The fitness industry is built on lies.
It is a simple strategy. People who read fitness magazine or follow popular blogs want to get in shape. They look at models with ripped 6 packs and hope to gain similar results. Because of the stage they have the writers for these magazines have a large influence.
The problem is they never give the audience the real information. Maybe it's to sell more magazines and products, or maybe it's to keep people returning next month. Either way the end result is an industry riddled with lies.
It can be a challenged to figure out what is true and what is a lie. Let us dig deep on the most common fitness lies.
1. Cardio is Required to Lose Fat
There is a lot of confusion about cardio and fat loss. Most of it centers around how many calories cardio really burns.
The average person will burn between 5 - 10 calories/min depending on the intensity of the workout. The more fit you are the more calories you are able to burn. The less fit the fewer calories you burn.Let us take a look at how many calories an average person might burn at 8 cal/min.
If you did cardio every day for 60 minutes you would lose less than a pound a week. That is a lot of work more a meager result. You would get the same result eating one less meal a day and not having to do any work.
Cardio is part of the fat loss puzzle however. It would be difficult for most people to shed body fat without some cardio. But fitness is about prioritization. Cardio is a priority just not the first priority.
Optimizing nutrition => maximizing weight lifting => Cardio. This is the sequence we want to follow. First make sure your nutrition plan is bullet proof. Next, make sure you are following a proper weight lifting program for your goals. Finally hit some cardio.
2. Workout Everyday to See Results
Working out can be addicting. Once you get to a certain point in your fitness journey it will be harder to not go to the gym then it is to hit the gym. But everyone needs a day off.
The secret to seeing results is recovery.
Recovery can be a tough concept to wrap your head around. You mean to say I'll get more fit by not working out? If you are working out hard your muscles need time to recover. Rest and sleep are important tools for any lifter.
Start giving as much importance to recovery as you do to your workouts and your results will multiply.
3. Take Every Set to Failure
The theory behind this philosophy is by taking every set to failure you are exhausting every type of muscle fiber. By exhausting each fiber you will ultimately stimulate maximal growth in that muscle.
The problem is when we take every set to failure. Exhausting every muscle each time you work out is setting you up for failure down the road. You have to mix in different techniques when lifting. Sometimes you may go to failure. Other times you may stop a rep to two short in order to get more volume into your workout.
Never follow only one path in fitness. The best strategy will always be a mixer of techniques.
4. Crunches Get You Abs
I would like to believe most know this one to not be true. But every time I enter a gym I'm reminded how little some people know about fitness.
Crunches will make your abs stronger, but they will not cause them to show. The only way to have a visible 6 pack is to lose belly fat. Every magazine or Instagram model with a flowing 8 pack got that way by figuring out fat loss, not by doing thousands of crunches.
Fat loss is hard. The worst part is your abs will be the last place on your body the fat comes off. That is the reason abs are so desirable, you can't fake them.
Abs are made in the kitchen. Not the gym. A ironclad nutrition plan will get you those abs long before crunches will.
5. Limited by Your Genetics
Excuses.
Any talk of genetics is really a talk about excuses. It is much easier to say you have terrible genetics than accept the fact you are not putting in the correct work.
Genetics come into play when you get in to the top 1% of fitness. Not every person can win the Mr. Olympia. For such an intense contest you need world class genetics and hard work. But those people are outliers and most people are not trying to reach that level of fitness anyways.
Regardless of your genetics you can get in the best shape for you. That might not be Men's Fitness worthy but it can still be impressive.
I actually believe people who have bad genetics have an advantage. They have to work harder and gain more knowledge than the genetic gifted. This results in them really understanding fitness on a level most never reach.
6. You Need a Gym Membership
Who told you this?
A gym? A personal trainer who works at a gym?
I wonder why?
You can get in great shape without going to a gym. Some people are motivated by going to the gym, but others (like me) get a better work out at home.
Do what works for you.
7. Stretch Before You Exercise
Stretching before exercise has been shown to lead to more injuries and worse performance. But this old gym teacher advice is hard to ignore.
There are two types of stretching: static and dynamic. Static is the old school, touch your toes type of stretching. Dynamic stretch is the moving around, shaking out your limbs type stretching.
Before a workout you want to use dynamic stretching followed by warm up sets for your intended exercise.
Let's assume it is leg day and squats will be your first exercise. You want to spend 5 minutes using dynamic stretching. That could be jumping jacks, high kicks, lunges. Anything to get your muscles moving and warmed up. With squats being the first exercise try 10 bodyweight squats. Followed by 5 squats with the bar only. Then you can add weight and do a couple reps until you move up to your working set weights.
*Be careful to not over work yourself with warm up sets. This can take away from your working sets, the ones that really matter.
8. Load Up on Protein Bro
True protein is important. It is the first macronutrient we set when developing any nutrition plan. But it is overused.
I'm going to say something that is sacrilegious to most bodybuilders. You can get in great shape and build muscle on less than 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight. Protein is actually more important when it comes to fat loss than it does in building muscle. Mostly from it's satiety effect.
If you are cutting 0.8 -1.2 g/lb of protein should be your goal. If you are bulking 0.7 - 1.0 g/lb of protein should be your goal. But even at levels below my recommendations you will see improvement.
9. Steady State Cardio is Better Than High Intensity Interval Training
All cardio is going to decrease muscle size. This is a necessary evil when trying to lose fat. The goal of any person trying slim down should be to keep as much muscle as possible during the cut.
As I mentioned above, cardio is not the most important variable in fat loss but it is part of the puzzle. There are two types of cardio: steady state and High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT). Steady state is the traditional, jogging on the treadmill type of cardio. While HIIT is a max effort followed by quick recovery type of cardio (think sprinting).
Both burn calories, but with steady state cardio the effect is over when the exercise is over. With HIIT your body continues to burn calories after you stop exercising. The bigger problem with steady state is it's associated with greater muscle loss than HIIT.
Ultimately you want to have a mixture of the two. HIIT can be tough to do more than once or twice a week. If you want to do cardio three times a week I suggest 2 sessions of HIIT and 1 sessions of steady state cardio.
10. Supplements
How the fitness empires where built, supplements.
It is a magical formula. Tell people that they are missing something that is preventing them from reaching their goals. And then sell them that something.
Most supplements are unnecessary. You can get a world class physique with out taking any of them. Supplements are like extra credit on a test. It's nice to have, but even if you get all the extra credit points you will not pass the test.
There are two supplements I do think are as close to necessary as a supplement can get, protein powder and creatine. Protein powders are quickest and most cost effective way to get protein into your diet. Creatine has proven proven to increase strength and assist with mental performance.
These are not all the lies in the fitness world. There are many more. It is important to always look at everything you read with a skeptical eye. Even my writings. Experiment and find what works best for you. If you gain a good knowledge of your own body you will be far less likely to fall for any fitness lies.