The Top 10 Fitness Myths

It all starts with that one friend of a friend who passes on some newfound secret of weight loss to you. It’s simple, he says, “Just eat a hot dog on Monday, a grapefruit on Wednesday, and drink a cup of black coffee on Friday, and you’ll drop 10 pounds.”

Fitness myths like this—and yes, this is a real example—are easy to start and incredibly hard to put down. Face it—we all want weight loss to be quick and easy. We want shortcuts and magic formulas that let us skip the long, hard road to fitness.

Unfortunately, our bodies just don’t work that way. But that’s okay, because the more you know, the more effectively train your body into the shape you want instead of struggling with gimmick after gimmick. The truth, as they say, will set you free.

While some of these myths merely delay the attainment of our fitness goals, others are downright dangerous, leading us to neglect our bodies, overtrain to injury, or avoid needed nutrients. So, to keep this from happening to you, let’s take a look at the top 10 most prevalent fitness myths, why they don’t work, and what you can do instead.

"More is better."

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If you look carefully, there’s always that one person in the gym who has clearly passed the point of no return. They’ll be slumped over the treadmill, pale, wheezing, and drenched in sweat, yet still somehow continuing on long after they should have stopped.

Don’t be that person.

With exercise, more is not better. Overtraining is a major source of injury in fitness seekers, and can, over time, even lead to depression and suicidal thoughts. While there’s no clear line between enough exercise, and too much exercise, you shouldn’t be training to exhaustion.

There are a few ways you can tell if you’re consistently exercising too much. If you’re pushing yourself too hard, your resting heart rate will be noticeably higher than normal. You may also be constantly thirsty, sore for more than 72 hours, and unable to sleep. If you overtrain for too long, you can even become depressed and frequently ill. Most tellingly of all, though, you’ll simply stop progressing as your muscles break down instead of building up over time.

Forget the idea of “more is better.” Challenge yourself, but don’t work out to exhaustion.

"Spot training works."

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This is one myth that makes personal trainers everywhere groan. When many inexperienced fitness seekers head to their first training sessions, they have a few goals in mind. One of them is usually this: “I want to lose weight from a specific part of my body.”

Many want a flat stomach, or they want to get rid of the flab on their upper arms, or they want “toned” shoulders.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way.

Getting “toned” is nothing more than losing weight, and you can’t lose weight on a specific body part by exercising that part. You could do a thousand crunches a day, for example, and never see the abdominal muscles you’re developing because they’re still concealed beneath a fat layer.

If you want to get rid of that fat layer, you’ll have to engage in prolonged aerobic activity that gets your heart rate up for 30 minutes or more. Even when you do this, though, your body will pull fat from wherever it wants—it may take some time for you to see those abs.

Keep at it, though! Let this knowledge motivate you rather than discourage you—just because you haven’t seen results yet doesn’t mean they’re not coming!

"Women shouldn't strength train."

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Some women eye the weight training equipment in the gym as if it might make them monstrously burly just by looking. In actuality, though, there’s nothing to fear!

Guys get big when they weight train mainly through the action of testosterone. Men have 20 to 30 times as much of this hormone as women, which is why they’re able to bulk up.

Because most women simply don’t have these levels of testosterone, weight training won’t cause bulking. In fact, adding weights to your exercise regime, as a woman, can actually help to slim you down.

Added muscle helps burn more calories, even when you’re at rest. Strength training helps you retain your existing muscle mass when you’re doing a lot of weight-loss cardio, which, in turn, helps you lose weight faster.

If you’re a woman, don’t be afraid to lift heavy—it will slim you down rather than bulking you up.

"Diet doesn't matter if you exercise."

This myth is just an excuse not to eat well, and it’s dangerously prevalent.

Exercise does not erase the physiological consequences of bad eating habits. Eating foods high in dangerous trans fats, for example, will still cause buildup in your arteries. Consuming too much salt will still raise your blood pressure. Taking in nothing but junk calories will still deprive you of the vital nutrients and minerals you need for optimal health.

The truth is that diet always matters. If you want to reduce your risk of heart disease, stroke, and chronic inflammation, you need to endeavor to eat well.

You can do this by avoiding most fast foods, and by incorporating vegetables and lean protein into your diet, as well as healthier fats, such as avocado oil. It’s a challenge, at first, to replace those tasty burgers with a helping of kale and a grilled piece of tuna, but you’ll get used to it! What’s more, your body will thank you with better looks, good health, and a longer life.

Don’t skimp on those vegetables and lean meats just because you’re in the gym six days a week—you’ll still be unhealthy on the inside if you do.

"You should exercise before breakfast."

In the early 2000s, a theory emerged. This theory was that that performing aerobic exercise before breakfast, while the stomach is empty, will maximize fat loss. It’s an attractive idea, because anything that helps us burn more fat while putting in the same amount of work is great, right?

Except that this particular theory doesn’t quite pan out in real life, and can actually impede your weight-loss efforts.

