FitProven
Evidence Breakdown
Based on 2 studies
Evidence map
For & against, at a glance
RCT
Con
Vispute SS et al. · 2011Journal of Strength and Conditioning ResearchSix-week RCT where participants performed 7 abdominal exercises (2 sets of 10 reps each) five days per week. There was no significant difference in abdominal subcutaneous fat, body fat percentage, waist circumference, or skinfold measurements between the exercise and control groups. Abdominal exercise alone did not reduce abdominal fat.
0.40
Six-week RCT where participants performed 7 abdominal exercises (2 sets of 10 reps each) five days per week. There was no significant difference in abdominal subcutaneous fat, body fat percentage, waist circumference, or skinfold measurements between the exercise and control groups. Abdominal exercise alone did not reduce abdominal fat.
Design RCT (0.8) × quality 0.50 = impact 0.40
View sourceRCT
Con
Ramírez-Campillo R et al. · 2013Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research12-week study in 11 participants (7 men, 4 women) who trained only their non-dominant leg on the leg press, using very high-repetition muscular-endurance work (960–1,200 repetitions per session at 10–30% of 1RM). Whole-body fat mass fell significantly (−5.1%), but the trained leg showed **no significant change in fat mass** — and neither did the untrained control leg. The significant reductions were instead in the upper extremities (−10.2%) and the trunk (−6.9%).
This is the cleanest available refutation of spot reduction: the limb that performed thousands of repetitions was the one region that did *not* preferentially lose fat, while fat came off body segments that did no work at all. It supports a systemic model of fat mobilisation.
NOTE ON THIS RECORD: the `doi` on file (10.1519/JSC.0b013e318276b7b7) does not resolve. The correct DOI for this paper — "Regional fat changes induced by localized muscle endurance resistance training," *J Strength Cond Res* 2013;27(8):2219–24 — is 10.1519/JSC.0b013e31827e8681 (PMID 23222084).
0.24
12-week study in 11 participants (7 men, 4 women) who trained only their non-dominant leg on the leg press, using very high-repetition muscular-endurance work (960–1,200 repetitions per session at 10–30% of 1RM). Whole-body fat mass fell significantly (−5.1%), but the trained leg showed **no significant change in fat mass** — and neither did the untrained control leg. The significant reductions were instead in the upper extremities (−10.2%) and the trunk (−6.9%). This is the cleanest available refutation of spot reduction: the limb that performed thousands of repetitions was the one region that did *not* preferentially lose fat, while fat came off body segments that did no work at all. It supports a systemic model of fat mobilisation. NOTE ON THIS RECORD: the `doi` on file (10.1519/JSC.0b013e318276b7b7) does not resolve. The correct DOI for this paper — "Regional fat changes induced by localized muscle endurance resistance training," *J Strength Cond Res* 2013;27(8):2219–24 — is 10.1519/JSC.0b013e31827e8681 (PMID 23222084).
Design RCT (0.8) × quality 0.30 = impact 0.24
View sourceRCT
Con
Vispute SS et al. · 2011Journal of Strength and Conditioning ResearchSix-week RCT where participants performed 7 abdominal exercises (2 sets of 10 reps each) five days per week. There was no significant difference in abdominal subcutaneous fat, body fat percentage, waist circumference, or skinfold measurements between the exercise and control groups. Abdominal exercise alone did not reduce abdominal fat.
0.40
Six-week RCT where participants performed 7 abdominal exercises (2 sets of 10 reps each) five days per week. There was no significant difference in abdominal subcutaneous fat, body fat percentage, waist circumference, or skinfold measurements between the exercise and control groups. Abdominal exercise alone did not reduce abdominal fat.
Design RCT (0.8) × quality 0.50 = impact 0.40
View sourceRCT
Con
Ramírez-Campillo R et al. · 2013Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research12-week study in 11 participants (7 men, 4 women) who trained only their non-dominant leg on the leg press, using very high-repetition muscular-endurance work (960–1,200 repetitions per session at 10–30% of 1RM). Whole-body fat mass fell significantly (−5.1%), but the trained leg showed **no significant change in fat mass** — and neither did the untrained control leg. The significant reductions were instead in the upper extremities (−10.2%) and the trunk (−6.9%).
