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Sunday, December 18, 2005
Paquiao: Spot reducing
By Calixto S. Paquiao
Fitness & you
Have you heard the term “spot-reducing” in fitness activity? Some describe this physical activity as specific figure shaping.
Many of us believe that aerobics is an exercise activity that can burn fat. Yes it’s true but, can it shape or sculpt your body to the desired figure you want it to be? All of us will agree that it can’t give you the figure you want to acquire.
Some people have some specific problem spots which they want to get rid of.
They have problems in the arms, thighs, waist, or the love handles, which stubbornly droop and nag even after having lost a lot of fat. This is where spot reducing comes in.
Spot reducing is like sculpturing a figure or making a full-size statue over which the sculptor spends a lot of his time perfecting.
Spot reducing will give you that sleek, contoured figure within a month, especially if you are not too overweight.
It is done by strengthening a muscle in a specific area that is to be corrected.
To achieve the goal, you have to exercise the muscle through the maximum range of motion of the joint. As an illustration, if you perform a hand over the head side bend, you must see to it that you extend your arm to a fully stretched position to your side. By accomplishing this stretch, you fully exercise the muscle of your waist. Try it and you’ll feel what I mean.
Another example is by doing a bicep curl exercise using a dumbbell. To perform this exercise, you have to hold a dumbbell and extend your arm downward by straightening your elbow. Then bring the dumbbell upward by bending your elbow. While doing this exercise you must extend your elbow joint as far as it can go. This exercise works on the bicep muscle by expanding and contracting it. This is great for firming up the bicep muscle. The dumbbell is used to add more resistance to your arm exercise. Your muscle responds best if you do a minimum of ten to 12 repetitions. Your resting period is only a second for an efficient muscle workout. For spot reducing, you have to do several repetitions with light weights. The movement must be very slow so that the muscle being worked out will respond faster.
Spot reducing should be performed after your cardiovascular or aerobic workout. In this way, your muscles are already warmed up and will not get injured. Spot reducing can be performed only three times a week. You are not allowed to do it everyday to give your muscle time to recover and to grow. You will slow down the progress if you work out the muscle everyday.
Exercise with weights
Many of us especially women have a wrong notion about exercise. They think that exercising with weights is bad for weight control because it builds up muscles and will make you gain weight, not lose it. The fact is, each type of exercise is specific in the effects it will produce. Some exercises will tone up or strengthen your muscles without improving your cardiovascular system, or removing fat. Exercises that call for high resistance or low repetitions such as lifting 100 pounds at one time only will have the greatest tendency to build muscles. Strength training exercises that call for low resistance and high repetitions such as lifting 10 pounds 20 times will tone the muscles without making them bulge in men and women. Thus by choosing the proper type of strength training exercises, you don’t have to worry about overdeveloped muscles.
Note: the “One-on-one fitness program for a Brand New Body” enrollment is still going on. This program will let you lose 16 to 18 lbs. of your weight. Another program we just offer is “How to flatten the stomach in eight weeks”.
(December 18, 2005 issue)
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