Morbid Obesity, FUPA and the Inner Thigh Machine

Here’s why using the inner (and outer) thigh machine is a total waste of time if you’re morbidly obese and have a FUPA.

FUPA stands for fat under pelvic area. It can also stand for fat upper pubic area.

At the gym recently I noticed a markedly obese woman walking slowly on a treadmill.

My view of her was from behind, but I could clearly see that she was at least 100 pounds overweight.

She was holding onto the treadmill, even though she didn’t have a cane nearby.

When I was a personal trainer, I forbad every single one of my clients – no matter how overweight, no matter how old – from holding onto the treadmill.

In so many ways, this sabotages the walking session. I started them out slowly to allow their body’s balance mechanism to gradually acclimate.

So the first thing wrong that the woman was doing was the make-believe walking.

We can argue whether or not this was her first time ever on a treadmill, but the best time to break the bad habit of holding on is when you’re doing it for the first time.

Then she went to the inner thigh machine. Also called the hip adductor machine, this equipment is pictured below.

My first observation of her on the inner thigh machine was when I just happened to be walking towards it on the way to another area of the gym.

I couldn’t help but notice the woman’s enormous FUPA.

I’d say her height was around five feet and weight around 280.

Due to the FUPA, she had no choice but to keep her legs almost straight, her body propped up, while using this popular piece of equipment.

I wondered what she thought she was going to achieve, because quite frankly, she was wasting her time.

Most of her excess fat was in her middle; the amount of midsection fat was out of proportion to her arms and legs.

She appeared to be in her 40s, maybe early 50s.

Many overweight women use the inner thigh machine, with the expectation that the repetitive closing in of the inner thighs against resistance will remove inches from this area.

The action involves the hip adductor muscles, which are located in the inner thighs.

Working these muscles will NOT burn enough fat to reduce the inner thighs.

That’s because these adductor muscles are small and hence, not significant force producers.

The big force production muscles are the quadriceps, hamstrings and gluteus maximus.

 

My routine took 20 minutes; I then headed back, noting that the woman was still on the inner thigh machine.

I got on a treadmill (the row was right ahead of the inner thigh equipment).

It was easy for me to note, through the reflection in the wall mirrors, that for the next 30 minutes, she continued using the machine, though I don’t know how long her breaks were.

So at least 50 minutes on the hip adduction machine. For what purpose?

I got on the nearby leg press equipment. Ten minutes later she was still working her inner thighs.

This is nowhere near the tool to use to improve lower body strength and mobility.

And it certainly won’t help her lose weight (and it’s safe to assume that she wants to lose weight, if for no other reason, to sit normally without a FUPA getting in the way).

After she left the machine, I didn’t see her. But for weight loss, improved mobility, more strength and more stamina, the inner and outer thigh machines are a complete waste of time.

Of course, if you want to maintain conditioning of your gluteus minimus and medius for inline skating during the wintertime, the outer thigh machine will help. 

But I’ll go out on a limb here and speculate that most people don’t use these hip joint devices for sport.

Hit the 18-Wheelers, not the Motor Bikes

Which burns more fuel: a little motor bike or an 18-wheeler truck?

Likewise, large muscles burn more fuel when at work, and require more fuel for recovery, than do small muscles.

For fat loss, a morbidly obese person should focus on exercises for the quadriceps, hamstrings and gluteus maximus.

I would never expect a morbidly obese individual with a giant FUPA to do any kind of squat (which engages all of the lower body) other than chair squats. See below.

They can also use the leg press machine (see below). However, a horizontal type of equipment would work better with a large FUPA.

If space allows, one with morbid obesity can also do the leg extension and seated leg curl.

Simple walking will go a long way, as long as it maintains an elevated heart rate and the arms are swinging rather than holding onto the treadmill.

This woman’s FUPA would not impede her ability to perform seated pulling exercises on any number of back machines.

Nor would it prevent use of pressing equipment.

One might suggest she spend an hour a day in the pool.

This new gym that I’ve joined doesn’t have a pool. She may also not have access to a pool.

Also, not everyone is comfortable exercising in water.

A morbidly obese person with a large FUPA can also try a recumbent bike and an elliptical trainer.

Holding onto a treadmill, followed by an hour of using the inner thigh machine, will not cause weight loss or do much for overall physical fitness.

If you’re going to spend time in a gym, you should use that time wisely.

Morbid Obesity, Large FUPA, New to the Gym

If you’ve reached this state of physical being, you need to get a full workup by your primary care doctor to find out if you have any conditions for which certain types of exercise are contraindicated.

The most important things to remember are to learn proper form with any exercise — including walking (arm swing rather than locking up your upper body by holding onto a treadmill), proper breathing and other proper body positioning. Gym staff will be happy to help.

Compound strength training exercises, which engage multiple muscle groups simultaneously, will burn more fat than isolation exercises.

They’ll also do a much better job at improving one’s fitness and mobility.

An isolation exercise works only a single joint at a time, such as with a biceps curl, a triceps extension and the inner (and outer) thigh machine — the action engaging only the hip joint.

Multi-joint movements have higher energy demands, as they recruit larger muscle groups and require greater overall effort.

Research supports this, as compound movements like squats, deadlifts and bench presses increase calorie expenditure both during and after exercise.

There are many other compound movements as well, for those who are very heavy and have significant excess fat under the pelvic region and can’t realistically perform a squat or deadlift.

A study by Schoenfeld et al. (2014) found that compound exercises lead to higher energy expenditure and greater muscle activation compared to isolation exercises.

Additionally, compound training stimulates greater hormonal responses, such as the release of growth hormone and testosterone (yes, women have testosterone), which can promote fat loss (Tesch, 1988).

This stimulation of more testosterone in women will make you burn fat, NOT grow a beard!

Lorra Garrick is a former personal trainer certified through the American Council on Exercise. At Bally Total Fitness she trained women and men of all ages for fat loss, increased strength, muscle building, and improved fitness and cardiovascular health. 

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Top image: Freepik.com