What exercises reduce specific areas of the body?

Author: Timko Ilya - master of the whole project and fitness trainer.
2014-04-16

I get this question every day. And there is only one answer:

NONE!

There are no exercises that can make you lose weight in just one area, whether they are strength training or cardio.

If you want to lose weight in a certain spot by burning fat there, you’ll have to lose weight overall.

If you want to lose weight somewhere by reducing muscle mass in that area, the only thing you can do is not train those muscles. If you built those muscles during training, their volume will decrease over time. If you naturally have large muscles in that area, then this won’t help you. Again, you’ll have to lose weight completely, reducing not only fat mass throughout your body but also muscle mass.

Such are the laws of physiology.

Strength exercises train muscles. They make them larger, stronger, or more enduring (depending on your training). However, strength exercises cannot reduce your muscles. Tissue reduction is called atrophy, while strength exercises can only lead to hypertrophy of muscle tissue.

And why do you think that fat should be burned in the area where you’re working on your muscles? Usually, I hear the response: “Well, I’m training those muscles, so the fat should melt away there.”

Fat tissue is just another type of tissue, like muscle. It has its own structure and functions. One does not exclude the other. Building muscle itself does not directly result in fat burning. Moreover, your body doesn’t care where you want to remove fat from. It will accumulate and burn it as it is genetically programmed to do so. No training will change that.

So how can I lose weight in the areas I want?

1. If you want to lose weight through fat, in order to lose in a specific area, you will have to lose weight overall.

2. If you have overly developed muscles in that area, stop training them. Over time, they will decrease in size.

3. If you naturally have large muscles in that area, you will need to lose weight overall, including fat and muscle.