[0:00] While everyone says you can't pick and
[0:01] choose where you lose fat from, [music]
[0:02] some new studies are proving the
[0:04] opposite. They found not only can you
[0:06] target specific areas like your stubborn
[0:07] belly fat, but all it takes is a simple
[0:10] workout they can even do at home. But
[0:12] while these new studies are actually
[0:13] very well designed, I don't fully trust
[0:15] the results quite yet. So, I'm testing
[0:17] it myself. For 30 days we're following
[0:20] the exact spot reduction plan that was
[0:22] scientifically proven to work, followed
[0:24] by another 30 days of regular fat loss,
[0:26] measuring everything using the most
[0:28] accurate device in the world, MRI. And
[0:31] let me just say even as a coach and
[0:32] published researcher myself, I was
[0:34] genuinely shocked by the results. Oh,
[0:37] oh, wow, it's really hard. It's almost
[0:39] eight. But before diving into the plan,
[0:41] meet my guinea pigs. This is Dennis, a
[0:43] creative director, who has been
[0:44] struggling with his belly fat ever since
[0:46] he was a kid. And abs is something he's
[0:49] always admired.
[0:49] >> When I look at someone, I look at their
[0:51] face first, and then I look at their
[0:52] abs. I don't look at anything else. I
[0:55] don't care about this, I don't care
[0:56] about that. The first time Dennis came
[0:59] to work,
[1:00] he's he's he just said, "Jeremy, the
[1:02] only thing I want is abs." Although he
[1:04] works out 4 days a week and doesn't eat
[1:05] much junk food, he's never been able to
[1:08] get rid of the fat [music] around his
[1:09] belly. And based on his MRI scan, he's
[1:11] got some serious potential. So, you
[1:13] actually do have nice-looking abs. Yours
[1:15] are pretty thick.
[1:16] >> Yeah, now that bird person say I'm
[1:17] pretty thick.
[1:18] >> Yeah, yeah, yeah. And this is Vicky,
[1:20] who's pretty active as well, but is also
[1:22] struggling with losing that last layer
[1:24] of belly fat covering her ab definition.
[1:26] Your total body fat is
[1:29] 31.8%.
[1:31] >> Oh.
[1:31] >> Now, keep in mind keep in mind for for
[1:33] girls, compared to guys,
[1:35] you usually want to add like 10% to get
[1:38] the equivalent, just cuz you have more
[1:40] essential fat. So, when you look at your
[1:42] belly specifically,
[1:44] that's at 24.7%.
[1:46] You actually store the least fat in your
[1:48] belly compared to anywhere else.
[1:49] >> Oh, interesting.
[1:50] >> And for Dennis, his total body fat came
[1:52] in at 17.5%
[1:54] with his belly clocking in at 16%. Now,
[1:57] if this new research holds up, the plan
[1:59] they'll be doing should be the perfect
[2:01] way to destroy the belly fat they've
[2:03] been struggling with. We're going off a
[2:05] a study where they found this actually
[2:07] works super well.
[2:09] And the idea is that if you train your
[2:10] abs really hard, Mhm.
[2:13] you're kind of mobilizing the fat in
[2:14] that area. So, it's very interesting.
[2:17] The study I'm talking about was
[2:18] published in 2023, where the researchers
[2:20] came up with a pretty smart plan. They
[2:22] knew that before your body can actually
[2:24] burn fat, it first has to release it
[2:26] from the fat cell, a process called
[2:28] mobilization. If that doesn't happen,
[2:31] the fat just stays stored. And now,
[2:32] here's where it gets really interesting,
[2:33] because when you train a specific
[2:35] muscle, blood flow increases to that
[2:38] area, and so does fat mobilization. So,
[2:40] in theory, training your abs should
[2:43] increase blood flow to your belly,
[2:44] helping release more fat from that area.
