Believe me, I was VERY skeptical of this...until I read through it and saw the scientific rationale for it.

And honestly, I'm still kind of skeptical but I think it definitely has potential. He could be onto something and it's a method I'm going to do some experimenting with myself.

I love this kind of "biohacking"...taking scientific research and using the principles that are proven by it to achieve very specific body transformation goals.

 

Spot reduction of stomach fat..can it be for real?

It's about something approximating "spot reduction" of abdominal fat...yep, the Holy Grail of fat loss. Losing fat from the area of your body that is basically the TOUGHEST and most STUBBORN to get at.

The reason I put spot reduction in quotes is that the focus of this approach is NOT true spot reduction in the sense that you're only burning fat from that area.

That is impossible...the body doesn't work that way and the creator of this approach fully acknowledges that.

The idea with THIS approach is to use very targeted training to increase the percentage of the fat that you're burning (while on an overall fat-loss program) to come more from abdominal fat.

Over time with continued use of this method, you burn more fat from the abdominal area than you normally would with conventional fat-loss training.

 

This overall approach uses fundamentally sound fat-loss principles, like getting into a caloric deficit, using metabolic conditioning training, etc. to lose overall bodyfat.

Then you use very specific, very targeted abdominal and total-body training to "upregulate" the release of fat from the abdominal area.

As you use this method over the course of time, it could mean the difference between burning ONE of inch of fat around your waist or TWO inches of fat around your waist.

It's allowing you to get at that fat more effectively and more quickly than a general, overall fat-loss approach.

And I'll be straight up with you...the website for the program is a bit hypey. The whole concept of spot reduction, because of the entrenched notions of it being impossible, make almost everything to do with it sound hypey.

 

It's all about blood flow...

Research has shown that the fat cells adjacent to muscles that are getting worked are "warmer"... and release more fatty acids into the bloodstream.

This article on Physiology.org goes into detail on the concept.

Are blood flow and lipolysis in subcutaneous adipose tissue influenced by contractions in adjacent muscles in humans?

(hint: the answer is yes)

But that's not a reason to do a thousand crunches in hopes of burning off stomach fat. There is a better way.

 

Targeted isometric contractions...

A recent study has also shown that a targeted isometric contraction of the abdominal muscles resulted in a reduction of fat in the local area.

"Following a regime of six isometric abdominal contractions held for 6 sec. each, significant reductions were obtained in girth and subcutaneous fat at the waistline and the umbilical level of the abdomen. The exercises were done daily for a period of four weeks, with no additional abdominal or conditioning exercises, and no appreciable change in weight. "

[Study Abstract] Changes in Waistline and Abdominal Girth and Subcutaneous Fat following Isometric Exercises

 

Once the fat is released from the fat cells, what do you do with it?

This is where it gets down the nitty gritty.

So once you get the idea that you CAN release more fat from fat cells near muscles that are being worked with isometric contractions, you have to DO something with those fatty acids floating around your bloodstream, otherwise your body will just put them right back in storage.

And the best way to do this is with some simple "metabolic conditioning" exercises that most efficiently burn those fatty acids off.

 

THAT is how you may be able to achieve some measure of spot reduction in your stomach fat..

And THAT is how the Isometrics Abs program works.

The program lays it all out for you, including what isometric exercises work best, what kind of metcon to do, when to do these exercises, and a lot more detail on the science and explanation of how it works.

I've given you a rundown of the why...Isometrics Abs gives you the HOW.

Once you grab a copy and read through it you'll see why I'm really intrigued at the possiblities it presents and why I'm going to be doing a lot more experimenting with the concepts here.

I've even got some ideas for some complementary methods that I think can make an even bigger impact on the burning of fat specifically from the stomach.

Bottom line, if you're training and dieting for overall fat loss already, using this method could result in significant additional fat loss from your stomach area, which is an exciting proposition!

Grab your copy of Isometrics Abs here.

Nick Nilsson
The Mad Scientist of Muscle

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