9 Common Fitness Myths To Ignore Immediately

Good health is a prime need of every individual however how to stay fit is a million-dollar question. In the fitness world, many myths circulate. One person says one thing and then the other says another and that’s how the cycle continues. How to eat, what to eat, what not to eat, how to exercise, how not to exercise and blah blah blah. You name it and there is someone giving their two cents on it.

Fitness journeys can be tedious not just physically but also mentally. Some myths or half-true information are sometimes enough to deter the confidence of a person. It’s difficult to pinpoint what is the truth and what is just a piece of misinformation floating around without any factual backing. 

So, don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. Here are some common myths that you might have already heard and probably even believe in.

But don’t worry. 

Myth #1: Weightlifting Will Make You Bulky

Quite literally everyone has heard that weightlifting could make you bulky. Well, this isn’t a myth exactly but it is certainly a half-truth. 

Being bulky and gaining muscles is just not the game of heavy weightlifting. It also requires a specific diet. Your food and overall calorie consumption play a significant role in how much muscle you gain. Weightlifting may still help you get stronger and more toned, but you probably won’t see a substantial increase in muscle size if you aren’t consuming enough calories to sustain considerable muscle growth.

Additionally, it is also your hormones which play a significant role in bulking. Experts in medicine claim that men produce 14–20 times more testosterone than women do. Because of this, women cannot gain muscle mass at nearly the same rate as males unless they use performance-enhancing medications or steroids as a supplement.

Weightlifting can be an effective way to build strength, increase muscle tone, and improve overall fitness. Therefore, it can easily be a part of anyone’s fitness routine. It should be taken into account that whether weightlifting will lead to bulking or not depends on a range of factors, including your goals, training regimen, and your diet.

Read More: Is The Reason Behind Excessive Facial Hair Hirsutism?

Myth #2: Cardio Is The Best Way To Lose Weight

Cardio, a short form of cardiovascular exercise, may be considered a good way of weight loss but certainly not the ‘best’. Again here, this statement is a half-truth. 

Once again, your diet plays a very crucial role in your weight maintenance journey. While cardio exercises can burn a lot of calories and contribute to the calorie deficit required for weight reducing weight, it’s crucial to remember that the key to losing weight is to burn more calories than you take in. As a result, even if cardio can aid in calorie burning, it might not be sufficient on its own if your diet is still high in calories or if your metabolism is slow.

Furthermore, a good routine of exercises would be incorporated which includes a variety of workouts because sticking to a monotonous workout plan may not give you the desired results

Myth #3: Body Detox Helps Keeping Your Body Fit

While ‘detox’ is a very fancy word and often sounds good when we are talking about health and fitness, it might not necessarily hold true to what it is supposed to be referring to.

There are many products available in the market that claim to help your body in detoxification. Herbs, juices, teas, and other nutritional supplements marketed as “detox products” claim to cleanse the liver and colon but let us break this to you, it’s nothing but a marketing scam. Your body doesn’t need any detox supplement because it knows how to detoxify itself. All thanks to our liver, kidneys and respiratory organs.

Our body has its own way of getting rid of the toxins produced every day due to environmental factors or dietary consumption. There is no need for any additional supplement to help your body in order to get cleaned. So it’s an absolute myth and should be skipped. 

Myth#4: Everyday Workout Is The Best Strategy

An absolute myth and here is why.

For muscles to repair and grow, they must have time to rest and recover from time to time. It is a very crucial aspect of your workout and your fitness journey. Your muscles suffer minor tears when you exercise, and they require time to repair. Muscle growth and regeneration take place during downtime, not when exercising. Thus, a break is important.

If you don’t give your muscles adequate time to rest, you could get muscle fatigue, decrease performance, and be more likely to be hurt. Additionally, overtraining can cause burnout and make it more difficult to maintain a regular exercise schedule over the long run.

Myth#5: Stretching Before Exercise Prevents Injury.

In the very basics of your fitness or health journey, you must have been told that stretching is a great way of preventing any sort of injury while exercising. While this piece of information still holds some value stretching can make you muscle loss before a heavy workout while preventing injury. 

