Targeting Belly Fat Is... Possible?! (NEW Study)

[00:00] While everyone says you can't pick and

[00:01] choose where you lose fat from, [music]

[00:02] some new studies are proving the

[00:04] opposite. They found not only can you

[00:06] target specific areas like your stubborn

[00:07] belly fat, but all it takes is a simple

[00:10] workout they can even do at home. But

[00:12] while these new studies are actually

[00:13] very well designed, I don't fully trust

[00:15] the results quite yet. So, I'm testing

[00:17] it myself. For 30 days we're following

[00:20] the exact spot reduction plan that was

[00:22] scientifically proven to work, followed

[00:24] by another 30 days of regular fat loss,

[00:26] measuring everything using the most

[00:28] accurate device in the world, MRI. And

[00:31] let me just say even as a coach and

[00:32] published researcher myself, I was

[00:34] genuinely shocked by the results. Oh,

[00:37] oh, wow, it's really hard. It's almost

[00:39] eight. But before diving into the plan,

[00:41] meet my guinea pigs. This is Dennis, a

[00:43] creative director, who has been

[00:44] struggling with his belly fat ever since

[00:46] he was a kid. And abs is something he's

[00:49] always admired.

[00:49] >> When I look at someone, I look at their

[00:51] face first, and then I look at their

[00:52] abs. I don't look at anything else. I

[00:55] don't care about this, I don't care

[00:56] about that. The first time Dennis came

[00:59] to work,

[01:00] he's he's he just said, "Jeremy, the

[01:02] only thing I want is abs." Although he

[01:04] works out 4 days a week and doesn't eat

[01:05] much junk food, he's never been able to

[01:08] get rid of the fat [music] around his

[01:09] belly. And based on his MRI scan, he's

[01:11] got some serious potential. So, you

[01:13] actually do have nice-looking abs. Yours

[01:15] are pretty thick.

[01:16] >> Yeah, now that bird person say I'm

[01:17] pretty thick.

[01:18] >> Yeah, yeah, yeah. And this is Vicky,

[01:20] who's pretty active as well, but is also

[01:22] struggling with losing that last layer

[01:24] of belly fat covering her ab definition.

[01:26] Your total body fat is

[01:29] 31.8%.

[01:31] >> Oh.

[01:31] >> Now, keep in mind keep in mind for for

[01:33] girls, compared to guys,

[01:35] you usually want to add like 10% to get

[01:38] the equivalent, just cuz you have more

[01:40] essential fat. So, when you look at your

[01:42] belly specifically,

[01:44] that's at 24.7%.

[01:46] You actually store the least fat in your

[01:48] belly compared to anywhere else.

[01:49] >> Oh, interesting.

[01:50] >> And for Dennis, his total body fat came

[01:52] in at 17.5%

[01:54] with his belly clocking in at 16%. Now,

[01:57] if this new research holds up, the plan

[01:59] they'll be doing should be the perfect

[02:01] way to destroy the belly fat they've

[02:03] been struggling with. We're going off a

[02:05] a study where they found this actually

[02:07] works super well.

[02:09] And the idea is that if you train your

[02:10] abs really hard, Mhm.

[02:13] you're kind of mobilizing the fat in

[02:14] that area. So, it's very interesting.

[02:17] The study I'm talking about was

[02:18] published in 2023, where the researchers

[02:20] came up with a pretty smart plan. They

[02:22] knew that before your body can actually

[02:24] burn fat, it first has to release it

[02:26] from the fat cell, a process called

[02:28] mobilization. If that doesn't happen,

[02:31] the fat just stays stored. And now,

[02:32] here's where it gets really interesting,

[02:33] because when you train a specific

[02:35] muscle, blood flow increases to that

[02:38] area, and so does fat mobilization. So,

[02:40] in theory, training your abs should

[02:43] increase blood flow to your belly,

[02:44] helping release more fat from that area.