[2:47] And that's exactly why so many people
[2:49] try to target belly fat with crunches
[2:50] and sit-ups. In fact, one study had
[2:53] participants do over 5,000 sit-ups in
[2:56] just 27 days to test this, but it didn't
[2:59] make a difference. Because unlocking fat
[3:01] is actually just one half of the
[3:02] equation. If you release fat from
[3:05] storage, but don't actually burn it,
[3:07] your body just stores it again. And so,
[3:09] now you're probably wondering, so how do
[3:10] you burn it? And it's actually quite
[3:11] simple, cardio, but at a low to moderate
[3:14] intensity to maximize fat burn. And that
[3:17] is exactly what this new group of
[3:19] researchers tested. They had one group
[3:21] simply jog for 45 minutes, whereas the
[3:23] spot reduction group, the researchers
[3:25] designed it so that their workout burned
[3:27] the exact same amount of calories, but
[3:29] their workout consisted of jogging for
[3:31] only 27 minutes, and then immediately
[3:34] followed it with ab training. And this
[3:36] time, it worked. After 10 [music] weeks,
[3:38] even though they didn't make any changes
[3:40] to the participants' diets, both groups
[3:42] lost a similar amount of total body fat,
[3:45] but the spot reduction group, they lost
[3:48] around 2.5 times more fat around their
[3:51] belly. And this isn't the only study to
[3:52] find this. A 2017 study tested a similar
[3:55] protocol, but on arm and leg fat, and
[3:58] they too found clear proof of spot
[4:00] reduction. Now, as a published
[4:01] researcher myself, I can tell you that
[4:03] these studies are actually quite well
[4:04] designed. But I did notice one big
[4:06] problem. They measured everything using
[4:07] DEXA scans, which is great for measuring
[4:09] total body fat over time, but it's just
[4:12] not precise enough to measure small
[4:13] changes in specific [music] areas. That
[4:15] is why we're using MRI. It is by far the
[4:18] most precise way to measure fat and
[4:20] muscle changes. And it's rarely used in
[4:22] studies because it's extremely expensive
[4:24] and hard to get access to. But in
[4:26] experiments like this, it really is the
[4:28] only way to be confident with the
[4:29] results. We scanned Dennis and Vicki's
[4:31] bodies and identified three points along
[4:34] their spine to track the fat thickness
[4:36] across their upper, middle, and lower
[4:38] belly, as well as the thickness of their
[4:40] abs just to see how they respond to
[4:42] their training. And we're coming back in
[4:44] 30 days to see if the plan actually
[4:46] works. You're going to start here.
[4:48] >> Yeah.
[4:49] And all I want you to do is lift your
[4:51] tailbone off the bench. Slow, slow,
[4:53] slow, slow, slow, slow, slow. Now, the
[4:55] plan Dennis and Vicki are following is
[4:57] almost identical to the study I
[4:58] mentioned earlier, just with a small
[5:00] upgrade to the ab training. They're
[5:01] doing four sets of weighted crunches for
[5:04] their upper abs and four sets of reverse
[5:06] crunches for the lower abs, trying to
[5:08] increase the weight or reps every single
[5:10] workout.
[5:10] >> The key here is you're not using your
[5:12] legs to get it up. All right, good job.
[5:15] >> burning. I've got a cramp. There
[5:18] you go.
[5:18] >> [laughter]
[5:19] >> And then we got to do this.
[5:21] Now, if you see my previous abs video,
[5:23] you'll probably recognize both of these
[5:25] exercises. They're two of the most
[5:27] effective movements that you can use.
[5:29] And as you'll see later on, worked
[5:30] incredibly well. But immediately before
[5:32] their ab training, they'll do 25 minutes
[5:35] of moderate intensity cardio, just like
[5:37] the study did. And they're going to do
[5:38] this workout every other day. But there
[5:40] is one key difference between Dennis and
[5:42] Vicki's plan. Vicki does not lift
[5:44] weights. So, for her, it's just the
[5:46] cardio and ab work. Dennis, on the other
[5:48] hand, is sticking with his usual 3-day
[5:50] lifting routine alongside it. And as
[5:52] you'll see, that difference actually
[5:54] ends up having a huge impact on the
[5:56] results. But as someone who doesn't do
[5:57] cardio and abs at all, Dennis was off to
[6:00] a rough start.
