"Spot Toning"

   


                      What is spot toning, why it doesn't happen?

      We all have to start somewhere in our learning of nutrition or fitness. One thing that I hear ALL the time is, "I just want to tone my arms, I run all the time and I still can't get rid of my legs, or I just want to target my gluteus". Truth is, IMO and a matter of fact is it all works together, its all apart of healthy living. You can't get "toned" arms and have definition if u eat like crap and don't workout the rest of your body. You can't run away fat and magically have muscles underneath and just targeting one area will not just make is disappear. Usually where one area is lacking on your body, others could use some help too. What you can do however is eat foods and train for your specific goals.

      Lets take a look at what we can do to instead to train your body as a hole and get rid of that "spot toning" mindset.

      1. Thinking, We need to have a clear goal. Ok, so you don't like you legs and thighs and that's what you want to "tone". Do yo want to train to just look good, to be healthy, for a specific sport or a competition? They all will require you to think outside the box and be ready to get your whole body involved. You lower half is just as weak or as unhealthy as the rest of of your body so why just think you can train that one area, yes you may see small improvements here and there by "spot" training but over all it will not work. Rather think of a clear goal, research how to reach it and get your entire body involved. If you don't know how to research or don't want to take the time either ask someone and get a coach or your really not ready to go for your goals.
      2. Food, Eat to fuel your body. You want the "love handles" to disappear? Well eating what you always do will not help you. You need to fuel your body not only to achieve your goals but to give you the energy to do so. The food that you ingest and digest directly relates to how your body functions, burns fat, builds proteins and how your metabolism works. With proper foods you can fuel your body to do everything you want and need to do to succeed. With a diet lacking in the proper foods you metabolism slows down and energy is lost, your ability to restore and repair to slowed down, your thinking is effected and so much more. The more healthy options you choose the better your body works to process that food into energy and in-turn keep you feeling energized and your body will respond in kind and you will like what you see. You need to shed the fat to lose what you don't like to see the muscle underneath(you can't just do that in one area….sorry) and your food will give you the tools to do that! Along with a proper food intake exercise will make the healthy options your taking in even better!
      3. Lifting and Cardio, OH how I LOVE lifting (cardio, not so much)! Lifting can transform your body drastically even without doing hrs of cardio(I'll get into that below). Without getting to deep into how the body reacts to working out, know that the harder you work, the more oxygen you take in the more you progress to do and the more your body adapts the more results you will see and the "areas" you didn't like will be changing along with the rest of your body. Lifting will help build muscle, burn that unwanted fat(along with proper nutrition) and whats that……u see definition….YAY!!!! If you don't know how to lift or what to do don't skip it, ASK. Find a trainer, coach or someone you trust for help. If its sports specific know what it is u need to do. If your training for something like football or soccer, HIIT training would be more suitable to your needs. Things like cross-fit and sprinting drills. Long distance running won't really help you with the the explosive needs your body will be using. Again this will work your whole body, burn the fat all over (because its not just in the one area…trust me) and you will start to see a difference if you train your body the right way.

      I hope you see and understand that its an overall change that needs to happen to get the results you want. Key points, get your nutrition right and the fat will start to come off all over and train right and u will define that bum you so desperately want or give you the shoulders u think look amazing!

Interesting tips learned during my studying.

      So many of you know I have been studying to become a personal trainer and a specialist in fitness nutrition. I'm learning so much and wanted to share a few things that I have found interesting, helpful or something that gave me that "aha" moment. I haven't got to the practical part yet so much of this is fundamental knowledge that is background to prep yourself to help others.

      Limiting Factor- Anything that makes a goal harder to achieve. Find that and we can make progress. Most of the time it is nutrition.

      Energy Balance- When the the energy in and out is in balance. (foods and exercise) A negative or a positive could have good or bad effects on your health and body.

      Good Nutrition- Will give you, energy balance, help reach body and health goals and is out-come based (you will see positive changes)

      Social Support System- You will get positive feedback, constructive criticism and encouragement.

    There are 11 different organ systems that make up our body and work together to protect, produce and build our bodies.

      There are 3 different pathway that produce energy for our body when one pathway is depleted another one kicks in to keep us going. Some run off carb others off proteins and fats. Your exercise level will determine which one will kick in when and your food will determine how well they work.

      An intake in creatine may help in the creating of more energy to help with a higher physical demand.

      Lactic Acid- Although is causes that "burning sensation" in the muscles, lactic acid actually is what allows us to continue to continue your exercise.

      The quality of our foods determines how our body will absorb and store.

      You need to eat and train for the goals you have. EX: You don't do long distance running for training when your a football player, you would rather do HIIT training along with weight training. Your nutrition should support that as well.

      Your bodies functions have a direction relationship with your nutritional intake, reproduction, cognitive, metabolic and your bodies function to repair and restore.

      Vitamins are not use to directly transfer energy but play an important roll in the energy transfer process.

      After age 25 your body will lose on average 2-4 % of their bodies resting metabolic rate- meaning that your bodies ability to burn calories as you rest will slow and muscle mass can be lost.

      Your bodies ability to burn calories after a HIIT session is greater then that after a slower paces cardio workout. (now this doesn't mean that its the best, depends on your goals.)

      Your body adapts and grows with the proper nutritional intake and training, so adjustments will occur.

      So as you can see here nutrition is a HUGE factor in your ability to train, repair, reproduce, thing and move. Without proper nutrition or body can shutdown or limit basic functions that we take for granted. I hope this makes since to you all!

T. Anderson