Targeted Fat Mobilization
Big Dawg
Posts: 645
Targeted Fat Mobilization
by Christian Thibaudeau, Chris Shugart 11/18/13
Here's what you need to know...
• This plan isn't for those who need to lose a ton of body fat, but for those already on the fit side looking to target resistant fat deposits.
• By redirecting blood flow to a fatty area and then contracting the muscles adjacent to that area, you can induce "spot lipolysis".
• The right training strategy can shift calorie burning toward localized areas of fat storage.
Spot reduction is impossible. You can't lose fat predominantly in a specific area just by training that area. This is something every personal trainer or coach who's worth a damn knows.
Only one problem: it's simply not true. You can increase fat loss in a specific area. It's a fact – a fact that's been observed by successful bodybuilders and that's now backed by science.
Anecdotal Evidence
Many legendary bodybuilders believed in spot reduction. For example, they did hundreds, even thousands, of sit-ups not only to build the abs but to "whittle away body fat" from that area before a contest.
Since then, "smart people" have written this off, saying it was just a result of the pre-competition diet and increased cardio activity causing systemic (whole body) fat loss, some of which just happened to be around the midsection.
Sure, that's a factor too, but maybe these in-the-trenches bodybuilders – which included Arnold, Columbu, Zane, and Corey Everson – were unknowingly on to something that science just hadn't proven possible yet. As is often the case, the dedicated lifter often figures things out, then geeks in lab coats come along later to prove them correct.
Thibaudeau has experienced targeted fat mobilization as well:
"I got the first clue about this in 2001. I didn't put two and two together until much later though. As a competitive Olympic lifter at that time, I had very lean legs and a fairly fat upper body. I remember getting my body fat percentage tested and my legs were roughly 6% and my upper body 20%.
Legs
"I'd been training for the sport for three years at that point, squatting every day, sometimes twice per day, and doing lots of sled pulling. The fact that I did so much leg work very likely increased the vascularization of my legs. As we'll see later, the more vascularized an area is, the easier it is to mobilize fat from that area. Even to this day, even if I'm in one of my fatter states (about 12%), my legs are super vascular and even cross-striated."
Christian experienced a similar effect when preparing for a bodybuilding show:
"I started going to the gym early in the morning to do my cardio. I always found cardio to be super boring and doing more than 10-15 minutes at a time was too mentally draining for me. So I'd do 10 minutes, then ab work, 10 more minutes, then ab work, 10 minutes of cardio, still more ab work, etc.
"My abdomen turned out to be by far the leanest section of my body. In fact, even when I get just as lean today, I never get the same tight midsection as I did back then when I used the cardio-abs combo.
It wasn't until years later that I read a T Nation article by Dr. Lonnie Lowery that explained the science behind real spot reduction."
The Science
Training is fun, science is usually tedious, so let's zoom through this. (A nod to Dr. Lowery for doing the boring research for us.)
• Blood flow is crucial for fat extraction. Poor blood flow to certain areas of the body – obliques and lower abs for example – equals poor fat loss from those areas. Researcher K. Frayne notes: "There is evidence that adipose tissue blood flow does not increase sufficiently to allow delivery of all the fatty acids released into the systemic circulation." Luckily, we can manipulate that with the right training.
• Calorie balance does matter, of course, but research is supporting what the old-school guys used to do. Calorie-burning is part of the equation, but calories come from difference sources. Would you rather the calories you burn in a conditioning session come from the fat area around your navel or from the glycogen and triglycerides in your muscles?
• Increase blood flow and you can extract more fat from the troubled area. With techniques like microdialysis, you can actually see this occurring. Microdialysis involves sticking super tiny tubes into subcutaneous fatty areas like the lower stomach and measuring fat breakdown products, like glycerol and fatty acids, in the interstitial fluid. Increase the blood flow to that area and localized fat loss increases. "That's spot reduction," says Dr. Lowery.
• Blood flow and lipolysis are generally higher in subcutaneous adipose tissue adjacent to the contracting muscle. (Stallknecht, 2007) An acute bout of exercise can induce spot lipolysis and increased blood flow in adipose tissue adjacent to contracting skeletal muscle. That means if you train your abs the right way at the right time, the belly fat on the outside of the abs will "burn" preferentially.
• Another paper notes that there are well-documented regional variations in lipolysis: "The subcutaneous abdominal has an intermediate rate and the gluteal-femoral depots have relatively sluggish turnover."
"Collectively, this means when you contract a muscle, the adjacent body fat starts to break down more," Dr. Lowery notes.
The Workouts
The premise is simple: Go back and forth between an ab exercise and a conditioning exercise.
Abdominal exercise: Any movement will work. The goal is just to direct blood flow toward that area. For maximum effect you want the ab set to last 45-60 seconds. Less than that and you won't be getting as much blood flow to the region.