[6:01] >> I changed my cardio to a Stairmaster. I
[6:03] think it's a little bit more fun. I
[6:06] climbed 123 floors, and you can't say I
[6:09] broke Alex Honnold's record. Whereas
[6:12] Vicky went with incline walking for her
[6:14] cardio. But trying to juggle it with
[6:16] work has been hectic. So, it is
[6:19] 1:00 a.m. right now, and I'm driving to
[6:21] the gym on a Monday morning, and it's
[6:23] all my fault. I had a presentation due
[6:26] tomorrow for work, and I I honestly
[6:28] procrastinated.
[6:29] >> But so far, both of them haven't missed
[6:30] a single workout, which is great,
[6:32] because belly fat can honestly feel like
[6:34] a nightmare you can't escape, no matter
[6:35] how hard you try, especially for men.
[6:38] And there's a reason for that. After my
[6:40] team and I analyzed over eight years of
[6:42] DEXA scans from nearly 18,000 people, we
[6:45] noticed a clear pattern. Women tend to
[6:47] store most of their fat around their
[6:48] hips, their legs, and their arms.
[6:50] Whereas men always tend to store more of
[6:52] their fat in their belly. And this
[6:54] actually just becomes much worse once
[6:56] your body fat gets above 25 to 30%. But
[6:59] it's not just where fat is stored. It's
[7:01] also how it comes off. Cuz when we
[7:03] looked at fat loss across different body
[7:05] parts, the belly was consistently one of
[7:08] the slowest areas to change, while areas
[7:10] like the arms and legs tended to lean
[7:13] out first. So, it makes sense why so
[7:14] many people try to target it directly.
[7:17] Dennis actually saw this growing up. At
[7:18] his parents' house in Taiwan, there's a
[7:20] horse riding machine and even a belly
[7:23] reduction machine his dad has been using
[7:24] for years. Yet, his belly hasn't
[7:27] changed. But if our experiment works,
[7:29] this could finally give a real solution
[7:31] to his problem. And so far, the early
[7:34] results look promising. We're just a
[7:36] week and a half in, and Dennis is
[7:38] convinced his abs are more visible,
[7:39] especially under some good lighting.
[7:41] It's pretty good.
[7:44] But
[7:45] I do still feel like
[7:47] there's still a lot of fat covering it.
[7:49] Meanwhile, Vicky was consistently
[7:51] getting stronger with her weighted
[7:52] crunches and also sticking to a rigorous
[7:55] schedule. But in week two, both Dennis
[7:57] and Vicky noticed something interesting.
[7:59] >> I will say I do feel like I can kind of
[8:02] see like upper ab definition. I don't
[8:04] know if I'm seeing as much improvement
[8:06] in my lower region, but for sure
[8:09] in the upper ab region
[8:11] you can kind of see some abs coming in
[8:13] here. There's actually a reason the
[8:14] lower belly is the hardest area to burn
[8:16] off. There's two receptor types inside
[8:18] fat cells. Alpha-2 receptors, which slow
[8:21] fat release, and beta receptors, which
[8:23] accelerate it. Your lower belly fat is
[8:25] thought to have a much higher ratio of
[8:27] alpha-2 receptors, making it slower to
[8:30] burn off. But that's not the only issue.
[8:31] Visible abs, they come from two things:
[8:34] low enough body fat and abs that
[8:36] actually pop through. Now, the upper abs
[8:38] tend to be thick and pop through easily,
[8:40] whereas the lower abs are often thinner
[8:42] and depending on your ab genetics, you
[8:44] might not really even have any. And this
[8:46] is actually why we're tracking Dennis
[8:48] and Vicky's ab growth with the MRI scans
[8:50] to see if the ab training grows their
[8:52] upper abs as well as their lower abs.
