4 Common Fitness Myths that drive experts crazy:

As you know, I took a 5-year break, but ever since I stepped back into the gym, I’ve noticed people constantly repeating the same wrong information to each other.

These fitness myths spread like wildfire and people treat them as facts, adding them to their fitness programs. Then they act surprised when they experience the opposite results, damage their muscles, or hit a plateau.

With no further due, let’s talk about the 4 common fitness myths that drive me and fitness experts crazy.

1/ Abs workouts to lose belly fat:

If only I was paid to hear this very common fitness myth!

‘This exercise to lose back fat’ and ‘this workout to lose arm fat’, etc. Are sentences I hear all day long, and I never blame my clients for believing. I blame fake personal trainers that allow themselves to mislead people through Instagram or Tiktok videos.

Let me tell you this: There is no way on earth to lose fat from one specific area!

This is a huge misconception, no workout will make you break the fat in your belly or FUPA, exercises help you burn calories as they raise the energy intake in the body, but this doesn’t even exceed 20% of the fat loss process.

You handle the remaining 80% in the kitchen. To avoid hitting starvation mode or regaining the weight after finishing your diet, make sure your calorie deficit doesn’t exceed 500 calories below your daily needs.

Why do we exercise then?

Workouts help you build muscle and tone it, for you to find a well defined, strong muscle after the fat loss. It also helps reduce the cellulite and the excess skin that comes with the weight loss. You burn some calories as well, but that’s not how you mainly lose fat.

No pain No gain:

Now this is a way to see your doctor sooner than expected!

What pain are we talking about? The minimum good feeling pain that comes with the exercise? That is actually more of being tired but pushing a little longer? or you are talking about lifting more than you can until you feel your knee crack? Or go even further and break your back?

‘No pain no gain’ signifies that if you don’t work hard for it you won’t get it.
you can’t expect to have a sexy body from your bed, binge watching Netflix, and chewing your sugary snack!

But also, you can’t go from 50% fat to 10% and build muscle and endurance in 2 weeks, that’s impossible!

Go step by step in your fitness journey, it’s not a race, set expected goals, reach them and enjoy every step of the process.

Also, listen to your body and don’t edge it in a dangerous way, if you feel PAIN somewhere refer to your personal trainer or any fitness professional around you.

Gym injuries are not a joke and you can regret it forever!

2/ I don’t want to be like a man:

I hear this from women a lot when it comes to lifting weights, especially in their upper body, thinking that weight lifting means bigger masculine muscles.

This is one of the biggest Common Fitness myths!

The body composition of a man is very different than a woman’s, so the results of the same process are less likely to be the same. Men have higher testosterone levels which helps them build bigger muscles than women, whilst women have more fat than men which makes it challenging for muscles to pop directly to the surface.

That is in general, but at a personal trainer’s level, we check for your goals, and we implement a program that will get you there after consideration of your likes and dislikes, your health condition, and where you want to be after a certain time.

As an example, you are a woman who wants to build bigger glutes, and you can’t build muscle without weights. We can tone it with some resistance training, but eventually you will need weights to see results.

3/ Workout on an empty stomach to lose weight:

Another fitness myth that is not only funny, but actually dangerous!

Food is the body’s fuel, and carbs are energy, you can eat a few hours before the workout, and if your workout is low intensity you can do it on an empty stomach if you feel like you will feel heavy but you can’t put yourself at risk of anemia and fainting mid workout.

But it is very important to maintain your nutrition whether before or after the workout, especially before, as without enough energy (and it\’s only source is food) you won’t perform properly in the gym as you might feel fatigued quickly.

Also, working out on an empty stomach means having limited glycogen storages, which causes reduced productivity during the workout along with low endurance, strength, and stamina.

4/ Go for a Carnivore diet:

Although a Carnivore diet can be useful in some cases, as it provides good quantities of protein, and helps losing weight quicker.

But as we all know, easy come easy go! Protein is indeed important! It helps muscle rebuilding and the bone remodeling, but it is only one of 3 main macronutrients that are important for the body maintenance and the energy creation.

But, like any other thing, high quantities of protein can cause damage to the body. While the effect of high protein intake on the kidney is still under study, recent studies have shown that the carnivore diet causes deficiencies, especially plants-based minerals and vitamins which are crucial for the body.

Also, it can lead to higher fat levels in blood over time, and might even lead to ketoacidosis which is a deadly intoxication.

To sum it up, the Carnivore diet is another diet used as a propaganda by unqualified people, promising you faster results building muscles and losing weight.

In fact it is not more than a nutrition myth, and it is always recommended to check with a nutritionist to be sure of the compatibility of your body with the diet.

Conclusion:

In the world we live in, everyone has a word to say in the fitness world, which is good. It is completely fine to share your experience in fitness and talk about your journey on social media. Just, please don’t give it as a scientifically proven truth! What worked for someone is for sure not going to work for other people.

These were only a few common fitness myths, and I will let you all only imagine how many others we cross on our daily life!

And if you are surfing on social media, keep in mind that not everything we see is true. Diets, Workout plans, and exercise selection depends on a lot of factors, such as genes, body composition, and goals.

If you want to follow a diet, check with a nutritionist, and if you want a workout plan, ask a personal trainer. A specialist is always your best option as they tailor programs for you!

We spend good time looking up the correct information, a lot of money to access resources, and are the only people you can trust with your health.