Abs
Conditioning exercise: Any demanding energy systems activity will work too. Sprints, hill sprints, Prowler pushing, battle ropes, tire flipping, etc. You want the whole session to be non-stop for 10-15 minutes. That's the key if you want maximum fat loss.
You can also use regular, moderate intensity cardio like Christian did for his bodybuilding show, but it's much less efficient than true conditioning work. You'd need to do at least 30 minutes of cardio, so three bouts of 10 minutes, with 3-6 sets of ab work between every bout. The results will be there, but each session is three times a long. If you don't have the conditioning level to do 10-15 minutes of intense work like Prowler pushing or sprints, this is a good option.
The Ab Shredder Plans
Here are two simple options to maximize fat loss from the abdomen to reveal that six pack:
Workout #1: Prowler & Abs
Ab Crunches: as many quality reps as you can get in 60 seconds
Prowler Pushing: 40 yards
Reverse Crunches: maximum in 60 seconds
Prowler Pushing: 40 yards
Repeat this superset of Prowler and ab work 8 more times.
Workout #2: Sprints & Abs
Ab Crunches: maximum in 60 seconds
Sprint: 60 yards
Reverse Crunches: maximum in 60 seconds
Sprint: 60 yards
Repeat this superset of sprints and ab work 8 more times.
The Ultimate Ab Shredder: Advanced Athletes Only!
This is the best possible option to increase abdominal fat loss while getting jacked!
Farmer's Walk: maximum distance in 60 seconds
Ab Crunches: maximum in 60 seconds
Rest 30 seconds
Farmer's Walk: maximum distance in 60 seconds
Reverse Crunches: maximum in 60 seconds
Rest 30 seconds
Repeat this superset 4 more times.
Notes and Tips
• If using these workouts in the morning in a fasted state, drink one serving of Mag-10® before and during the session to speed fat loss and prevent possible muscle loss from being nutrient depleted.
• If fat loss is your main goal, take one or two capsules of Hot-Rox® Extreme around 30 minutes before the workout to accelerate fat loss and provide extra energy.
• Females usually have poor vascularization in the lower body and therefore tend to store more fat there. The Prowler is the best option for them. Increase the push time to at least 90 seconds and up to 3 minutes.
Prowler
• The glutes are another area of the body resistant to fat loss due to less blood flow, especially in females. To target fat storage on the backside, replace the ab work with dumbbell hip thrusts. Place a 100-pound plus dumbbell over your hips and perform 10 reps of full-range hip thrusts, then 20 reps of rapid "pulses" at the top of the range of motion. This will look erotically ridiculous and work extraordinarily well.
• The leaner your upper body the more jacked you'll look. If you've always stored fat in the arms and shoulders and never see much definition there, use battle ropes for your conditioning work.
Ropes
Target Fat Deposits and Destroy Them
This is not a plan for the very overweight, but for the decently fit person or pre-contest bodybuilder looking to trigger acute fat loss in hard-to-mobilize areas. We'd tell you that diet plays an important role too, but you're not an idiot so you probably know that already.
Note: For more workouts that use the Targeted Fat Mobilization technique, download the Indigo Project Training Program for fat-loss hypertrophy.
by Christian Thibaudeau, Chris Shugart 11/18/13
Here's what you need to know...
• This plan isn't for those who need to lose a ton of body fat, but for those already on the fit side looking to target resistant fat deposits.
• By redirecting blood flow to a fatty area and then contracting the muscles adjacent to that area, you can induce "spot lipolysis".
• The right training strategy can shift calorie burning toward localized areas of fat storage.
Spot reduction is impossible. You can't lose fat predominantly in a specific area just by training that area. This is something every personal trainer or coach who's worth a damn knows.
Only one problem: it's simply not true. You can increase fat loss in a specific area. It's a fact – a fact that's been observed by successful bodybuilders and that's now backed by science.
Anecdotal Evidence
Many legendary bodybuilders believed in spot reduction. For example, they did hundreds, even thousands, of sit-ups not only to build the abs but to "whittle away body fat" from that area before a contest.
Since then, "smart people" have written this off, saying it was just a result of the pre-competition diet and increased cardio activity causing systemic (whole body) fat loss, some of which just happened to be around the midsection.
Sure, that's a factor too, but maybe these in-the-trenches bodybuilders – which included Arnold, Columbu, Zane, and Corey Everson – were unknowingly on to something that science just hadn't proven possible yet. As is often the case, the dedicated lifter often figures things out, then geeks in lab coats come along later to prove them correct.
Thibaudeau has experienced targeted fat mobilization as well:
"I got the first clue about this in 2001. I didn't put two and two together until much later though. As a competitive Olympic lifter at that time, I had very lean legs and a fairly fat upper body. I remember getting my body fat percentage tested and my legs were roughly 6% and my upper body 20%.
