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Fitness

Top 10 Fitness And Workout Myths

There are preconceptions and myths about fitness and working out that come up again and again. Here is the top 10 of those that I have heard most often and which are the most misleading.

10. If you don’t sweat, you don’t work out hard enough

Sweat is not an indication of how hard your body has to work, it simply is your body’s cooling system. And how much cooling is needed depends on the climate and the clothes you wear. Don a fur jacket and try running a 5k on Hawaii in August. Then do the same in Siberia during December and compare how much you sweated.

Men sweating and drinking

Sweat simply is your body's cooling system

9. Doing crunches will get me a six-pack

Doing crunches will make your abdominal muscles stronger, but if fat sits on top of them, they still won’t be visible. The key to a visible six-pack is working the ab muscles and having a body fat percentage of 5 – 7%.

8. Doing ab exercises will make my gut go away

The last directly leads over to this one: the fat sitting atop of a muscle is not necessarily providing the energy used to make that muscle work. Muscles get their fuel via the bloodstream, which runs through your entire body. The energy used to do crunches may therefore have come from a fat cell in your big toe.

7. Working out with weights makes you bulky

Yes, if you keep adding resistance in the form of  more weight and keep that up for years. Bulking up is a long process and women, who especially fear turning into She-Man, won’t be able to build as much muscle as men anyway – they lack the necessary testosterone.

6. Running on a treadmill is better for your knees

A good treadmill has shock absorbers, which theoretically means less stress for your knees and feet. But what really wears your joints down is monotonous stress, no matter what form it takes.

The key to joint health is varying what you do, recruiting different muscles and giving others a chance to recuperate. If you always run, try an elliptical for a change or jump on a bike.

Men on treadmills

To keep your joints safe, vary the stress you expose them to

5. Gaining weight means you gained muscle

This one never fails to amaze me: People work out, step on a scale every four weeks and assume that the 10 lbs more it shows since last time is pure muscle. But instead it could be fat, water and simply having had a large meal that is being digested.

What works much more reliably is writing down how many repetitions with what weight you were able to do and check how much stronger you got.

4. I have the wrong genetics for a great body

Do you? Even if your arms are long and you look like the human equivalent of a spider, you can still look better by looking like a fit human spider that has some muscle. Being healthy, fit and in shape doesn’t require you to be able to win a Mr. Olympia contest.

3. Stretching before a workout is healthy

Stretching a cold muscle is actually the worst thing you can do, because it can loosen the muscles and make tears more likely. Imagine a piece of butter you try to bend: if it’s frozen it will break in the middle, if it’s soft, it will bend.

Woman stretching

Stretching can be beneficial after exercise, but not before

Therefore, before you either do cardio or weightlifting, warm up with light resistances, to get blood in your muscles flowing.

2. More is always better

Some people think the more fitness they do, the faster they’ll see results. Which is wrong, because your body needs time to recuperate and adjust for the next exercise bout. If you don’t give it that time, you may just injure yourself, end up in overtraining or both.

1. It has to hurt to work

The worst gets its deserved first place. Especially bodybuilders sometimes tend to have the mindset that pain is a sure sign of doing something right and that working through it shows you are a tough guy, not fearing the battle with the metal. In reality, pain during a workout simply means you are doing something wrong and are injuring yourself or already have an injury.

If you feel pain, stop the workout, check what and how you do what you do. If the pain doesn’t go away, see your doctor. Most of those who didn’t heed that, don’t work out anymore.

Pictures courtesy of “lululemon“, “Sonny Side Up!” and U. S. Army.

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Latest Comments

  • No comments

13 Comments

  1. moon says:
    June 1, 2011 at 3:14 am

    aww, no “dood, hit yo muscle from different angles to ‘change it up'”?

    Reply
    • evilcyber says:
      June 1, 2011 at 10:56 pm

      Well, that, under special circumstances, can be valid advice 🙂

      Reply
  2. dave says:
    June 1, 2011 at 10:33 pm

    Good read again Evil!

    Reply
    • evilcyber says:
      June 1, 2011 at 10:56 pm

      Thanks, Dave!

      Reply
  3. Chris says:
    October 26, 2011 at 2:10 am

    How can yuh identify or determine the percentage of your body fat? Is there a website for that or what?

    Reply
    • evilcyber says:
      October 26, 2011 at 3:30 pm

      The cheap and fairly accurate method is with a body fat caliper:

      http://www.amazon.com/AccuMeasure-MyoTape-AM-3000-Fitness-Personal/dp/B002VAPHXW/

      The most accurate is in a bod pod, but that is very expensive:

      http://www.cosmed.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1262&Itemid=310&lang=en
      http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/health/2008148562_nwbody020.html

      Reply
  4. build muscle without weights says:
    April 17, 2012 at 2:48 am

    Yes, everything except the running/walking a mile is correct. The more you work, the more calories you will burn…so running WILL make you loose more calories…

    Reply
    • Moon says:
      April 17, 2012 at 3:27 am

      The point of that section was to demonstrate that it’s not a good means to determine how hard you’re working, Just like how using the next day’s muscle soreness to determine whether or not you’ve had a good workout isn’t a good means.

      You could be working hard without sweating, just like you could have a good workout without being sore the next day.

      Reply
      • Moon says:
        April 17, 2012 at 3:28 am

        I think that’s what you were responding to..

        Reply
      • evilcyber says:
        April 18, 2012 at 11:58 pm

        Exactly!

        Reply
    • Band3 says:
      April 17, 2012 at 12:19 pm

      Sorry to burst your bubble, but walking and running burn more or less the same amount of calories per kilometer.
      -> http://walking.about.com/od/calorie1/a/calorieswalkrun.htm

      So, if you are overweight and and have a lot of time, walking is def better. Emphasis on a lot of time. 😉

      Reply
      • evilcyber says:
        April 19, 2012 at 12:01 am

        Precisely. Some studies show that HIIT burns more calories than regular cardio, but the difference is small.

        (As a sidenote, I always wondered how that comes to be and figured it could be because it costs more energy to put a body in motion than to keep it that way. My physics teacher would be proud of me :D)

        Reply
  5. shrenik says:
    April 20, 2013 at 7:26 am

    what about Dirty bulk :O

    Reply

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