There are a lot of mistaken beliefs about fitness. But the more information you have, the better you’re able to control your weight, increase your overall well-being, and improve your fitness.
Here’s the truth behind eight common fitness myths:
1) You can run off excess pounds.
People think that cardio is the best way to lose weight. But experts agree that interval and weight training is a much better way to shed inches than pounding it out on the treadmill.
2) Weight loss is simply calories in versus calories out.
Not all calories are created equally! Besides that, they also don’t get processed the same way by your body. Even though it’s true that you gain weight when you eat more calories than you burn, and you lose weight when you burn more calories than you eat, this is an oversimplification.
The fact is different foods have varying effects on your body and go through different metabolic pathways when being converted to energy. It’s a mistake to just focus on the calorie content of food, and not consider the metabolic effects they have.
For example, if you eat 100 calories worth of sugary foods, it’s stored as glycogen. When your liver gets full of glycogen, it’s turned into fat. On the other hand, if you eat 100 calories of protein, about 30% of those calories will be spent digesting it. It also increases your levels of fullness and boosts your metabolic rate. These calories are definitely not the same!
3) When you lose muscle, it turns to fat.
This one feels true if you’ve experienced it, but the truth is that fat and muscle are two different tissue systems that work independently of each other. When you stop exercising though, your muscles get smaller. As this happens, the smaller muscles don’t burn as much fuel. Because of this, body fat normally rises because more of the calories you’re eating get stored as fat.
4) Your body needs electrolytes after every workout.
The marketing department of sports drink companies spend a lot of time and money to promote this myth. But the truth is, unless you’re working out intensely for an hour or more, plain old water is all your body needs after exercising.
5) Lifting weights will bulk you up.
This is one of the most damaging myths because it steers many people (mostly women) away from doing one of the most beneficial things they can do for themselves: lifting weights. Strength training is an important part of any good fitness routine. It strengthens your heart health, keeps your joints healthy, burns calories, boosts metabolism, minimizes injuries, increases your energy, and makes you stronger. But what it won’t do: give you unwanted bulkiness—especially if you’re a woman.
6) Muscle weighs more than fat.
Well, not really. They just take up less space!
One pound of muscle weighs the same as one pound of fat. The difference is that one pound of muscle is denser and takes up less space under your skin. So even if you weigh the same, your clothes are going to fit better if you are converting fat into muscle.
7) If you aren’t sore the next day, you didn’t work out hard enough.
This goes hand in hand with the old, “No pain, no gain” saying. But if you exercise regularly, it’s actually a good sign when you don’t feel sore. It just means that your body has built up and adapted to what you’re doing.
8) You can get great abs with crunches.
First, it’s not true that you can work on reducing fat and toning up in just one area. No matter how many crunches you do, a person with 20% body fat is not going to have the same abs as a person with 8% body fat.
Experts find that toned abs come from a combination of interval training, eating carbs the right way, getting enough sleep, and using the right training moves—not crunches.
Common Myths—Busted!
When you know the truth behind common fitness myths, you’re better able to take control of your health.
Call us at Jesse James Fit and Outlaw FitCamp. We are ready to help you have a healthy and fit 2020!