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The truth about spot reducing
I've been reading that ‘spot reducing’ is ineffective. What does this mean? Have I been doing all those leg lifts, crunches, hip and bottom exercises—not to mention walking on the treadmill—for nothing?
Fat gets stored on our bodies in a certain order that is determined by gender and genetics. When we gain weight, we add fat to certain areas before adding it elsewhere. Most men, for example, store fat around their middles, which leads to ‘love handles’ or a ‘spare tire’. Most women store fat on their hips and thighs. As we lose weight, those places are the last to lose. That's one of the frustrations about losing weight: You can be in shape and still have a flabby tummy or bottom.
Leg lifts work the muscles of your outer hip. These abductors, along with your inner thigh muscles (adductors), stabilise your legs while walking, running or cycling. These muscles play a greater role in sports that require lateral movement, such as tennis. When you do leg lifts, you're not using as great a percentage of your total leg-muscle fibres as you would if you were doing squats or lunges which work the larger muscles like the quadriceps, hamstrings and glutes (on the front of the thigh, back of the thigh, and bottom).
If you do exercises that involve more muscle groups, you burn more calories and overall fat. The more intense the exercise, the more energy and strength you exert. Your body responds to forceful, repetitive exercise by increasing the size of your muscle fibres. When you have more muscle on your frame, you become leaner and you burn more calories (even at rest), which helps use up stored fat.
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