[8:55] And if it does, how much that actually
[8:57] helps them pop through. Now, we're just
[8:58] 20 days in and Vicky isn't the only one
[9:01] feeling like the belly fat is coming
[9:02] off. Dennis has seen some great
[9:04] improvements on his ab strength and the
[9:06] appearance. I'm going to do
[9:08] ab preparation.
[9:15] I'm sore. Which also means he's spending
[9:18] more time checking himself out in the
[9:19] gym, admiring the abs he used to only
[9:22] see on influencers. Back then, he was
[9:23] sending me photos almost every single
[9:25] night. But take a look at this. These
[9:27] are two photos Dennis took on the exact
[9:29] same day just with different lighting.
[9:31] Influencers use this lighting trick all
[9:33] the time to look better and honestly, I
[9:35] do too. But it can set the wrong
[9:37] expectations if you're not aware of it.
[9:39] Because even when you're super lean,
[9:41] you're not going to have that six-pack
[9:43] shredded look all the time in every
[9:45] environment. And you're going to drive
[9:47] yourself crazy trying to chase that. And
[9:49] this also matters for our experiment,
[9:50] too. Because small differences in
[9:52] lighting could easily make it look like
[9:54] the protocol is working, even if nothing
[9:56] has actually changed. Which is again why
[9:58] we're relying on precise measurements,
[10:00] so we're not guessing based just on how
[10:02] things look. After a total of 375
[10:05] minutes of cardio and 15 ab sessions in
[10:07] 30 [music] days, it's time to see
[10:09] whether all this work actually made a
[10:11] difference in belly fat. Well, have you
[10:13] noticed anything?
[10:14] >> Okay, maybe a little bit. Like
[10:17] I can see like the line in the middle.
[10:18] >> [laughter]
[10:19] >> Let's start with Dennis. After 30 days,
[10:22] Dennis actually gained half a pound. But
[10:24] he ended up going through a small body
[10:26] recomposition. As a result, your body
[10:29] fat percentage went from
[10:32] 17.5%
[10:35] down to 17%. [music]
[10:37] But how much of that fat loss came from
[10:39] his belly? Well, and based on his MRI,
[10:42] barely any. Most of his fat loss
[10:44] actually came from his arms and hips.
[10:47] His belly fat only dropped by about
[10:48] 0.3%.
[10:50] So, for Dennis, more muscle, but no sign
[10:52] that spot reduction actually worked. But
[10:54] maybe it's because he wasn't in a big
[10:57] enough calorie deficit. This is how you
[10:58] get abs. And we weren't controlling for
[11:00] his diet. Same protocol as a previous
[11:02] spot reduction study. And that is where
[11:05] Vicky's results come in handy. You
[11:06] actually lost 5 lb in a month. Yeah.
[11:09] That was kind of crazy. I feel like I
[11:11] was eating the same, and then I went on
[11:12] vacation, and then I think with work
[11:14] stress and school stress, like if I
[11:16] don't sleep [music] well, I don't eat a
[11:17] lot. But Vicky's cardio-only approach
[11:20] took a toll. Despite losing 5 lb on the
[11:22] scale, 60% of that weight came from lean
[11:25] mass, and only 40% was actual fat. As a
[11:29] result, your body fat percentage
[11:31] went from 31.8%
[11:34] down to 31.5%.
[11:37] Okay. Okay. I would put my money that if
[11:39] you did weights on top of that, then
[11:42] probably five out of those 5 lbs would
[11:44] be fat. Oh.