Legs
"I'd been training for the sport for three years at that point, squatting every day, sometimes twice per day, and doing lots of sled pulling. The fact that I did so much leg work very likely increased the vascularization of my legs. As we'll see later, the more vascularized an area is, the easier it is to mobilize fat from that area. Even to this day, even if I'm in one of my fatter states (about 12%), my legs are super vascular and even cross-striated."
Christian experienced a similar effect when preparing for a bodybuilding show:
"I started going to the gym early in the morning to do my cardio. I always found cardio to be super boring and doing more than 10-15 minutes at a time was too mentally draining for me. So I'd do 10 minutes, then ab work, 10 more minutes, then ab work, 10 minutes of cardio, still more ab work, etc.
"My abdomen turned out to be by far the leanest section of my body. In fact, even when I get just as lean today, I never get the same tight midsection as I did back then when I used the cardio-abs combo.
It wasn't until years later that I read a T Nation article by Dr. Lonnie Lowery that explained the science behind real spot reduction."
The Science
Training is fun, science is usually tedious, so let's zoom through this. (A nod to Dr. Lowery for doing the boring research for us.)
• Blood flow is crucial for fat extraction. Poor blood flow to certain areas of the body – obliques and lower abs for example – equals poor fat loss from those areas. Researcher K. Frayne notes: "There is evidence that adipose tissue blood flow does not increase sufficiently to allow delivery of all the fatty acids released into the systemic circulation." Luckily, we can manipulate that with the right training.
• Calorie balance does matter, of course, but research is supporting what the old-school guys used to do. Calorie-burning is part of the equation, but calories come from difference sources. Would you rather the calories you burn in a conditioning session come from the fat area around your navel or from the glycogen and triglycerides in your muscles?
• Increase blood flow and you can extract more fat from the troubled area. With techniques like microdialysis, you can actually see this occurring. Microdialysis involves sticking super tiny tubes into subcutaneous fatty areas like the lower stomach and measuring fat breakdown products, like glycerol and fatty acids, in the interstitial fluid. Increase the blood flow to that area and localized fat loss increases. "That's spot reduction," says Dr. Lowery.
• Blood flow and lipolysis are generally higher in subcutaneous adipose tissue adjacent to the contracting muscle. (Stallknecht, 2007) An acute bout of exercise can induce spot lipolysis and increased blood flow in adipose tissue adjacent to contracting skeletal muscle. That means if you train your abs the right way at the right time, the belly fat on the outside of the abs will "burn" preferentially.
• Another paper notes that there are well-documented regional variations in lipolysis: "The subcutaneous abdominal has an intermediate rate and the gluteal-femoral depots have relatively sluggish turnover."
"Collectively, this means when you contract a muscle, the adjacent body fat starts to break down more," Dr. Lowery notes.
The Workouts
The premise is simple: Go back and forth between an ab exercise and a conditioning exercise.
Abdominal exercise: Any movement will work. The goal is just to direct blood flow toward that area. For maximum effect you want the ab set to last 45-60 seconds. Less than that and you won't be getting as much blood flow to the region.
Abs
Conditioning exercise: Any demanding energy systems activity will work too. Sprints, hill sprints, Prowler pushing, battle ropes, tire flipping, etc. You want the whole session to be non-stop for 10-15 minutes. That's the key if you want maximum fat loss.
You can also use regular, moderate intensity cardio like Christian did for his bodybuilding show, but it's much less efficient than true conditioning work. You'd need to do at least 30 minutes of cardio, so three bouts of 10 minutes, with 3-6 sets of ab work between every bout. The results will be there, but each session is three times a long. If you don't have the conditioning level to do 10-15 minutes of intense work like Prowler pushing or sprints, this is a good option.
The Ab Shredder Plans
Here are two simple options to maximize fat loss from the abdomen to reveal that six pack:
Workout #1: Prowler & Abs
Ab Crunches: as many quality reps as you can get in 60 seconds
Prowler Pushing: 40 yards
Reverse Crunches: maximum in 60 seconds
Prowler Pushing: 40 yards
Repeat this superset of Prowler and ab work 8 more times.
Workout #2: Sprints & Abs
Ab Crunches: maximum in 60 seconds
Sprint: 60 yards
Reverse Crunches: maximum in 60 seconds
Sprint: 60 yards
Repeat this superset of sprints and ab work 8 more times.
The Ultimate Ab Shredder: Advanced Athletes Only!
This is the best possible option to increase abdominal fat loss while getting jacked!
