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Strong Women
The myth of ‘spot-reduction’: here’s why trying to change a specific part of your body doesn’t work (and isn’t necessary)
By Letty Cole
3 years ago
1 min read
Fitness influencers often claim that their workouts can help you grow or shrink certain parts of your body. Aside from the problematic assumption that we’d want to change, experts are now calling time on what they say is a physiological impossibility, writes Letty Cole.
Flick through YouTube, TikTok or Instagram, and you’ll come across workout videos from online fitness gurus who promise to help you build a bigger butt, build abs or get a tiny waist, if you follow their plans.
Problematic goals and language aside (waist size almost entirely down to genetics, and we’ve spoken before about the fact that visible abs aren’t a sign of fitness), there’s now a growing movement of experts working to dispel the myth that you can reduce or grow a specific body part.
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