5 Fitness Myths Exposed

This week marked the re-opening of gyms after the latest national lockdown and we're all so happy to be back. However, the pubs also re-opened this week so I can totally understand if you haven't left your local and made it to the gym yet!

Whether you're an established gym-goer or you're starting for the first time, chances are you've heard all the "facts" about how to achieve your goals. But because anyone with a keyboard can post on a forum (or write a blog) it can be difficult to separate the fact from the fiction. So who's advise should you listen to? (apart from mine of course).

I'm going to cover five of the most popular beliefs that I get asked about regularly and (hopefully) explain why you shouldn't let them dictate what you do in the gym.

1. Weight training will make you bulky.

I've put this one first as I think it's still THE number one misconception in fitness training. I very rarely see "Influencers" or Fitness professionals actually pedaling this idea that if you train with weights you will become muscular and bulky, yet it's still one of the most commonly held beliefs. I wish putting on muscle was as easy as just picking up a couple dumbbells and popping them down again. Unfortunately it takes months of being in a calorific surplus and progressively overloading your resistance training to even gain the smallest bit of muscle. So please, train with weights. Whatever your fitness goal is, this training method will help you achieve it.

2. I should stretch before I workout.

Okay I realise this one might actually raise some eyebrows as it seems to contradict everything we've ever done since PE class. But if stretching is the very first thing you do before you exercise then you are increasing your injury risk, not decreasing it. The reason being is that you don't stretch "cold" muscles. Stretching actually weakens tendons and generally makes a muscle feel weaker and less steady. So you're actually setting yourself up for an injury if stretching is the first thing you do.

I feel like I need to clarify that stretching is very good for you! Please do stretch, just do it at the end of your session or after a pre warm up. In short, Stretch when the blood is pumping.

3. My muscle will turn to fat if I don't train.

This might have been a fear for a lot of us after months of being in lockdown. But fear not, your hard gotten gains are safe. Whilst we might feel like we've lost some definition and some strength, the chances are that there may be a little extra subcutaneous fat hanging around that's harming your confidence.

If you drastically reduce your exercise level or fall off the nutrition wagon for a month or so, then you can expect a small increase in the fat stored between the muscle and the skin, causing the appearance of a "less lean" version of yourself.

Rest assured, after a few weeks back in the gym and getting your nutrition back on track, you'll see the return of that muscle you worked so hard for.

4. I can lose fat from a certain area.

We call this Spot reduction. The idea that you can specifically target the exact area on your body you lose fat from. For example, only doing sit ups to tone and lose fat from around your stomach. We've all seen the adverts that promise "Rock hard abs in 8 weeks" but in reality, that's not likely. Trainers and fitness programmers often use phrases like "fat burn" and "target problem areas" as a way to pull people in and entice them into buying a service and generally mislead a potential client!

In truth, we can't control where the body fat is lost from. All we can do is follow a healthy routine that incorporates both cardiovascular and resistance training in order to reduce your overall body fat percentage.

5. I should only do cardio if I want to lose weight.

I hear this one pretty regularly. It's fairly similar to the idea that weight training makes you heavier and bulkier. Cardiovascular training has endless benefits, overall weight loss isn't necessarily one of them. Of course it's a contributing factor, but solely focusing on putting miles on the treadmill isn't going to help in the long run (yes that's a pun).

The key to losing any kind of weight is being in a calorie deficit. If you consume less calories than you burn daily then you will lose weight. Burn those calories throughout the week with a mixture of resistance training, HIIT and LIIT to maximise the EPOC effect after you exercise and you'll burn more calories just recovering from these workouts than you would after endlessly plodding along on the treadmill.

I think that as a society we are getting better at realising that these common beliefs are actually myths. Quick internet searches easily dispel a lot of the misconceptions circulating the gym floor but there is still too much misinformation out there. I covered five of the most common ones I come across regularly, but what ones have you heard?

Feel free to share them!