Farmer's Walk: maximum distance in 60 seconds
Ab Crunches: maximum in 60 seconds
Rest 30 seconds
Farmer's Walk: maximum distance in 60 seconds
Reverse Crunches: maximum in 60 seconds
Rest 30 seconds
Repeat this superset 4 more times.
Notes and Tips
• If using these workouts in the morning in a fasted state, drink one serving of Mag-10® before and during the session to speed fat loss and prevent possible muscle loss from being nutrient depleted.
• If fat loss is your main goal, take one or two capsules of Hot-Rox® Extreme around 30 minutes before the workout to accelerate fat loss and provide extra energy.
• Females usually have poor vascularization in the lower body and therefore tend to store more fat there. The Prowler is the best option for them. Increase the push time to at least 90 seconds and up to 3 minutes.
Prowler
• The glutes are another area of the body resistant to fat loss due to less blood flow, especially in females. To target fat storage on the backside, replace the ab work with dumbbell hip thrusts. Place a 100-pound plus dumbbell over your hips and perform 10 reps of full-range hip thrusts, then 20 reps of rapid "pulses" at the top of the range of motion. This will look erotically ridiculous and work extraordinarily well.
• The leaner your upper body the more jacked you'll look. If you've always stored fat in the arms and shoulders and never see much definition there, use battle ropes for your conditioning work.
Ropes
Target Fat Deposits and Destroy Them
This is not a plan for the very overweight, but for the decently fit person or pre-contest bodybuilder looking to trigger acute fat loss in hard-to-mobilize areas. We'd tell you that diet plays an important role too, but you're not an idiot so you probably know that already.
Note: For more workouts that use the Targeted Fat Mobilization technique, download the Indigo Project Training Program for fat-loss hypertrophy.
Comments
Indeed it's interesting. Seen it over at T-Nation. Not to say I buy into it yet - I've seen too many damn studies over the years that is complete BS. One year they say something, then the next year they say the opposite. Hell it used to be that eggs were disasterous for you, then they became healthy, then back to they will kill you, then back to they are great for you haha. That's just one of many examples. However I do like the anecdotal evidence with the article. That to me means just as much as the "science". You get a million guys saying something works, you can't just turn your head the other way no matter what science says. I would just like to see more studies to back it up. Hopefully they will pursue this topic bcoz indeed it is breakthru stuff fosho if true!
I am actually a believer in this sir BD, esp now that I'm training my abs directly. Also had a short discussion with vinch about this when we first met in one of the GWO at maximus.
I would have posted about this before, but I was waiting for my result to come before I can claim that it does work. Thanks again!
Well whats crazy is this - I rarely train abs. However sometimes yet very rarely I will hit them hard. I would notice that they seem slightly more toned and defined like the next day or 2 later. I attributed this to placebo effect/mind games telling me the abs looked better, but I figured it's impossible bcoz spot reduction isn't happening haha. So perhaps there is more to it than I thought. Arnold himself said for years about spot reduction working. Also most of the bodybuilders back in the day like in Arnolds era didn't even do cardio - they just hit abs/obliques/serratus with tons of reps & relied on diet. I might start doing more ab work and alot of broomstick twists to try to widdle away some small love handles. If you see me in a couple months with a waist like sir Vinch, you know it works hahaha!
Keep us posted on your results also sir Monch.
You are already fairly lean bro so you would probably be a good candidate for it. As the article states, this isn't for the fat guy to try out haha. I can see now all the chubby guys out there in the world after reading that article - they might have a vision of having a 28" waist at their current 20% bf haha!
Isa din siguro to sa mga dahilan bakit every wo may abwork siya aside from warming up.
Article states its for someone already in fairly lean shape. If you lean bulk and keep some decent lines then probably so. However if you mean by bulking putting on alot of fat also, I doubt it. I look at this as a final edge to help one sculpt the physique, not as some magic that's going to give a fat guy a set of abs like Dexter haha. This all is assuming I even buy into this article 100%, which I don't as of yet.
I want to add when I mentioned the guys of Arnolds era in my previous post, keep in mind while those guys did tons of ab work and no cardio, they still are not even close to being as cut and peeled as the guys of the past 15-20 years. Cardio was one of the tools added in that took "peeled" to a whole different level. Hell even Zane would appear smooth on a stage today. I believe the addition of cardio & GH play the most significant roles of why guys are so much more cut in recent times compared to back then.
Kaya nga I now regularly train my core every wo mula nung sinabi mo sakin to. Since then, I feel my tummy is slowly getting flatter, (although ayaw pa din lumabas ng pandesalzzz).
Is it the regular core training that's working? The diet? The training? Hopefully all of them lol.
Pero ngayon nga subukan ko to cardio superset core haha.
This. Spot on post sir BD!
After regular work sets.. HIIT with fawkin abdominal workout lol let see how will I slowly kill myself with that