Have you ever felt like you didn’t get a good workout because you weren’t sore? Have you tried to get a six pack by doing 100 crunches a day? Or are you afraid to lift heavy weights in fear that you will look too “bulky”? Here we will debunk some of the most common fitness myths.
#1. Myth 1: It’s Wasn’t a Good Workout If I’m Not Sore
Many people measure how good their workouts based on how sore they are the next day. However, muscle soreness shouldn’t be the way to gauge a good workout. Why?
Soreness, which is also called delayed onset muscle soreness, is common when you first begin weight training, trying a new activity or increase the amount of weight used. Muscle soreness is caused by small tears in the muscle fiber in response to being overloaded. This feeling diminishes overtime because with rest and recovery, the muscle grows stronger and builds lean muscle tissue.
Since rest and recovery are crucial for the muscle to grow, if there is soreness after every workout, there needs to be more rest time in between workouts. Rest will diminish the risk of overtraining as well as injury.
#2 Myth 2: You Can “Spot” Reduce Fat in Specific Areas with Certain Exercises
This myth we hear almost daily from clients when talking about their goals. “I need to do abs into every workout because I want a six pack,” or “I need to do more inner thigh exercises to reduce fat there.” This is what is called “spot reducing” and is not possible. Meaning, 1,000 sit ups a day will not result in a six pack. The reality is, wherever you gain the most weight is the last place you will lose it. The only way to lose this fat is the be in a calorie deficit through diet and total body exercise.
#3 Myth 3: Lighter Weights and Higher Reps Best for Toning Muscle
It is commonly believed that if you use lighter weights and higher reps is the best way to tone and burn more fat. This is far from the truth however. The only way to see muscle tone and burn fat is to create a calorie incorporated with exercise (resistance training whether it’s light, heavy or mixed with cardio). While the method of using lighter weights with higher reps will increase muscular endurance and is great to incorporate in a strength training program, the lean and toned look only comes from fat loss.
#4 Myth 4: Strength Training will Make You Big and Bulky
This is a common concern particularly amongst women, however is also just a common myth. First and foremost, women do not produce the amount of testosterone needed to build big muscles. Men struggle in this department as well, hence the reason that steroids are so popular in the body building world. It takes years of training and eating a specific way to achieve the “bulky “ physique. Lifting heavy weights alone will not produce this look. In fact, lifting heavy has tons of benefits for both men and women. Increasing the amount of weight you lift is the only way to challenge the muscle and see results (along with proper nutrition). Since muscle takes up less space than fat, the more muscle you add through lifting weights, the more fat you will lose and ultimately the more defined and lean you will look!
