Recent studies suggest spot reduction for fat loss might be possible through targeted workouts, but a 30-day experiment comparing this "spot reduction" approach with a diet and strength training-focused phase revealed that the latter is significantly more effective for overall fat loss and body composition changes.
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While everyone says you can't pick and
choose where you lose fat from, [music]
some new studies are proving the
opposite. They found not only can you
target specific areas like your stubborn
belly fat, but all it takes is a simple
workout they can even do at home. But
while these new studies are actually
very well designed, I don't fully trust
the results quite yet. So, I'm testing
it myself. For 30 days we're following
the exact spot reduction plan that was
scientifically proven to work, followed
by another 30 days of regular fat loss,
measuring everything using the most
accurate device in the world, MRI. And
let me just say even as a coach and
published researcher myself, I was
genuinely shocked by the results. Oh,
oh, wow, it's really hard. It's almost
eight. But before diving into the plan,
meet my guinea pigs. This is Dennis, a
creative director, who has been
struggling with his belly fat ever since
he was a kid. And abs is something he's
always admired.
>> When I look at someone, I look at their
face first, and then I look at their
abs. I don't look at anything else. I
don't care about this, I don't care
about that. The first time Dennis came
to work,
he's he's he just said, "Jeremy, the
only thing I want is abs." Although he
works out 4 days a week and doesn't eat
much junk food, he's never been able to
get rid of the fat [music] around his
belly. And based on his MRI scan, he's
got some serious potential. So, you
actually do have nice-looking abs. Yours
are pretty thick.
>> Yeah, now that bird person say I'm
pretty thick.
>> Yeah, yeah, yeah. And this is Vicky,
who's pretty active as well, but is also
struggling with losing that last layer
of belly fat covering her ab definition.
Your total body fat is 31.8%.
31.8%. >> Oh.
>> Oh.
>> Now, keep in mind keep in mind for for
girls, compared to guys,
you usually want to add like 10% to get
the equivalent, just cuz you have more
essential fat. So, when you look at your
belly specifically,
that's at 24.7%.
You actually store the least fat in your
belly compared to anywhere else.
>> Oh, interesting.
>> And for Dennis, his total body fat came
in at 17.5%
with his belly clocking in at 16%. Now,
if this new research holds up, the plan
they'll be doing should be the perfect
way to destroy the belly fat they've
been struggling with. We're going off a
a study where they found this actually
works super well.
And the idea is that if you train your
abs really hard, Mhm.
you're kind of mobilizing the fat in
that area. So, it's very interesting.
The study I'm talking about was
published in 2023, where the researchers
came up with a pretty smart plan. They
knew that before your body can actually
burn fat, it first has to release it
from the fat cell, a process called
mobilization. If that doesn't happen,
the fat just stays stored. And now,
here's where it gets really interesting,
because when you train a specific
muscle, blood flow increases to that
area, and so does fat mobilization. So,
in theory, training your abs should
increase blood flow to your belly,
helping release more fat from that area.
And that's exactly why so many people
try to target belly fat with crunches
and sit-ups. In fact, one study had
participants do over 5,000 sit-ups in
just 27 days to test this, but it didn't
make a difference. Because unlocking fat
is actually just one half of the
equation. If you release fat from
storage, but don't actually burn it,
your body just stores it again. And so,
now you're probably wondering, so how do
you burn it? And it's actually quite
simple, cardio, but at a low to moderate
intensity to maximize fat burn. And that
is exactly what this new group of
researchers tested. They had one group
simply jog for 45 minutes, whereas the
spot reduction group, the researchers
designed it so that their workout burned
the exact same amount of calories, but
their workout consisted of jogging for
only 27 minutes, and then immediately
followed it with ab training. And this
time, it worked. After 10 [music] weeks,
even though they didn't make any changes
to the participants' diets, both groups
lost a similar amount of total body fat,
but the spot reduction group, they lost
around 2.5 times more fat around their
belly. And this isn't the only study to
find this. A 2017 study tested a similar
protocol, but on arm and leg fat, and
they too found clear proof of spot
reduction. Now, as a published
researcher myself, I can tell you that
these studies are actually quite well
designed. But I did notice one big
problem. They measured everything using
DEXA scans, which is great for measuring
total body fat over time, but it's just
not precise enough to measure small
changes in specific [music] areas. That
is why we're using MRI. It is by far the
most precise way to measure fat and
muscle changes. And it's rarely used in
studies because it's extremely expensive
and hard to get access to. But in
experiments like this, it really is the
only way to be confident with the
results. We scanned Dennis and Vicki's
bodies and identified three points along
their spine to track the fat thickness
across their upper, middle, and lower
belly, as well as the thickness of their
abs just to see how they respond to
their training. And we're coming back in
30 days to see if the plan actually
works. You're going to start here. >> Yeah.
>> Yeah.
