Fitness Myths
"Crunches are the best way to burn belly fat"
Reality: The best way to burn belly fat is combining cardio with ab-strengethning exercises, and a healthy, clean diet.
"Lifting heavy will make a womans body look bulky and masculine"
Reality: Weight training helps with burning problematic fat, helps women gain lean muscle mass and helps trim/tone a womans body. If you are only focusing on reducing the number on the scale, you will often lose water and muscle weight. This leaves you weighing less but still flabby, or ' skinny fat'. Build (some) muscle + Lose Fat = Toned!
"The scales reveal the results of your workout"
Reality: Your weight fluctuates throughout the day. Also, muscle weighs more than fat. So if you are lifting weights in order to become more muscular/leaner, your weight may likely increase.
"Stretching will always prevent injuries"
Reality: Stretching cold muscles can actually harm mucles. Always warm up muscles at the beginning of your workout.
"Lots of protein + less carbohydrates = lean muscle"
Reality: Carbs are your bodys fuel source. Most adults overeat protein and store it as fat.
"You need to make drastic changes all at once in order to get fit"
Reality: Taking small, positive steps will make you more likely to succeed with maintaning a healthy lifestyle.
"You should workout the same muscle groups every day in order for them to grow"
Reality: Muscle groups need rest intervals of a couple days in between workout sessions in order for your muscle fibers to successfully rest and repair.
"If you exercise, you can eat whatever you want"
Reality: Your desired result can only be achieved when your workouts match your healthy diet. Weight loss = Calories In < Calories burned. By monitoring your calorie intake AND burning plenty of calories through exercise and active living you can achieve weight loss, getting in shape and looking good.
"My friend's workout routine will also help me lose weight"
Reality: Workout programs should be individually tailored for everyone because every individual has a different body type and specific needs. You should always follow your own goal plan.
"If I start doing cardio, I will burn fat in stubborn areas"
Reality: Unfortunately, you cannot spot target fat loss. Your body will begin to burn fat all over your body.
"The longer your workout is, the better results you get"
Reality: The most important factor of a workout is the overall quality and effort contributed to it, not its duration. While a higher percentage of fat is burned during the longer workouts, this does not equate to as much total fat burned compared to higher intensity exercise. This is because higher intensity workouts can help you burn more total calories over the day because of the "afterburn" effect.
"Exercise machines are more effective than free weights"
Reality: Since machines isolate specific muscle groups, you actually burn fewer calories on a machine than you would when utilizing free weights.
"Running on a treadmill is just as effective as running outside"
Reality: Because running against wind or an uneven terrain engages more of your muscles, running outdoors requires more energy and burns about 10% more calories than running the same distance on a treadmill.
"Sweating means that you are out of shape:
Reality: The fitter you are, the sooner your body becomes accustomed to sweating. A person who is in extremely good shape tends to produce more sweat than somebody who isn't.
"Working out makes you hungry"
Reality: High-intensity workouts may actually decrease food cravings for up to a couple hours.
"You cannot build muscle with veggies"
Reality: To build muscle, you need three consistent elements: stimulus from exercise, calories, and nutrients to support muscle building and recovery. Vegetables are filled with slow-digesting carbs, minerals, and vitamins. They're like grains, but with fewer calories. If you eat enough calories and sufficient, complete proteins, you'll gain muscle.
"If you want to lose fat, avoid it"
Reality: Fats are necessary to maintain healthy hormone levels and make use of vitamins. Without it, you'll create a terrible environment for muscle growth. Fats also help you regulate your appetite. A carb-and-protein-only diet can make any fat-loss or muscle-build goal almost impossible to reach.
"I can eat whatever I want as long as I take fat burners"
Reality: To burn fat, you need to expend more calories than your body uses. Fat burners will increase your heart rate and aid in training performance, but it's not a magic pill. You can't hope to sit around and eat hamburgers all day and expect your fat burner to make you thinner.
"I can remain lean even if I consume alcohol frequently"
Reality: Alcohol inhibits fat burning while your liver is detoxifying you.
"Muscle soreness is caused by a buildup of lactic acid"
Reality: Lactic acid, aka lactate, has nothing to do with delayed-onset muscle soreness. DOMS is primarily caused by doing eccentric loading or negatives, or by doing exercises that tax your muscles in new ways. In either case, the soreness comes from micro tears in your muscle fibers.
"If I skip the gym for two days, I will already start losing muscle mass"
Reality: If you exercise regularly—several times per week for several months, it'll take longer than seven days for your strength to evaporate. Strength performance in general is maintained for up to four weeks of inactivity.
"Gatorade is necessary after my workout"
Reality: The popular sports drink is effective when it comes to delivering certain electrolytes, but if your body doesn't need them, stay away from it because you are adding unnecessary sugar, calories, and sodium to your diet.