When you exercise on an empty stomach, your body does break down fat at a faster rate, but it’s broken down so quickly that your body can’t use it. It floats around in your bloodstream, and after you work out, guess what? It’s reabsorbed.

But while exercising before eating may not have any effect on overall fat loss, it does affect your performance. Without a pre-workout meal, you’ll find yourself quickly tiring, limiting the number of calories you can burn.

Exercising without food also causes your body to break down your own muscle tissue for fuel—more than double what would be broken down had you eaten.

No matter what, sacrificing performance and hard-won muscle for the sake of a mythical shortcut is never a good idea. Grab a protein shake that has a few carbs before you go for your morning run, and your gains will be all the better.

"Skinny means healthy."

This myth is a dangerous one, placing emphasis on looks over health.

Many people would look at their skinny neighbor—or their own satisfyingly skinny reflection—and assume that since there’s little visible body fat, they must be healthy. This, however, is absolutely wrong. Being thin does not equal good health.

Some people are just naturally lean. Because of some trick of genetics, their bodies don’t store fat as readily as other peoples’. And because of this, they, and those around them, may assume that these skinny people don’t need to exercise or eat healthily.

In reality, though, these people are just as susceptible to heart disease, diabetes, and many other ailments commonly associated with a sedentary lifestyle and bad eating habits. Even if you look great on the outside, these disorders can sneak up on you.

That’s why it’s important to work out and eat well, no matter what you look like—your health is worth the effort.

"All fats are evil."

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Although things are changing now, it was once “common knowledge” that fat is something you avoid when selecting foods. This is, of course, a nutritional myth, and one that has contributed to half a century of bad nutrition.

In reality, fats are critical for the process of building cell walls, helping us absorb minerals, converting vitamins into forms our bodies can use, and much more. Fats give us healthy hair and skin, and, gives our food a great taste, as well.

Many of the nutritional evils that have been previously been blamed on fat rest squarely on sugar. You may have heard that, a few decades ago, the sugar industry paid scientists to blame fat for a variety of health problems that were actually caused by sugar. This caused people to turn to sugar to flavor their foods when fat fell out of favor, creating a host of negative myths about fat.

But as you now know, fat is a natural, healthy part of your diet—especially monosaturated fats like avocado and olive oils, which should comprise around 400 of your daily 2,000 calories.

"Senior citizens can't get fit."

As we get older, staying fit becomes much more of a challenge—that’s reality. And as we reach the status of senior citizen, many of us give up on fitness entirely because we think we simply can’t be active anymore.

This is false. Most older people retain the ability to not only exercise, but can also—to the surprise of many—experience significant fitness gains from physical activity.

Seniors can get stronger, faster, and more coordinated, and can even increase their aerobic endurance through guided workouts. This actually works to offset the age-related loss of muscle fibers and bone strength, making exercise a vital part of accident prevention.

Anyone of advanced age should, of course, consult a doctor and personal trainer when beginning an exercise regimen, but once you’re cleared, a whole new world of fitness will open up to you, enabling to unlock the potential you thought long-lost to age.

"Machines are safer than free weights."

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Many gym newbies start out with a fear of the free weights area. Large numbers of sweaty, screaming men aside, the unguided weights can seem like an insurmountable challenge to the uninitiated.

In contrast to the confusing freedom of the free weights, the machines offer structure. With the directions printed on the sides of most workout machines, you can’t really go wrong, right?

Wrong.

Machines make absolutely no sense for your body, and if you want the most effective, and safest, possible workout, you’ll avoid them. Machines usually limit you to working one particular muscle at a time—you end up not using all of the very important stabilizing muscle groups you’d use with free weights.

This can leave you with weakened muscle groups throughout your body, which can cause injury later on.

Instead, try out those dumbbells! You’ll recruit more muscle fibers as you control the weight, getting more out of each repetition. What’s more, you’ll be moving naturally rather than placing your joints at the odd angles a mechanical workout would require.

The next time you go to the gym, don’t be afraid to try out the weights. If you’re in doubt, get a worker or personal trainer to help you—you’ll find the reward to be well-worth the effort.

"No pain, no gain."

Finally, we have the most pervasive myth of them all: the idea that the more a workout hurts, the more benefits you’ll reap. The truth is that while working out is a challenge, it shouldn’t be painful, and if you’re following a “no pain, no gain” mentality, you’re setting yourself up for certain injury.

During a workout, you’ll experience momentary burning caused by lactic acid moving out of your muscles. This should go away about 30 seconds after you finish the exercise you’re doing. Anything more than this—including severe soreness that lasts for a few days—means that you’re harming yourself.

Instead of measuring the value of your workout by how sore you are the next day, keep track of how much you’re lifting or how far you’re running or biking, and increase it a little each week. Don’t allow yourself to work out so hard you can’t move the next day—you may actually be breaking down too many muscle fibers if you do this, inhibiting your gains.

Pain is your body’s way of telling you something is wrong, not that you’re doing something right. Listen to it, and you’ll avoid future injuries.