And all I want you to do is lift your
tailbone off the bench. Slow, slow,
slow, slow, slow, slow, slow. Now, the
plan Dennis and Vicki are following is
almost identical to the study I
mentioned earlier, just with a small
upgrade to the ab training. They're
doing four sets of weighted crunches for
their upper abs and four sets of reverse
crunches for the lower abs, trying to
increase the weight or reps every single workout.
workout.
>> The key here is you're not using your
legs to get it up. All right, good job.
>> burning. I've got a cramp. There
you go. >> [laughter]
>> [laughter]
>> And then we got to do this.
Now, if you see my previous abs video,
you'll probably recognize both of these
exercises. They're two of the most
effective movements that you can use.
And as you'll see later on, worked
incredibly well. But immediately before
their ab training, they'll do 25 minutes
of moderate intensity cardio, just like
the study did. And they're going to do
this workout every other day. But there
is one key difference between Dennis and
Vicki's plan. Vicki does not lift
weights. So, for her, it's just the
cardio and ab work. Dennis, on the other
hand, is sticking with his usual 3-day
lifting routine alongside it. And as
you'll see, that difference actually
ends up having a huge impact on the
results. But as someone who doesn't do
cardio and abs at all, Dennis was off to
a rough start.
>> I changed my cardio to a Stairmaster. I
think it's a little bit more fun. I
climbed 123 floors, and you can't say I
broke Alex Honnold's record. Whereas
Vicky went with incline walking for her
cardio. But trying to juggle it with
work has been hectic. So, it is
1:00 a.m. right now, and I'm driving to
the gym on a Monday morning, and it's
all my fault. I had a presentation due
tomorrow for work, and I I honestly procrastinated.
procrastinated.
>> But so far, both of them haven't missed
a single workout, which is great,
because belly fat can honestly feel like
a nightmare you can't escape, no matter
how hard you try, especially for men.
And there's a reason for that. After my
team and I analyzed over eight years of
DEXA scans from nearly 18,000 people, we
noticed a clear pattern. Women tend to
store most of their fat around their
hips, their legs, and their arms.
Whereas men always tend to store more of
their fat in their belly. And this
actually just becomes much worse once
your body fat gets above 25 to 30%. But
it's not just where fat is stored. It's
also how it comes off. Cuz when we
looked at fat loss across different body
parts, the belly was consistently one of
the slowest areas to change, while areas
like the arms and legs tended to lean
out first. So, it makes sense why so
many people try to target it directly.
Dennis actually saw this growing up. At
his parents' house in Taiwan, there's a
horse riding machine and even a belly
reduction machine his dad has been using
for years. Yet, his belly hasn't
changed. But if our experiment works,
this could finally give a real solution
to his problem. And so far, the early
results look promising. We're just a
week and a half in, and Dennis is
convinced his abs are more visible,
especially under some good lighting.
It's pretty good. But
But
I do still feel like
there's still a lot of fat covering it.
Meanwhile, Vicky was consistently
getting stronger with her weighted
crunches and also sticking to a rigorous
schedule. But in week two, both Dennis
and Vicky noticed something interesting.
>> I will say I do feel like I can kind of
see like upper ab definition. I don't
know if I'm seeing as much improvement
in my lower region, but for sure
in the upper ab region
you can kind of see some abs coming in
here. There's actually a reason the
lower belly is the hardest area to burn
off. There's two receptor types inside
fat cells. Alpha-2 receptors, which slow
fat release, and beta receptors, which
accelerate it. Your lower belly fat is
thought to have a much higher ratio of
alpha-2 receptors, making it slower to
burn off. But that's not the only issue.
Visible abs, they come from two things:
low enough body fat and abs that
actually pop through. Now, the upper abs
tend to be thick and pop through easily,
whereas the lower abs are often thinner
and depending on your ab genetics, you
might not really even have any. And this
is actually why we're tracking Dennis
and Vicky's ab growth with the MRI scans
to see if the ab training grows their
upper abs as well as their lower abs.
And if it does, how much that actually
helps them pop through. Now, we're just
20 days in and Vicky isn't the only one
feeling like the belly fat is coming
off. Dennis has seen some great
improvements on his ab strength and the
appearance. I'm going to do
I'm sore. Which also means he's spending
more time checking himself out in the
gym, admiring the abs he used to only
see on influencers. Back then, he was
sending me photos almost every single
night. But take a look at this. These
are two photos Dennis took on the exact
same day just with different lighting.
Influencers use this lighting trick all
the time to look better and honestly, I
do too. But it can set the wrong
expectations if you're not aware of it.
Because even when you're super lean,
you're not going to have that six-pack
shredded look all the time in every
environment. And you're going to drive
yourself crazy trying to chase that. And
this also matters for our experiment,
too. Because small differences in
lighting could easily make it look like
the protocol is working, even if nothing
has actually changed. Which is again why
we're relying on precise measurements,
so we're not guessing based just on how
things look. After a total of 375
minutes of cardio and 15 ab sessions in
30 [music] days, it's time to see
whether all this work actually made a
difference in belly fat. Well, have you
noticed anything?
>> Okay, maybe a little bit. Like
I can see like the line in the middle. >> [laughter]