Well, that’s where the half-truth comes in.

In fact, stretching before working out can reduce performance and increase the risk of injury. In reality, holding a position for an extended period of time while static stretching can result in a loss of muscle strength and power. This is due to the fact that it momentarily decreases blood flow to the muscles and inhibits the stretch reflex, the body’s natural reaction to abrupt changes in muscle length.

A muscle can temporarily weaken and lose its capacity to absorb shock when stretched and held for a long time. This could make you more likely to get hurt if you do activities like running or jumping that call for quick movements.

According to research, runners are likely to run more slowly, jumpers jump less high, and weight lifters lift more weakly by stretching, without significantly ensuring against injury during their exercise.

Warming up dynamically is preferable to static stretching.

Myth #6: Sweat Is A Sign Of A Good Workout.

Another myth you’ll often come across is that sweating hard is a good sign of working out. We’ll that not true either.

Sweating is a body’s natural phenomenon to cool itself down and maintain its temperature. You can sweat in summer without even lifting a finger. 

Some people may assume that the more they sweat, the more calories they are burning or the better their workout is. However, the intensity or efficacy of your exercise is not always correlated with how much you perspire. Numerous variables, including physiology, heredity, and environmental conditions, have an impact on sweating.

Additionally, excessive sweating can lead to dehydration, which can negatively impact performance and overall health. When it’s crucial to stay hydrated while working out, it’s equally crucial to avoid going overboard and downing too much water too quickly. A hazardous electrolyte imbalance known as hyponatremia, which can result from consuming too much water too rapidly, can produce symptoms like nausea, vomiting, headaches, seizures, and even death.

Read More: Why Is Drinking Water & Staying Hydrated So Important?

Myth #7: Running Is Bad For Your Knees

There is a common misconception that running is bad for your knees, but in fact, there is no scientific evidence to support this claim. In fact, research suggests that running may actually be beneficial for knee health and may help prevent knee osteoarthritis.

Some research has also shown that running is not associated with increased knee pain at all. In fact, running is potentially beneficial to those who experience mild knee pain. Your knee muscles get stronger when you run. Your quadriceps, hamstrings, and calf muscles work while you run, supporting your knee joint and absorbing shock.

SO running is bad for your knees, is just a myth.

Myth #8: No Pain = No Gain

This statement looks motivating however when it comes to fitness, DO NOT FOLLOW IT! Yes, you read that right. 

Anywhere in your body, pain is a sign that something is not right. And that is the exact point you need to stop. It can be risky and increase your chance of injury to exercise while you’re in pain. The body uses pain as a warning sign when something is wrong and needs treatment. Exercise can be painful, so it’s vital to pay attention to your body and stop when necessary.

So not all pain is equivalent to gains. Some pains can be threatening to life.

Myth #9: You Can Spot And Reduce Fat From Certain Areas

Spot reduction is the idea that you can perform exercise or other approaches to target and reduce fat in a particular area of your body. For instance, some folks assume that doing crunches or tricep workouts can help them lose an arm or belly fat. This is a prevalent misconception, though, because weight loss does not allow for spot reduction.

The reason is, the way your body stores fat varies. Depending on characteristics including genetics, age, and gender, your body stores fat in various locations. For instance, men tend to store more fat in their bellies, whereas women typically store more fat in their hips and thighs. Your body will burn fat from all throughout your body, not just from one particular location when you lose weight.

Exercise is unable to target specific fat deposits. Exercise can aid in calorie burning and general weight loss, but it cannot specifically target problem fat locations. You work the muscles in that area when you do crunches or other workouts, but you might not necessarily burn fat there.

The most crucial element in weight loss is diet. while working out plays a crucial role your diet plays an equal part in your fitness journey as well. 

So, spot reduction is an absolute MYTH!

Our Final Thoughts

In the world of social media, it’s easy for myth to weave their way in. However, it is very important that you do your research behind every single thing that you come across on the internet because not everything is the truth and could potentially lead you towards higher risks.

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