Hi,
It’s one of those ‘facts’ that everyone knows, right? You can’t spot reduce fat. It doesn’t matter how much topical cream you lather yourself in or how many millions of ab crunches you do, you can’t shift fat specifically off, say, your belly, right?
WRONG!
You see, my new 6 Week Summer Shape Up program’ which is specifically for people who want to get absolutely commit to getting in their best physical and mental state and fast.
I’m also going through the program once again myself, just to double check I’m not leaving anything on the table that will help you get serious head turning results.
Now, one of the areas I’ve always struggled with is the bit of love handle fat. It just doesn’t want to budge, can you relate?
So I decided that I’d use this final run through as an experiment to see if I could spot reduce that fat. And I am thrilled to tell you, it’s actually working!
So what does it involve?
Well, first of all a little background. If you think about your fattest areas, you’ll probably notice that they are colder to the touch than the leaner parts of your body. For girls this means that their thighs and bum tend to be cold, and for guys it’s often their belly.
Science tells us that good circulation is key to fat loss, and poor blood flow to certain areas equals stubborn fat storage.
So what can we do about it?
Well, spot reduction of fat has generally been regarded as an old wives’ tale, and it is true that we burn fat over our whole body and not just in one area (that’s down to the fact that muscle tissue is the body’s metabolic furnace, and you have muscle all over your body. Hence why I keep talking about doing multiple-muscle-recruiting exercises).
However, a quick look back at the protocols of some of the biggest names in bodybuilding suggest that maybe you can do something to address specific areas. People like Arnie and other legendary bodybuilders would do and recommend specific targeted ab exercises in order to develop flat, hard, fat-free abs, and recent research suggests that they were actually onto something..
There are 3 things you can do to increase fat burning in a specific area, and from my own little experiment, there is definitely something in it:
1) Firstly, perform exercises that work the muscles adjacent to the target area. During your Monday Core workout video, I’ve designed the workouts not just to do ab and lateral flexion work, but balance it with appropriate stability and back work such as planks, back extensions, 1leg movements etc.
What this does is increase muscular activity near the target site, which in turn increases the breakdown of that fat.
2) Second, increase the temperature of the fatty area whilst you exercise. (I’ve been using a sauna belt to keep my tummy warm :). What this does is increase sweating in the localised area and also increases blood circulation which is crucial for fat extraction from the adipose cells.
3) Finally, aim to perform your Ryan Raw Workout videos first thing in the morning, in a fasted state (ie before breakfast); this is beneficial because it results in fat-busting hormones such as Growth Hormone and adrenaline being delivered to the area, rather than fat protecting insulin following a meal.
It’s important to perform the Core, Cardio and Sculpt videos to benefit from the designed synergistic effect when also combined your included clean diet protocol.
So, if you’re looking to sort out one or two trouble spots, it’s definitely worth a go.
The 6 Week Summer Shape Up definitely works, and the science is there to back it up.
Join the Ryan Raw Online 6 Week Summer Shape Up Challenge @ http://www.RyanRaw.com
To your success!
Ryan
Stallknecht B, et al. Are blood flow and lipolysis in subcutaneous adipose tissue influenced by contractions in adjacent muscles in humans? American Journal of Physiology. Endocrinology and Metabolism. 2007 Feb;292(2):E394-9.
Ryan Shanahan Fitness 