The internet is full of mis-information or information that is delivered with good intention, but is simply wrong. Here are a few of the most common fitness myths that I get questions from team members. Hopefully these will help you in reaching your health and fitness goals in the most effective manner possible.
1. I’m Working Out Everyday, I Can Eat Whatever I Want
I see this one A LOT… People tend to think that they can outwork their poor nutrition. Unfortunately, this just isn’t the case. If your nutrition sucks, it is very likely that your workouts are also going to suck. If you aren’t fueling your body with good nutrition, you aren’t going to have enough energy to sustain you throughout your workouts and thus, you won’t get as much out of them as you normally would.
Tracking your nutrition is the best way to ensure that you are meeting your daily caloric needs as they relate to your goals. That means if you are trying to lose weight or add lean muscle mass, you have to track what you are eating!
When you are consistent with your nutrition, it is a heck of a lot easier to keep progressing towards the goals that you have set for yourself.
If you want to learn more about the fundamentals of nutrition, check out the following 7-part series that I have created!
Each week I will send you an email that will cover one easily digestible, essential building block on the fundamentals of nutrition.
The best part? They’re totally free.
To check out the free series, just click the button below.
2. Women Will Bulk Up With Strength Training
Many times, women have a preconceived notion that weightlifting/strength training will automatically pack on muscle. This could not be further from the truth!
Even for men, who naturally produce testosterone; a chemical that helps promote muscle growth, it takes more than just lifting weights to add lean muscle mass. Nutrition is, by far, the biggest factor when one wants to add muscle to their frame. You have to consume A LOT of calories, proper calories, in order to look like the women that you see in body building magazine or up on a stage with bulging muscles. It is also likely that many of these women are getting assistance through questionable means…
The fact is that strength training is one of THE BEST ways for both men AND women to lose body fat. When you start strength training, you begin to develop more muscle, slowly, over the course of time. With each and every workout, you are exhausting the muscle groups and they need to recover and this process takes time, so throughout the day your body needs more energy to feed and recover those muscle groups. If you have excess body fat, the body is going to start using that body fat store for energy!
Women – don’t be afraid to incorporate strength training into your workout schedule. Programs like Body Beast, Chalene Extreme, P90X, P90X2, and even P90X3 all incorporate strength training into their schedules. When you combine this with proper nutrition, you aren’t going to bulk up, you are going to lean out and get the results that you truly desire!
3. Spot Toning
From time to time, I hear someone say that they; “Need to lose some belly fat!” or “I just want to tone up my arms”.
Reducing body fat is not something that you can control on a specific area of your body, it simply doesn’t work that way. Body fat is dropped in layers across the entire body. Granted, some areas will see results faster than others, but you cannot only reduce body fat in your stomach or legs or arms or any other body part for that matter.
Dropping your body fat is a simple math equation;
Burn more calories than you consume. Energy balance is the key to fat loss.
When you are at a caloric deficit, your body will begin to burn fat in order to meet it’s daily energy needs. When you are at a surplus, the body simply stores the excess as fat.
4. Cardio is Best for Fat Loss
I’ve never been a big fan of cardio and it does play an important role in fat loss, but that doesn’t mean that it is best for fat loss. To be clear, cardio in this context mean – steady state cardio (LISS – low intensity steady state), such as running, treadmill, elliptical or treadmill based workouts, when you perform the same repetitive boring motion for an extended period of time. Sometimes the amount of time required for these style of workouts actually takes LONGER that with strength training or HIIT style training. Not only that, but as I mentioned above, strength training will require your body to burn more calories throughout the day in order to recover. With LISS cardio, the moment your stop, you are basically done burning calories! It may last for an hour or two after your workout, but that’s about all you are going to get…
HIIT , high intensity interval training, is going to be more beneficial to you if you need to lose weight?drop body fat. With HIIT, your heart rate is going to be constantly up and down with period of fast active movements/exercises followed by periods of rest. In the end, this style of workout is going to get you more efficient results with caloric burn that its LISS counterpart.
5. No Pain, No Gain
DOMS – Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness – is the result of you crushing your workout and creating microscopic tears in the fibers of your muscles and the soreness is the annoying and sometimes painful process of the recovery of those fibers. This typically is a good thing. However, if you are sore or experiencing pain like this in the same areas for more than 2-3 days after your workouts, you have injured yourself and should refrain from continued workouts until you have had a visit with your doctor.
Also, you may experience more subtle soreness going forward, which is perfectly normal, but you should NEVER be in pain as a result of your workout. You should be able to tell the difference between a little muscle soreness and a strained or pulled muscle. The soreness will subside, but if the pain persists, again see your doctor!
You want to push yourself as much as possible in your workouts, but pushing yourself to the point of injury is never the goal. Be safe and follow the form and technique tips that are provided to ensure safety.
Need a Coach?
If you need to find someone that will hold you accountable, answer your questions, help you, and PUSH YOU for the entire duration of your workout! Luckily for you, that’s what me and my team are here for. If you don’t have a coach yet and want one, I’d love to be your coach and help you through a fitness program. I am available to help you reach your goals!
Email Me: coachchris@yourfitnesspath.com
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