[02:47] And that's exactly why so many people

[02:49] try to target belly fat with crunches

[02:50] and sit-ups. In fact, one study had

[02:53] participants do over 5,000 sit-ups in

[02:56] just 27 days to test this, but it didn't

[02:59] make a difference. Because unlocking fat

[03:01] is actually just one half of the

[03:02] equation. If you release fat from

[03:05] storage, but don't actually burn it,

[03:07] your body just stores it again. And so,

[03:09] now you're probably wondering, so how do

[03:10] you burn it? And it's actually quite

[03:11] simple, cardio, but at a low to moderate

[03:14] intensity to maximize fat burn. And that

[03:17] is exactly what this new group of

[03:19] researchers tested. They had one group

[03:21] simply jog for 45 minutes, whereas the

[03:23] spot reduction group, the researchers

[03:25] designed it so that their workout burned

[03:27] the exact same amount of calories, but

[03:29] their workout consisted of jogging for

[03:31] only 27 minutes, and then immediately

[03:34] followed it with ab training. And this

[03:36] time, it worked. After 10 [music] weeks,

[03:38] even though they didn't make any changes

[03:40] to the participants' diets, both groups

[03:42] lost a similar amount of total body fat,

[03:45] but the spot reduction group, they lost

[03:48] around 2.5 times more fat around their

[03:51] belly. And this isn't the only study to

[03:52] find this. A 2017 study tested a similar

[03:55] protocol, but on arm and leg fat, and

[03:58] they too found clear proof of spot

[04:00] reduction. Now, as a published

[04:01] researcher myself, I can tell you that

[04:03] these studies are actually quite well

[04:04] designed. But I did notice one big

[04:06] problem. They measured everything using

[04:07] DEXA scans, which is great for measuring

[04:09] total body fat over time, but it's just

[04:12] not precise enough to measure small

[04:13] changes in specific [music] areas. That

[04:15] is why we're using MRI. It is by far the

[04:18] most precise way to measure fat and

[04:20] muscle changes. And it's rarely used in

[04:22] studies because it's extremely expensive

[04:24] and hard to get access to. But in

[04:26] experiments like this, it really is the

[04:28] only way to be confident with the

[04:29] results. We scanned Dennis and Vicki's

[04:31] bodies and identified three points along

[04:34] their spine to track the fat thickness

[04:36] across their upper, middle, and lower

[04:38] belly, as well as the thickness of their

[04:40] abs just to see how they respond to

[04:42] their training. And we're coming back in

[04:44] 30 days to see if the plan actually

[04:46] works. You're going to start here.

[04:48] >> Yeah.

[04:49] And all I want you to do is lift your

[04:51] tailbone off the bench. Slow, slow,

[04:53] slow, slow, slow, slow, slow. Now, the

[04:55] plan Dennis and Vicki are following is

[04:57] almost identical to the study I

[04:58] mentioned earlier, just with a small

[05:00] upgrade to the ab training. They're

[05:01] doing four sets of weighted crunches for

[05:04] their upper abs and four sets of reverse

[05:06] crunches for the lower abs, trying to

[05:08] increase the weight or reps every single

[05:10] workout.

[05:10] >> The key here is you're not using your

[05:12] legs to get it up. All right, good job.

[05:15] >> burning. I've got a cramp. There

[05:18] you go.

[05:18] >> [laughter]

[05:19] >> And then we got to do this.

[05:21] Now, if you see my previous abs video,

[05:23] you'll probably recognize both of these

[05:25] exercises. They're two of the most

[05:27] effective movements that you can use.

[05:29] And as you'll see later on, worked

[05:30] incredibly well. But immediately before

[05:32] their ab training, they'll do 25 minutes

[05:35] of moderate intensity cardio, just like

[05:37] the study did. And they're going to do

[05:38] this workout every other day. But there

[05:40] is one key difference between Dennis and

[05:42] Vicki's plan. Vicki does not lift

[05:44] weights. So, for her, it's just the

[05:46] cardio and ab work. Dennis, on the other

[05:48] hand, is sticking with his usual 3-day

[05:50] lifting routine alongside it. And as

[05:52] you'll see, that difference actually

[05:54] ends up having a huge impact on the

[05:56] results. But as someone who doesn't do

[05:57] cardio and abs at all, Dennis was off to

[06:00] a rough start.

[06:01] >> I changed my cardio to a Stairmaster. I

[06:03] think it's a little bit more fun. I

[06:06] climbed 123 floors, and you can't say I

[06:09] broke Alex Honnold's record. Whereas

[06:12] Vicky went with incline walking for her

[06:14] cardio. But trying to juggle it with

[06:16] work has been hectic. So, it is

[06:19] 1:00 a.m. right now, and I'm driving to

[06:21] the gym on a Monday morning, and it's

[06:23] all my fault. I had a presentation due

[06:26] tomorrow for work, and I I honestly

[06:28] procrastinated.

