Ever since man first became aware and evolution put the foot on the accelerator, our society has became increasingly health conscious. The earliest hieroglyphics depicted a primordial man besting a sabre-toothed tiger with a kettle bell. Maybe I am exaggerating but the point I am trying to emphasise is that fitness and health are synonymous with our culture and our condition. We are at the crescendo of our fitness and health obsession. It is now a multi-billion dollar industry, gyms are never empty and a mix with all types of people and nearly everyone and their nan has a few fitness tips for you. We can get caught up in this game of physiology pass-the-parcel and many people may be exerting their precious energy through misguided guidelines. I am going to be that guy and say what all fitness guys say, “I will debunk some fitness tips that you are wasting your time with”.
#1 Outexercise an unhealthy diet
The one myth that we don’t want to debunk is the myth that you can out exercise your unhealthy diet. We all like to cheat our diet on the odd occasion and this is fine in moderation. However, you cannot continue eating unhealthy and expect to have a body that the Greeks would have chiseled out of marble. The correlation between diet and performance is obvious. You can’t go to the gym and hydrate on coca cola. This would burn you out faster than a bale of hay. New York based personal trainer, Maik Weidenbach believes that “80% of what you look like is based on diet”.
#2 Women lifting heavy will get big
Another myth that can be attributed to the misconceptions of society rather than fitness culture is that women have to lift light weights and do higher repetitions. This myth is commonplace within the fitness culture. This is because women believe that they will become bulky when lifting heavy weights. This is untrue because women’s testosterone is lower. Due to this they likely won’t be able to lift as much weight as men. It is recommended that women do six to eight repetitions of a weight that challenges them instead. They don’t have dumb down on the weight. Just make sure you resist the weight and you will have a defined body that any classical artists would be happy to draw.
#3 Spot reduction
I am a personal trainer and I have a number of clients who ask to reduce fat from one area. This is often referred to as spot reduction. To burn weight quickly you will have to perform a lot of cardiovascular and resistance exercises. However, the effects will be visible all over your body. You cannot just target one specific area. This would lead to you having a convoluted shape and could also lead to injury. Sport reduction is blind ignorance but I do appreciate the reasoning behind it.
#4 Shakes are healthy
The biggest consumer myth on the health and fitness market is that shakes can help you slim. This is far from the case. Shakes are a mix of unnatural proteins, colouring agents and sugar sweeteners which are just as detrimental to your body as almost any other compound. They also wont keep you full. You burn as much energy when digesting foods in your body. This is why you should target healthy whole foods that provide the right amount if fibre. They also fill your stomach much better than hollow shakes. You should also look for high-end whey proteins and add some vitamins or nuts for added measure.
It is hard to disseminate between the amount of training and nutritional tips that saturate the market. I understand that this it not too dissimilar but believe me when I say that I have learnt from crafting nutritional accompaniment to my clients’ training regimes. These are the main myths that hold most people back from attaining their fitness aspirations. Let’s hope that we learn before passing them to further fitness generations.