Why Body Toning Exercises Don't Work
There are always parts of your body that seem more "resistant" to losing fat than others. For women it tends to be their hips, thighs, belly or arms. For men it's usually the chest, belly or lower back.
Most people approach the problem in the same way, which is to use so-called "body toning exercises" to work the area of the body where the fat is located.
You’ll see men attempting to “burn off” the stubborn fat from their stomach with hundreds of sit-ups, or trying to lose their “man boobs” with dozens of sets on the bench press and cable crossover machine.
To "tone up" their hips and thighs, many women seem prepared to spend what seems like hours on the inner and outer thigh machines.
If you've tried this yourself, you know already...
... that body toning exercises simply don't work!
There is a better way, which I’ll explain more about in a moment.
First, I want to take a closer look at a study that reveals why the conventional approach to toning up those “problem areas” doesn’t work as well as most people think...
The study, published in the Journal of Applied Physiology, tracked a group of 31 women during a 6-month training program [1]. At the beginning and end of the study, body fat levels were measured using a sophisticated technique known as dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA for short).
Eleven of the women, selected at random, also underwent MRI scans of the thigh. This allowed the research team to establish precisely WHERE any lost fat was coming from.
The training program was designed to enhance the performance of military-specific tasks and consisted of 90 minutes of training, five days each week. It involved various military drills, running, and multi-joint exercises (such as the squat, bench press, and barbell press).
All training sessions were directly supervised by NSCA Strength and Conditioning Specialists who oversaw the entire program, monitored subject progress, and modified the workouts as needed.
And the results?
The first thing I should point out is that the women lost an average of just 5.7 pounds (2.6 kilograms) of fat, dropping from 24.7% to 22.1% body fat.
That’s a pretty poor return, especially when you consider the fact that they were exercising for over 7 hours each week for 6 months.
Why such a slow rate of fat loss?
The main reason is that the women weren’t following any kind of structured diet. No amount of exercise is going to make up for poor eating habits. For optimal results, you need both.
But here’s where it gets interesting...
As I mentioned earlier, the researchers used DEXA and MRI to track WHERE the lost fat was coming from.
Take a closer look at the training program (here and here) used in the study and you’ll see that the women were doing a LOT of exercises for their legs — running, squats, leg curls, and so on.
If doing hundreds of body toning exercises for a particular body part was the best way to strip away fat and tone up that area, then the women would have lost most of the fat from their thighs.
But they didn’t.
In fact, of the 5.7 pounds of fat lost, NONE of it came from their legs.
What’s more, almost half (2.4 pounds) of the lost fat came from the arms. That’s despite the fact that the women did NO arm isolation exercises until week 20 of the 24-week program.
Trying to lose fat from specific parts of your body by performing a bunch of body toning exercises for that area simply doesn't work. If it did, the women in this study would have lost the majority of fat from their thighs.
But they didn’t. Instead, average fat loss was greatest in the arms and trunk.
Why is stubborn fat so stubborn?
One of the main reasons concerns the ratio of beta and alpha receptors on fat cells in different parts of your body.
Just like a car, your fat cells have a series of brakes and accelerators. The parts of a fat cell that accelerate the release of fat are called beta receptors, while the parts of a fat cell that put the brakes on fat loss are known as alpha receptors.
Beta receptors help fat loss because they increase the rate at which stored fat is broken down, as well as increasing blood flow in fat tissue. In contrast, alpha receptors hinder fat loss, slowing the flow of fat out of a fat cell.
The distribution of brakes and accelerators on each fat cell explains (in part anyway) why certain parts of your body lose fat faster than others.
The research team also mentions several other factors that contribute to stubborn fat, including lipoprotein lipase activity, local blood flow, sympathetic nervous stimulation, tissue morphology, and lipolytic responsiveness to endocrine stimuli.
In short, this research illustrates the important point that you don't have a great deal of control over where lost fat comes from.
So, if you want to lose fat from your belly, chest, thighs or arms, what should you do?
Firstly, you will need to exercise. Yes, I know that exercise (cardio in particular) gets a bum rap these days. With some authors claiming that "cardio makes you fat" and magazine headlines proclaiming that exercise won’t make you thin, it’s no wonder that some people are confused about what works and what doesn’t.
It’s true that 30 or 40 minutes of cardio in your so-called "fat-burning zone" a few times a week won’t produce much in the way of meaningful results. But that doesn’t mean that exercise is a waste of time. You just need to make sure you pick the right program.
Forget about doing hundreds of cable crossovers or sit-ups to strip away the fat from your chest or stomach. On their own, these body toning exercises simply don't burn enough calories to have a significant impact on body composition.
As Mike Geary, author of The Truth about Six Pack Abs, points out: "Let's get this straight right now. Abdominal exercises do NOT burn fat away from your abs! This can only be accomplished through a much more effective full-body training routine that maximizes both your metabolic response and your hormonal response to your workouts."
You'll also need to eat the right foods. As I’ve pointed out more times than I care to remember, if you want to drop fat at a decent rate, you need to get your diet right.
"No matter how much you exercise," writes fat loss guru Tom Venuto, "you can't lose weight if you eat yourself into a calorie surplus. Just because you start an exercise program doesn't mean you have free license to abandon all restraint and freely indulge in eating anything you want."
While there are a few important principles to keep in mind when it comes to nutrition and weight loss, losing fat requires that you take in fewer calories than you burn. Don't be seduced into following an overly complicated diet masquerading under the guise of a "new and revolutionary" approach to weight loss.
Finally, you'll need to be consistent. Eating right and exercising regularly will need to become a habit, not just something you do when you can be bothered or when you "have the time."
There are no quick fixes or easy answers. Short of surgery, the only way to change your body shape is with a blend of hard training, good nutrition, and a hefty dose of persistence.
About the Author
 Christian Finn holds a master's degree in exercise science, is a certified personal trainer and has been featured on BBC TV and radio, as well as in Men's Health, Men's Fitness, Muscle & Fitness, Fit Pro, Zest and other popular fitness magazines.
If you want better, faster results from the time you spend in the gym, click here now for instant access to his step-by-step muscle-building and fat-burning workout routines.
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References
1. Nindl, B.C., Harman, E.A., Marx, J.O., Gotshalk, L.A., Frykman, P.N., Lammi, E., Palmer, C., & Kraemer, W.J. (2000). Regional body composition changes in women after 6 months of periodized physical training. Journal of Applied Physiology, 88, 2251-2259
2. Nindl, B.C., Friedl, K.E., Marchitelli, L.J., Shippee, R.L., Thomas, C.D., & Patton JF. (1996). Regional fat placement in physically fit males and changes with weight loss. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 28, 786-793
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