The effect of abdominal exercise on abdominal fat.
Level 2 - randomized trial
Individual randomized controlled trial
PubMed 21804427 · doi:10.1519/JSC.0b013e3181fb4a46
What was done
Twenty-four healthy, sedentary adults (14 men and 10 women, aged 18 to 40 years) were randomly assigned to a control group or an abdominal exercise group. The exercise group performed 7 abdominal exercises (2 sets of 10 repetitions) on 5 days per week for 6 weeks, while the control group received no intervention. All participants maintained an isocaloric diet. Anthropometrics, body composition, and abdominal muscular endurance were evaluated before and after training.
What was found
Abdominal exercise produced no significant effect on body weight, body fat percentage, android fat percentage, android fat, abdominal circumference, abdominal skinfold, or suprailiac skinfold measurements (exact values not reported for non-significant outcomes). The exercise group completed significantly more curl-up repetitions (47 ± 13) than the control group (32 ± 9) at posttest.
Why it matters
This study provides experimental evidence against targeted spot reduction, showing that regional resistance exercise improves local muscular endurance without selectively decreasing local fat stores.
Limits
The sample size was small (24 participants), and the intervention was relatively short (6 weeks). The abstract does not report exact numerical values or effect sizes for the non-significant body composition outcomes, and dietary adherence was self-maintained rather than strictly controlled in a metabolic ward.
Cited by
- supports It is impossible to spot reduce fat in a targeted area of the body like belly fat.
- supports Abdominal exercises do not cause localized fat loss or spot reduction of belly fat.
- supports Spot reduction of body fat through targeted exercise is impossible, as abdominal exercises do not produce localized fat loss in the abdominal area.