[11:47] Now, researchers have actually tested
[11:48] this. While cardio plus a diet can lead
[11:50] to more overall weight loss, lifting
[11:52] weights ensures more of that weight
[11:54] comes from fat, not muscle. [music] So,
[11:56] it ends up being the more effective way
[11:58] to get leaner. But, Vicky still ended up
[12:00] losing a good amount of fat. Vicky saw
[12:02] clear belly fat reduction, especially in
[12:05] her upper belly. But, don't get too
[12:06] excited just yet. When we zoom out and
[12:08] look at her entire body, the amount of
[12:10] fat that she lost from her belly was
[12:12] proportionate to her arms, shoulder, and
[12:14] legs. With some of these other areas
[12:17] actually seeing greater reductions. That
[12:19] said, the MRI scan of their ab muscles
[12:22] did reveal something promising. Dennis's
[12:24] abs showed a crazy amount of growth,
[12:27] even more than I was personally
[12:28] expecting. With [music] every single one
[12:30] of his abs growing on average about 20%
[12:33] bigger, which might explain why in the
[12:35] right lighting both of them noticed
[12:37] their abs bulging out more. As for
[12:38] Vicky, because she wasn't weight
[12:40] training, she lost size in every single
[12:43] muscle of her body except for her abs,
[12:46] which actually ended up growing about
[12:48] 15% bigger. So, for losing belly fat, it
[12:51] does seem like your diet, as well as if
[12:53] you're lifting weights, will determine
[12:55] how much fat you lose, and factors
[12:57] beyond your control will dictate where
[12:59] that fat gets taken from. Which brings
[13:01] us to phase two. Now, this is where it
[13:03] gets interesting because the first 30
[13:05] days we tested this spot reduction
[13:07] theory. Yeah. Yes. Now, for the next 30
[13:09] days, [music] we are just going to throw
[13:11] that in the trash. No more cardio?
[13:14] No more cardio, yeah. At all?
[13:17] Cardio, I hate it so much. I kind of
[13:19] liked it.
[13:20] >> more cardio, no more ab training. Zero.
[13:24] At all? No more. Zero. Zero. Oh, really?
[13:27] I'm I'm going want to lose some muscle
[13:29] here, though. You might. We'll see. For
[13:31] the next 30 days, what we're going to do
[13:32] instead is
[13:34] we are going to do
[13:35] diet and we're going to focus on weight
[13:37] training. We'll compare the results from
[13:40] this 30-day phase to the previous 30
[13:42] days of spot reduction. And let's just
[13:43] say the results blew us away.
[13:45] >> There you go. Wow, would you look at
[13:47] that?
[13:47] >> Wow. Yeah. What is this? Now, going into
[13:50] phase two, I'm expecting Vicky and
[13:51] Dennis to each lose about 4 to 5 lb of
[13:54] pure fat in 30 days while maintaining
[13:57] all of their muscle. And their plan has
[13:59] two simple rules designed to help them
[14:01] lose fat as fast as possible. Rule one,
[14:04] track everything [music] you eat to hit
[14:05] your daily calorie target. Now, if you
[14:07] take your body weight in pounds and you
[14:09] multiply it by 12, that is roughly what
[14:11] Dennis and Vicky are following at their
[14:13] respective body weights. But if you want
[14:15] a more personalized number, you can use
[14:17] our calorie calculator at
[14:18] builtwithscience.com, which I'll also
[14:20] link down below. But how they hit their
[14:22] calorie target is just as important.
[14:24] They're building each meal around these
[14:25] core foods, including [music] a fist
[14:28] size of lean protein in each meal to
[14:30] protect their muscle. But the second
[14:31] part of their plan is where we fix what
[14:33] went wrong, especially for Vicky, who in
[14:35] phase one lost muscle everywhere except
[14:38] for her abs.
[14:41] >> [laughter]
[14:42] >> I did That's it.
[14:43] Rebound.
[14:44] >> It's a little embarrassing. That was
[14:45] pretty good. That's not bad. That's not
[14:46] bad.
[14:47] >> I barely moved. Oh. Vicky will be
[14:50] following a 3-day full body workout to
[14:52] hit every major muscle group. While
[14:54] Dennis is sticking [music] to a 4-day
[14:56] upper lower split. I honestly don't know
[14:58] if I can do it. I know going watching
[15:00] them drink and eat like
[15:02] I get so hungry around 4:00 and 5:00
[15:04] p.m.
