Top 8 Fitness Myths Revealed

Posted on Jan 17, 2011 by Anthony



Fitness Myth #1 – Ladies will get bulky performing resistance training.

I hear this one all the time – most people don’t realize how hard it is for men to bulk up, let alone women. Remember, men have 10 times more testosterone, which is the hormone responsible for building muscle. Ladies you NEED resistance training if you want your body to be lean and toned. The women you see in the magazines who look big and manly are generally on steroids, growth hormones, etc...

Fitness Myth #2 – As you age you gain fat.

There’s a common myth that as you age gaining fat becomes unavoidable. This simply isn't true – generally, the reason you gain fat is because your metabolism has slowed down due to a lack of exercise and bad diet choices.

Fitness Myth #3 – Spot Reducing.

Spot reducing means targeting a specific body part or muscle with an exercise to reduce fat in those areas. I’m always getting asked which ab exercise is best for losing that bit of extra weight around the mid-section. Unfortunately the body doesn’t work this way. When you begin losing weight you are unable to determine which area your body will lose fat. For example doing lots of sit-ups will not reduce fat around the mid-section, it will only strengthen and tone the abs.

Fitness Myth #4 – More is Better.

Too much of a good thing can be detrimental to your training. If you’re training: • Too frequently • For too long • Without enough rest. This will lead to overtraining. Overtraining can lead to sickness, depression and injury.

Fitness Myth #5 - You must work out 5-6 days per week to make progress.

I really do not expect you to trade in all free time for the gym. Additionally, many of those people that I do see in the gym 5-6 days a week are better off playing ping pong. Consistency and level of effort are the key. I would rather see someone workout 3-4 days per week with enthusiasm and intensity, than 6 inconsistent days of lackadaisical effort.

Fitness Myth #6 – Training the Abs Last.

Many people believe that you must train the abs last to avoid fatiguing the stabilizing muscles of the core. Although this sounds like a fair statement this has never been scientifically proven. If you think about which section of the body is the most important (the core) and what is most people's biggest weakness (the core), it doesn’t make sense to train the core last when you’re already fatigued.

Fitness Myth #7 – You can out train a poor diet.

No matter how hard you train, if your diet is poor, you will not see the results you are training for. With the right nutrition you will be able to fuel your workouts far more effectively, giving you a greater return in results. If you think you can work out hard and still eat junk and it will even out, you are wrong...the junk will still be stored as fat.

Fitness Myth #8 - Performing countless abdominal crunches will get rid of the “pooch” area on the lower tummy.

I would say I get 5 questions per day related to this issue. As mentioned earlier; it is not possible to spot reduce any area of the body. The real solution is to reduce overall body fat through a slight caloric deficit, add resistance exercise (weight training) to stimulate the metabolism, and cardiovascular exercise to burn additional calories. That’s the way to fat loss. Performing crunches will never reduce the abdominal area because it only serves to strengthen muscle, not flatten a specific area. Just as 200 bicep curls will not make the arm smaller, nor will 200 abdominal crunches make the waist smaller. You cannot spot reduce any part of the body. It’s just not physiologically possible. http://sbi0.sitesell.com/cgi-bin/Solo Build It/graphicsLib.pl?NAME_1=ButtomBanner1.jpg&AFF_CODE=225717&DOMAIN=vipfitnessms.com&THEBUTTON=BUTTON_CLICK&SHOW_1=Show%2BMe&COUNT=1 Return to top of Myths page