One of the most frequently asked questions I get from new clients goes something like this: They grab some part of their body that is soft and undesirable and ask, “Can you give me an exercise to get rid of this?”
This common question brings up two important topics: body shapes and where your fat is stored and that all-time favorite subject of “spot reducing.” I think of women’s body shapes as represented by three kinds of fruits: pears, apples, and bananas. Today I’m addressing pear-shaped bodies. (Stay tuned for my blogs on “apples,” “bananas” and “spot reducing” because these are some of my pet topics!)
The Pear-Shaped Woman is the typical “hour glass figure” who has a waist smaller than her hips. This most stereotypical body shape for a woman is most people’s definition of female beauty. Pear-shaped women store their subcutaneous (under the skin) fat below their waistline and almost exclusively on the backs and sides of their bodies – on their thighs and hips and buttocks and also on the back of their upper arms.
This is how you think of most of the mature women in your life when you were a child. Most of your grade school teachers, your aunts and the women in the grocery store usually had this shape. Their arms shake when they wave and their rear-ends are wider than their shoulders.
Now for the good news: We all lose fat in the opposite order from how we gained it. When pear-shaped women start to eat and exercise at a level that causes fat loss, they lose the fat behind their necks, upper arms and off their hips. It doesn’t matter which exercise activity they do.
Everyone’s body has a set pattern to determine the order that fat cells will be drained. Doing an exercise that fatigues the waistline (or any body part) doesn’t cause those muscles to suddenly metabolize the fat that is on top of them. Rather, the brain opens up and drains the triglycerides from the “next” fat cell in its pattern with no regard to location. So go ahead and do the exercises that move the most of your body and burns the most calories in the shortest amount of time. These exercises include walking, running, skating, dancing, skipping rope, biking and swimming. The muscles you work will require calories that are stored in fat cells – no matter how close or far away from the exercised muscles.
If you have a pear-shaped body then… Be the best pear you can be by eating right and exercising regularly!
Alice Lockridge,
Physical Activity expert, MS PhysEd, Exercise Physiologist