[15:06] But I have to save it for later because
[15:08] I don't want to go to bed hungry. Now,
[15:09] even though Dennis is no longer climbing
[15:11] Mount Everest every other day, cutting
[15:13] food is equally as painful for him. He's
[15:15] a huge foodie, eating out almost [music]
[15:17] every day. And living downtown means
[15:19] temptation is everywhere. Just like
[15:21] Dennis, Vicky didn't exactly start off
[15:23] strong. I ate 1,000 calories of dim sum.
[15:25] We only got 1,500 a day. So, I went into
[15:28] the party being like, "Okay, like I got
[15:30] 500 calories left." So, I was doing
[15:32] pretty good at first. So, I just got
[15:33] some spaghetti, some like Chinese
[15:35] noodles as well, like cucumber rolls,
[15:38] sushi rolls. Took a picture with Build a
[15:40] Science app. It was 500 calories. I'm
[15:41] like, "Okay, perfect." Then I had a
[15:42] beer.
[15:44] And, you know, a few slices of pizza.
[15:45] And so,
[15:47] that that added up real quick. Oh, and
[15:49] she forgot to mention that she ate a
[15:50] cake during her workout on the same day.
[15:52] But, despite that rough start, both of
[15:54] them quickly adapted and got on track
[15:56] with their food prep. I pre-weighed
[15:58] everything. So, when I cook a meal, I
[16:01] know exactly how much quota I have left
[16:03] in the day. We're 10 days into phase
[16:05] two. Dennis is still eating out, but
[16:07] he's set on proving that dieting does
[16:09] not have to be torture. I'll always ask
[16:12] for the sauce on the side instead of
[16:13] having it poured on the top. Sauces are
[16:15] actually one of the most overlooked
[16:17] sources when dining out. For example,
[16:18] having hollandaise sauce poured all over
[16:21] your eggs benedict can easily add 400
[16:23] extra calories. But, if you keep it on
[16:24] the side and dip with control, you can
[16:26] easily bring that down to under 100.
[16:28] >> Had the itch, and I got a matcha
[16:30] self-serve. So, I logged it into the
[16:32] app. It's like 300 calories or
[16:34] something. Oh my god, like how do I burn
[16:36] this off? And it's like 10:00 p.m.
[16:38] >> This is where most people get it wrong
[16:40] during fat loss. It is incredibly hard
[16:42] to outrun a bad diet. 300 liquid
[16:44] calories can be consumed in a matter of
[16:46] minutes. But, to burn off the
[16:47] equivalent, Vicky would be looking at an
[16:49] hour of incline walking or 30 minutes of
[16:51] running. Plus, in phase two, we
[16:53] completely got rid of cardio, because
[16:55] it's actually not the best tool for fat
[16:57] loss. Because after doing cardio, people
[16:59] tend to subconsciously eat more or move
[17:03] less throughout the rest of the day. So,
[17:04] in general, people often lose less than
[17:07] half the weight they were supposed to
[17:08] lose when cardio is a primary fat loss
[17:11] tool. And again, even if you do lose
[17:13] weight like Vicky did, if you're not
[17:14] strength training, then most of that
[17:16] weight loss will be from muscle rather
[17:17] than fat. Now, to be clear, I am not
[17:20] anti-cardio. It has real health benefits
[17:22] and it can definitely help speed up fat
[17:24] loss when you use it correctly.
