Even if you do a couple of hundred reps for each set of your triceps extensions, it won't help the fat on your upper arms to disappear. And you won't get rid of the fat on your hips by doing sets of hundreds of reps on the leg press either. Spot reducing fat through training is impossible, as any good trainer will tell you. But until recently there was no scientific proof for what most people knew from experience. Now Chilean scientists have published the results of a small but convincing study in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research....

Three sets of jump squats is an excellent way to round off your leg-muscle training. According to sports scientists at AUT University in New Zealand, doing jump squats at the end of a leg-training session raises testosterone synthesis, which speeds up your muscle mass and strength building. There’s a small stack of studies which suggest that adding plyometrics to your strength training helps increase your strength and above all your power. It seems that exercises like jump squats stimulate your leg muscles in a different way than regular strength training exercises. The researchers thought that the effect of plyometric training...