Debunking Fitness Myths
We are all guilty of it – scouring the Internet or latest fitness magazine to find the new diet or exercise tips. What a lot of people don’t know is that what they are reading could possibly be exactly what you DO NOT want to do. Keeping up with what is right and what is horribly wrong can be tough to do, which is the reason behind this blog today.
Myth #1: If you exercise one area, you will lose fat in that one area.
No, spot training is not possible. To put it logically – chewing gum does not make your jaw muscles bigger and make you lose weight in your face so why would doing side bends for love handles make them go away? Weight comes off first from where it went on last – it is easier to lose weight you’ve put on recently. It is an all or nothing principle and a mixture of diet, cardio, and strength training will get you where you want to be.
Myth #2: Woman shouldn’t lift weights because they’ll get bulky
Ladies, please stop thinking this. We do not have the same hormones as men and it is impossible (without the help of an illegal substance) to have the same gains in muscle as them. Yes it is possible to gain muscle but lets be serious, you rarely see women with pecs that you can make bounce up and down and biceps that look like they are busting out of your shirts. Strong is the new skinny ladies so go ahead and pick up that weight.
Myth #3: You should work abs everyday and every other question about abs out there
Your abdominals are just like every other muscle in your body – they need time to rest and recover. Working them everyday is not only over training but not going to get the results you want. “Abs are made in the kitchen,” a saying repeated over and over again by professional bodybuilders. You can work your abs as much as possible but unless you lose that layer over them, you will not see them. Doing crunches does not equal a smaller waist, if anything you are making the muscle bigger which will look great once you get that diet in check and cardio going. Lastly, attribute a 6 pack to good genes, you can have a great looking core but to get those washboard abs you have to be pretty blessed in the gene pool.
Myth #4: Muscle turns into fat
Muscle and fat are two very different cells that simply do not mutate into one another. The amount of muscle can be hidden by the amount of fat and visa versa but they are not one in the same. While a pound of fat and pound of muscle may weigh the same, they differ in density. Five pounds of fat takes up more space than 5 pounds of muscle.