[17:26] >> [music]
[17:26] >> But, for the sake of this experiment, I
[17:28] am curious to see the results Dennis and
[17:30] Vicki can get without it. And already,
[17:32] we are seeing [music] a much bigger
[17:33] difference than in phase one. This is
[17:35] their first 2 weeks in phase one versus
[17:37] the first 2 weeks in phase two. I mean,
[17:39] it's pretty clear to me that they are
[17:41] losing belly fat much faster, but there
[17:43] is something I'm worried about. In this
[17:44] phase, they're doing zero direct ab
[17:46] training. Now, yes, research shows your
[17:48] abs are actually highly activated during
[17:50] heavy lifts like squats and deadlifts,
[17:52] [music]
[17:52] which both of them are doing. But, it's
[17:54] still unclear if that's enough to
[17:56] actually build or even maintain your ab
[17:59] size. And so, at this point, I am
[18:01] genuinely curious. If Dennis and Vicki's
[18:03] abs start shrinking, could that
[18:05] completely change how they look even
[18:07] though they seem to be losing more belly
[18:09] fat than in phase one. We'll find out
[18:11] what actually happens at the end of the
[18:12] experiment, but 20 days in, both of
[18:14] their weight is dropping just like we
[18:16] predicted. And more importantly, they've
[18:18] seemed to finally found a diet that
[18:19] actually fits their lifestyle. This is
[18:21] my new favorite snack.
[18:24] Tuna
[18:26] and toasted rice cake. I like to scoop
[18:29] out some oil. You know, every calorie
[18:32] count. I also noticed Dennis made a
[18:34] simple but smart change. He swapped a
[18:36] lot of his fatty meat protein to lean
[18:38] fish. Lower in calories, yet packs in
[18:40] more protein. Vicki tried to do
[18:42] something similar but ran into an issue.
[18:44] I was going over my calories a little
[18:45] bit. I've been eating basically salmon,
[18:47] broccoli, and rice
[18:49] 5 out of 7 days. Now, while salmon is
[18:51] great for omega-3s, it actually packs a
[18:52] ton of calories from all the fat. Now,
[18:54] that's not a bad thing, but for Vicki,
[18:57] it was causing her to overeat. Whereas,
[18:59] when you compare what 30 g of protein
[19:00] looks like from other sources like white
[19:02] fish or shrimp, you can get a lot more
[19:05] for less. So, that's only around well,
[19:07] plus the seasoning and like um olive oil
[19:10] and stuff, like 500 calories or so, 40 g
[19:13] of protein. So, this is really good. On
[19:15] top of that, Dennis made another subtle
[19:17] change at parties. He secretly swapped
[19:19] his usual whiskey for tea. So, this is
[19:21] my little trick. The color is pretty
[19:23] much the same, and you won't make you
[19:25] weird at parties.
[19:28] >> [sighs]
[19:29] >> He even came up with a bunch of
[19:30] creative, tasty, low-calorie meals. And
[19:32] if you're a member of our Built With
[19:34] Science Plus app, all you have to do is
[19:35] scan this QR code, and it's going to
[19:37] upload that recipe directly to your food
[19:39] log. And with just a few days left, it
[19:41] seems like all these tips and tricks
[19:43] were working incredibly well. This is
[19:45] kind of crazy.
[19:46] They're definitely supposed to be like
[19:48] nice and tight to the waist, but
[19:50] they're so loose. Now, we get to the
[19:52] final results in a second, but by this
[19:54] point, I think it's pretty clear which
[19:56] 30-day approach worked best. So, even
[19:58] [music] if targeting your belly fat
[19:59] isn't actually possible, the good news
[20:02] is you can get rid of it no matter your
[20:04] genetics, and no matter how big your
[20:06] belly has gotten over the years. And if
[20:08] you do it right, you can see results
[20:09] really quickly. And if you want a
[20:11] step-by-step plan that will guide you
[20:13] every step of the way, showing you
[20:14] exactly how to work out and what to eat
[20:17] every single week, then try out our
[20:19] Built With Science Plus app for 2 weeks
[20:21] free by scanning this QR code, or head
[20:23] into builtwithscience.com. And now, it's
[20:25] time to see their [music] final results
[20:27] in person. You have like four coming in.
[20:29] Holy crap.
[20:31] Oh, there you go.
[20:32] What is this at?
[20:34] Oh, oh, wow, it's really hard. If you
[20:36] like jump, look at that. Wow. But like
[20:39] here, like when you jump. See here. Wow.
