Mark Bohannon said the belief “drives me round the twist”
A Liverpool senior personal trainer has revealed the answer to a common workout myth. Mark Bohannon, from the city centre’s Ultimate Performance, said most women believe in “spot burning” but said this is actually not possible.
Mark explained how spot-burning is the mistaken belief that you can “magically” burn fat from just one area of your body by performing thousands of just one body part-specific exercises. The chief experience officer explained this belief is one that many women fall into the trap of.
He told the ECHO: “It is physically impossible to burn fat from just one specific area of your body. Simply doing 50-rep triceps kickbacks every day, and nothing else is not going to ‘shred’ your ‘bingo wings’. Far too many women fall into the trap of performing endless crunches because they don’t like their tummy fat, or hundreds of walking lunges every day because they have unsightly fat on their thighs.
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“Men can equally be guilty of this. A lot of men envy Cristiano Ronaldo’s abs and think that by doing 1,000 sit-ups a day, they can achieve his look. This approach is a classic rookie mistake.”
Mark claims he has actually helped clients achieve a “visible rippling” six-pack without ever doing a “single abs-specific move”.
He added: “The only way you are going to banish fat from either your arms, or your thighs, or wherever else on your body, is to reduce your overall levels of body fat. To do this, you need to be in a calorie deficit – which means consuming fewer calories per day than you expend.
“Complement this with compound exercises. Compound exercises are those moves which work for multiple muscle groups at once. They are, by far, the best moves you can do if you want to burn calories and build muscle.
“So, your workouts should prioritise big moves such as squats, deadlights, split squats, and bench presses. These moves are super-effective for not only getting your heart racing and burning fat, but they will also provide ample stimulus to grow your muscles. These big compound moves will also get you a burst of adrenaline and the release of feel-good endorphins, leaving you both looking, and feeling, great.