[06:29] >> But so far, both of them haven't missed

[06:30] a single workout, which is great,

[06:32] because belly fat can honestly feel like

[06:34] a nightmare you can't escape, no matter

[06:35] how hard you try, especially for men.

[06:38] And there's a reason for that. After my

[06:40] team and I analyzed over eight years of

[06:42] DEXA scans from nearly 18,000 people, we

[06:45] noticed a clear pattern. Women tend to

[06:47] store most of their fat around their

[06:48] hips, their legs, and their arms.

[06:50] Whereas men always tend to store more of

[06:52] their fat in their belly. And this

[06:54] actually just becomes much worse once

[06:56] your body fat gets above 25 to 30%. But

[06:59] it's not just where fat is stored. It's

[07:01] also how it comes off. Cuz when we

[07:03] looked at fat loss across different body

[07:05] parts, the belly was consistently one of

[07:08] the slowest areas to change, while areas

[07:10] like the arms and legs tended to lean

[07:13] out first. So, it makes sense why so

[07:14] many people try to target it directly.

[07:17] Dennis actually saw this growing up. At

[07:18] his parents' house in Taiwan, there's a

[07:20] horse riding machine and even a belly

[07:23] reduction machine his dad has been using

[07:24] for years. Yet, his belly hasn't

[07:27] changed. But if our experiment works,

[07:29] this could finally give a real solution

[07:31] to his problem. And so far, the early

[07:34] results look promising. We're just a

[07:36] week and a half in, and Dennis is

[07:38] convinced his abs are more visible,

[07:39] especially under some good lighting.

[07:41] It's pretty good.

[07:44] But

[07:45] I do still feel like

[07:47] there's still a lot of fat covering it.

[07:49] Meanwhile, Vicky was consistently

[07:51] getting stronger with her weighted

[07:52] crunches and also sticking to a rigorous

[07:55] schedule. But in week two, both Dennis

[07:57] and Vicky noticed something interesting.

[07:59] >> I will say I do feel like I can kind of

[08:02] see like upper ab definition. I don't

[08:04] know if I'm seeing as much improvement

[08:06] in my lower region, but for sure

[08:09] in the upper ab region

[08:11] you can kind of see some abs coming in

[08:13] here. There's actually a reason the

[08:14] lower belly is the hardest area to burn

[08:16] off. There's two receptor types inside

[08:18] fat cells. Alpha-2 receptors, which slow

[08:21] fat release, and beta receptors, which

[08:23] accelerate it. Your lower belly fat is

[08:25] thought to have a much higher ratio of

[08:27] alpha-2 receptors, making it slower to

[08:30] burn off. But that's not the only issue.

[08:31] Visible abs, they come from two things:

[08:34] low enough body fat and abs that

[08:36] actually pop through. Now, the upper abs

[08:38] tend to be thick and pop through easily,

[08:40] whereas the lower abs are often thinner

[08:42] and depending on your ab genetics, you

[08:44] might not really even have any. And this

[08:46] is actually why we're tracking Dennis

[08:48] and Vicky's ab growth with the MRI scans

[08:50] to see if the ab training grows their

[08:52] upper abs as well as their lower abs.

[08:55] And if it does, how much that actually

[08:57] helps them pop through. Now, we're just

[08:58] 20 days in and Vicky isn't the only one

[09:01] feeling like the belly fat is coming

[09:02] off. Dennis has seen some great

[09:04] improvements on his ab strength and the

[09:06] appearance. I'm going to do

[09:08] ab preparation.

[09:15] I'm sore. Which also means he's spending

[09:18] more time checking himself out in the

[09:19] gym, admiring the abs he used to only

[09:22] see on influencers. Back then, he was

[09:23] sending me photos almost every single

[09:25] night. But take a look at this. These

[09:27] are two photos Dennis took on the exact

[09:29] same day just with different lighting.

[09:31] Influencers use this lighting trick all

[09:33] the time to look better and honestly, I

[09:35] do too. But it can set the wrong

[09:37] expectations if you're not aware of it.

[09:39] Because even when you're super lean,

[09:41] you're not going to have that six-pack

[09:43] shredded look all the time in every

[09:45] environment. And you're going to drive

[09:47] yourself crazy trying to chase that. And

[09:49] this also matters for our experiment,

[09:50] too. Because small differences in

[09:52] lighting could easily make it look like

[09:54] the protocol is working, even if nothing

[09:56] has actually changed. Which is again why

[09:58] 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.