscom slash question . You'll get a personal response from me and we'll potentially feature it on the show , if it makes sense . Until next time , keep using your wits lifting those weights and remember your best physique is not ever built using shortcuts . It is engineered through patience , consistency and an understanding that real transformation takes time . I'll talk to you next time here on the Wits and Weights podcast .