Spot Reduction, Armed and Ready!

by Kris Pitcher

Some things that I share with you are my opinion, which I don't hide. Other things are just plain science. That's where we are today. Science. Super simple lesson for today: Our bones make up our structure. Our structure is covered by skeletal muscle. Our skeletal muscle is insulated by a nice protective layer of fat. Remember any of that from school? Fat tissue, or cells, and muscle tissue are different tissues. Think of them as apples and oranges. Apples don't become oranges, and oranges don't become apples. Follow me there? Hold these thoughts.

That stuff that swings when you wave at your arm at friends...that stuff is fat. Your triceps muscle group (on the back of your arm) is underneath the fat. But it's the fat that is swinging when you're done waving. We know that fat does not become muscle, yet people always want to know what exercise they can do to get rid of that?! When they ask the question, it's usually accompanied by an arm extension motion or something similar to the chicken dance. This indicates to me they think there's a dumbbell exercise to do the trick. What exercise? I'll tell you what exercise, CARDIO!

But that's not all. We need to build that poor little triceps underneath too. Spot reduction for swinging arms, and anywhere else, is myth. Getting rid of that stuff takes a combination of cardio, strength training, and eating clean. And the order in which you put your insulation on & take it off is somewhat genetic, thanks mom and dad.

We're going to talk a lot about building muscle (don't be scared), cardio and eating clean over time. For now, you are armed (pun intended) with the understanding that muscle and fat are different tissues. Different! This is important as you wade through bogus information and build a plan on realistic expectations. Dispelling myths is easy once you are armed (couldn't help it) with information. Now you're armed and ready!