This is the cleanest available refutation of spot reduction: the limb that performed thousands of repetitions was the one region that did *not* preferentially lose fat, while fat came off body segments that did no work at all. It supports a systemic model of fat mobilisation.
NOTE ON THIS RECORD: the `doi` on file (10.1519/JSC.0b013e318276b7b7) does not resolve. The correct DOI for this paper — "Regional fat changes induced by localized muscle endurance resistance training," *J Strength Cond Res* 2013;27(8):2219–24 — is 10.1519/JSC.0b013e31827e8681 (PMID 23222084).
0.24
12-week study in 11 participants (7 men, 4 women) who trained only their non-dominant leg on the leg press, using very high-repetition muscular-endurance work (960–1,200 repetitions per session at 10–30% of 1RM). Whole-body fat mass fell significantly (−5.1%), but the trained leg showed **no significant change in fat mass** — and neither did the untrained control leg. The significant reductions were instead in the upper extremities (−10.2%) and the trunk (−6.9%). This is the cleanest available refutation of spot reduction: the limb that performed thousands of repetitions was the one region that did *not* preferentially lose fat, while fat came off body segments that did no work at all. It supports a systemic model of fat mobilisation. NOTE ON THIS RECORD: the `doi` on file (10.1519/JSC.0b013e318276b7b7) does not resolve. The correct DOI for this paper — "Regional fat changes induced by localized muscle endurance resistance training," *J Strength Cond Res* 2013;27(8):2219–24 — is 10.1519/JSC.0b013e31827e8681 (PMID 23222084).
Design RCT (0.8) × quality 0.30 = impact 0.24
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Evidence
AGAINST (2)
AGAINST RCTn=240.50 Vispute SS, Smith JD et al. (2011)
No significant difference vs control in abdominal subcutaneous fat, body-fat percentage, waist circumference or skinfolds after 6 weeks of abdominal exercise
Six-week RCT where participants performed 7 abdominal exercises (2 sets of 10 reps each) five days per week. There was no significant difference in abdominal subcutaneous fat, body fat percentage, waist circumference, or skinfold measurements between the exercise and control groups. Abdominal exercise alone did not reduce abdominal fat.
Weighted 0.50 — n=24 sedentary adults over 6 weeks against a non-exercising control. NOTE: the "14 / 10" split in the paper is the SEX split (14 men, 10 women), not the group allocation — the abstract does not report how many were assigned to the exercise and control arms. Directly tests spot reduction and the null agrees with the wider literature, but the trial is small and short and underpowered to exclude a small effect on its own. No funding statement is retrievable, so independence is unverified.
Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research
AGAINST RCTn=110.30 Ramírez-Campillo R, Andrade DC et al. (2013)
After 12 weeks of single-leg press training, whole-body fat mass fell 5.1%, but there were no significant fat-mass changes in EITHER leg -- trained or untrained. The significant losses were in the upper extremities (-10.2%) and trunk (-6.9%): fat came off everywhere except the limb that did the work
12-week study in 11 participants (7 men, 4 women) who trained only their non-dominant leg on the leg press, using very high-repetition muscular-endurance work (960–1,200 repetitions per session at 10–30% of 1RM). Whole-body fat mass fell significantly (−5.1%), but the trained leg showed no significant change in fat mass — and neither did the untrained control leg. The significant reductions were instead in the upper extremities (−10.2%) and the trunk (−6.9%).
This is the cleanest available refutation of spot reduction: the limb that performed thousands of repetitions was the one region that did not preferentially lose fat, while fat came off body segments that did no work at all. It supports a systemic model of fat mobilisation.
NOTE ON THIS RECORD: the doi on file (10.1519/JSC.0b013e318276b7b7) does not resolve. The correct DOI for this paper — "Regional fat changes induced by localized muscle endurance resistance training," J Strength Cond Res 2013;27(8):2219–24 — is 10.1519/JSC.0b013e31827e8681 (PMID 23222084).
Weighted 0.30 — Only 11 participants (7 men, 4 women). The within-subject design — trained limb vs untrained limb in the same person — is exactly the right test for spot reduction and makes the null persuasive out of proportion to the sample. Even so: n=11, no parallel control group, regional fat measured by DXA (noisy at the segment level), and a young untrained sample. This is a small pilot whose value lies in its design, not its power. Funding could not be verified (paywalled; the DOI recorded here does not resolve).
Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research