[20:41] But this is a downside having abs. I
[20:43] found myself like looking down a lot,
[20:45] just like touching myself. I do want to
[20:48] feel them every day just to make sure
[20:50] they are still there. Okay, results.
[20:52] Let's start with the
[20:54] abs, okay? So, in the first part of the
[20:57] experiment, your abs actually grew by
[20:59] about 15%. Okay.
[21:02] >> Your upper abs, middle abs, lower abs,
[21:03] they all grew, okay? And then, the
[21:05] second part of the experiment, we cut
[21:07] out all ab exercises, but you did start
[21:11] strength training. You did the squats,
[21:12] you did that.
[21:14] So, what happened to your abs? Well,
[21:17] they did not grow, Mhm. but they didn't
[21:20] really shrink. They pretty much
[21:22] maintained. Okay, good. Good. That's
[21:24] good to hear. As for Dennis, your abs
[21:27] actually got about 16% smaller.
[21:31] >> [laughter]
[21:31] >> Oh my god. That's a lot. Wait, how does
[21:35] that work? So, you you almost pretty
[21:37] much got back to the point where you
[21:39] were before So,
[21:41] >> doing any ab exercises. So, my theory
[21:43] here is Vicky, a complete beginner who
[21:45] just started strength training, got
[21:46] enough indirect ab stimulus to maintain
[21:49] her new ab size. Which for someone like
[21:51] Dennis, who's been lifting weights for a
[21:52] while, he would need to train his abs
[21:54] directly and so would I. But how much
[21:56] has his ab shrinkage actually affected
[21:58] how his midsection now looks? Well,
[22:00] let's now dive into their phase loss
[22:02] results. So, in phase one, Vicky lost 5
[22:04] lb, but only two of those 5 lb were from
[22:07] fat, taking her body fat from 31.8% to
[22:10] just 31.5%. This time,
[22:14] you're down to 27.5%.
[22:17] >> Yes. What? Whoa. That is a huge drop.
[22:21] Wow. And that was a that was a
[22:23] combination of fat loss, which we'll get
[22:26] to from the MRI of your belly, but what
[22:29] really brought your body fat percentage
[22:31] down was the muscle gain. This time, you
[22:33] gained almost 3 [music] lb of lean mass.
[22:36] Wow. Not only that, but during our spot
[22:38] reduction experiment phase one, her
[22:40] belly fat dropped by just 3%, but this
[22:43] time,
[22:45] your belly fat dropped, on average, by
[22:48] 30%. 30%?
[22:51] >> Yes. Dennis's result is just as crazy.
[22:53] In phase one, Dennis gained half a pound
[22:55] and his body fat went down by 0.5%.
[22:58] But this time, after 30 days of only
[23:00] dieting and strength training, he not
[23:02] only lost 5 lb on the scale, but
[23:06] his body fat went down to
[23:09] 14.4%
[23:11] Wow.
[23:13] Hey, that's so good.
[23:14] >> That's 3%? That's a lot in 1 month.
[23:18] >> month.
[23:18] Yeah I
[23:20] I was tracking everything including even
[23:22] just a spoon of like peanut butter.
[23:25] >> the difference, guys. People say they
[23:26] track, but they don't. As for his belly
[23:28] fat, the spider web from protocol in
[23:30] phase one led to pretty much no change
[23:32] in his belly. Just a 0.3% drop. But this
[23:35] time your belly fat dropped on average
[23:39] by 26.3%
[23:42] >> Oh my god. Diet is everything. And
[23:45] Dennis was actually so motivated from
[23:47] this experiment, he's decided to combine
[23:49] everything. Diet, strength training,
[23:51] plus ab exercises to get to 12% body
[23:54] fat. So make sure to subscribe so you
[23:56] don't miss that. And give this video a
[23:58] watch next if you want to learn the two
[23:59] exercises that both Vinnie and Dennis
[24:01] did that made their abs pop.