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Spot Reduction is for Real? |
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Written by Anssi Manninen, MHS
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Thursday, 12 October 2006 |
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Spot reduction is simply the idea that if you work a specific muscle group you'll decrease the amount of fat in a particular area. While exercise physiologists have told us that spot reduction is nonsense, a recent study published in the American Journal of Physiology seems to suggest that sport reduction is possible after all. In this study, 10 healthy, overnight-fasted males performed one-leg knee extensions at 25 percent of maximal workload for 30 minutes. This was followed by exercise at 55 percent of maximal workload for 120 minutes with the other leg, and finally at 85 percent of maximal workload for 30 minutes with the first leg. The subjects rested for 30 minutes between exercise sessions.
Simply put, this study suggests that specific exercises can indeed induce "spot lipolysis" (lipolysis refers to the breakdown of fat stored in fat cells). Investigators found blood flow and lipolysis to be higher in subcutaneous adipose tissue adjacent to contracting muscle, when compared to adjacent resting muscle. However, it's unclear if specific exercises can induce "spot reduction" in the long run, as fat stores can be fully replenished or even supercompensated between exercise sessions. Also, the magnitude of spot lipolysis appears to be small- an extra breakdown of 0.6-2.1 milligrams of storage fat in 30 minutes per 100 grams of fat tissue adjacent to contracting muscles. Call me a skeptic or whatever, but this effect isn't highly significant.
Reference: Stallknecht B et al. Are blood flow and lipolysis in subcutaneous adipose tissue influenced by contractions in adjacent muscles in humans? Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab, 2006 Sep 19; [Epub ahead of print].
About the Author
Anssi Manninen holds an M.H.S. in sports medicine from the University of Kuopio Medical School. His cutting-edge articles in Muscular Development firmly established him as a leading authority on hardcore sports nutrition. Anssi´s articles have also been published in scientific journals, including The British Journal of Sports Medicine, The Journal of International Society of Sports Nutrition, Metabolic Syndrome and Related Disorders, Nutrition & Metabolism and Journal of Sports Science and Medicine. Anssi is also an Associate Editor for Nutrition & Metabolism, a leading scientific journal in the area of nutritional biochemistry.
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