Health and fitness for every body
There is a lot of misinformation surrounding the world of exercise and fitness. This misinformation has perpetuated society for years – information that has some bad baggage. Here are several workout beliefs that are, despite popular belief, a total myth.
One of the biggest misconceptions is that you need to go 100% all the time. Remember: while it’s good to push yourself, you will spend a significant amount of time resting and recovering. Workouts should be challenging true. An exception is that workouts shouldn’t be painful. Uncomfortable? Yes, but excruciating pain is a sign that something is wrong.
“I don’t believe in going to failure. So instead of doing one day where you blow your system out and the next day you can barely walk, have one workout every day where you don’t blow your body out. You’ll get stronger quicker.” – Joe Rogan
One of the most popular myths in the world is that you will bulk up to Hulk status by simply strength training. The truth is though, it simply isn’t that easy for women to use strength training to bulk up as men do. A healthy, nutritious diet is just as important as bulking up as a strength training regimen.
Delayed-onset muscle soreness occurs after a strenuous workout. A lot of misguided people think that a buildup of lactic acid in your muscles is responsible for this soreness. This is because any lactic acid that is created during workouts, clears out from your system minutes after your cool-down period.
It’s imperative, for maintaining your flexibility and preventing injury, that you do the right type of stretching. The form of stretching you did in gym class—touching your toes, sitting on the ground with your legs straight, or reaching your fingers high in the air—ends up doing more harm than good. This is known as “static” stretching or stretching while remaining still. While excellent for post-workouts, far better stretches are dynamic stretches. These stretches activate the muscles you’ll be using in your training.
A lot of people believe that you can target fat loss from a specific region of your body. Fat is distributed across our entire body and can only be lost when our overall body fat percentage is lowered. This is why high-intensity interval training is so popular: it revs up your metabolism so you can burn more calories and fat in a quicker amount of time.
Whether you walk away from your workout drenched in sweat or not makes little difference. Pilates doesn’t leave you gasping for air like a fish out of water, yet it still has tremendous benefits. How much we sweat depends on our body – it also depends on the environment we’re in. You don’t need to sweat to see a difference in your training.
One of the most popular myths hitting the circuit is that you need to be chock full of protein post-workout. While it’s true that protein helps rejuvenate the muscles after a gruelling session, you only need ~20 grams to maintain that muscle. Afterwards, your body will convert excess amounts to simple fat.
Conclusion
Now that you know the truth, use these debunked myths to your advantage in your next workout. Anytime you train, be sure that what you’re training for lines up with the exercise regimen you have in store. It doesn’t make sense to train for endurance by lifting heavy loads, and vice versa.
