Posts Tagged ‘myth’

Top 5 Myths about Fitness Exercises and Diet and the Truth Behind Them

Tuesday, September 6th, 2016

push-up girlYou might have been doing fitness exercises you think are effective in achieving your fitness goals. The truth is that they might do the opposite. It is time to straighten up the facts and reject the myths that could have impeded your goal all these years.

  1. Crunches are effective ab exercises
    You might have heard several times the advice that you must do crunches in order to bring out those abs. The truth is that they only work if done properly. If not, crunches could just lead to neck and back problems, and a potential spine injury. This exercise also doesn’t target general weight loss which is essential for ab formation.
  2. Sweating means losing weight
    You might say that you have worked really hard to achieve a great body because you are sweating. This is not necessarily the right way to gauge the effectiveness of your exercise techniques. Sweating is a bodily response to cool your body down. It can be affected by other factors like the weather or physiology. Therefore, you must not presume that you are losing weight or you are doing the right exercises if you are sweating.
  3. Staying longer at the gym helps achieve your fitness goals faster
    The number of hours you stay in the gym does not determine the effectiveness of your workout techniques. It also has something to do with what you do at the gym. If you stay there and sit for several minutes while taking selfie instead of lifting weights, then it is pretty useless. It is better for you to stay for 30 minutes to 1 hour only as long as you do intense exercises. You can also try high intensity workout training to maximize results.
  4. Eating late at night can make you fat
    This is not necessarily true. Your body can’t tell the time. It processes calories at the same rate at any point during the day. The issue is on what type of food you eat at night. You might have the tendency to eat less during the day and make it up during the night. As a result, you eat a lot of processed and unhealthy dishes. This is something that you have to avoid. These are foods that are difficult to digest. If you sleep after eating, then the food that you have eaten could get stuck in your body in the form of fats. You also have to take note that eating at night has other unhealthy consequences such as difficulty in sleeping and acid reflux.
  5. “Diet” foods are healthier
    You might fall for ads saying certain products are “diet” foods. This includes crackers, soda, dairy products and many others. Just because you have read the word diet on it does not mean it is healthy. It might be deemed as healthy due to the low calorie content. The truth is that in order for them to make it up for the bland taste, they need to add more artificial sweeteners and chemicals. You might have less calorie intake, but it could lead to other health issues. In short, it is not necessarily an effective way to lose weight. The key is to eat regular foods in moderation.

It is indeed surprising to see that the facts that we were made to believe were true, are in fact pure myths. Therefore, you need to start changing your diet and exercise plans now. In case you wonder why you still don’t achieve your fitness goals despite everything that you have done, then this could be the main reason. You are doing your exercise routines the wrong way or you are eating the wrong types of foods. You need to plan your meals better the next time around and understand the science behind every exercise routine before doing it.

Share the Swole!

Swole 101: The Elusive Quest for a Six Pack

Thursday, October 20th, 2011
Female and Male Abs

Nowadays, it seems everyone is after a toned midsection. Some people won’t even stop until they achieve shredded washboard abs. A six pack has come to be an important quest for many persons, however, many are misled as to the method to obtain it.

One common misconception is that cardiovascular exercise is the most important aspect of dialing in a six pack. Another misconception is that doing 1000 crunches a day is most important. Wrong on both accounts! Diet possibly plays the greatest role in obtaining a six pack. Let’s see why.

(more…)

Share the Swole!

You Have to Train Heavy to Grow

Wednesday, July 6th, 2011

Do Bodybuilders Have to “Max Out” to Gain Muscle?

Strong Bodybuilder Franco Columbu

You may have seen or heard cliche slogans like “Go heavy or go home.” You may have been asked “How much do you bench?” You may even be impressed by Olympic lifters, powerlifters, and professional strongmen, all of whom regularly use maximum effort triples and singles to prepare for competition, to try to set a personal record, or just as a component of their regular training routines.

Well guess what? None of those sports are like bodybuilding. Sure, Olympic lifters are typically pretty jacked, powerlifters and strongmen are just plain “big”, but very few of them could compete in a bodybuilding competition and hope to win, without first dieting and training like a bodybuilder for several months.

This brings us to the question – do bodybuilders ever actually have to test their 1 or 3 rep max on any exercise? Do they have to lift super-heavy?

(more…)

Share the Swole!

You Shouldn’t Train When You Are Sore

Monday, July 4th, 2011

Should Bodybuilders Train When They Are Sore?

Muscle Soreness

This is one of the top offending bodybuilding myths. Have you ever canceled a workout or skipped training a body part because it felt sore, even though at least 48 hours had passed since you trained it? If you said “Yes”, then after reading this post you will never make that mistake again.

Your muscles will get sore when you use:

  • heavy weights
  • slow negatives
  • forced negatives
  • assisted negatives
  • drop sets
  • high volume

Do you need to avoid these training methods completely in order to prevent soreness, so that you can train again in two days? Not necessarily.

(more…)

Share the Swole!

Dietary Fat is Bad for You

Thursday, June 30th, 2011

Should Bodybuilders Restrict Their Intake of Dietary Fat?

Dietary Fat is Bad

We all know sugar is bad. It is fun to eat but it is bad for your body. It belongs on the bodybuilding blacklist, I’ve got no qualms there. We all know protein is good for bodybuilding. That is a simple and obvious discussion. But what about fat?

Possibly left over from the 1980’s war on fat, a common myth is that fat calories have no place in a healthy diet, let alone a bodybuilding diet. Around that time fat was demonized and carbohydrates were praised. The myth still lingers, but isn’t it time to let that battle go?

The Myth

A bodybuilding diet consists of lean meats like turkey, chicken, fish, egg whites, and fat free dairy products. Bodybuilding newbies learn this practice almost immediately. We must keep calories low, so we must keep fat consumption low.
(more…)

Share the Swole!

Do Cardio After Weight Training

Tuesday, June 28th, 2011

Should Bodybuilders Do Cardio After Weight Training?

Cardio After Weight Lifting

Spend some time in a corporate gym and you will see hundreds of bodybuilders lifting moderately heavy weight for sets of 10-15 reps, then you’ll see them hop on a StairMaster or elliptical machine for about 20-30 minutes of moderate intensity endurance cardio. There are many reasons for this behavior, the most common being that weight training is just a hell of a lot more fun than cardio.

Apparently the weights-first-cardio-second protocol is considered the most effective way for bodybuilders to build muscle and lose fat at the same time. But is it?
(more…)

Share the Swole!

You Can’t Gain Muscle and Lose Fat at the Same Time

Monday, June 27th, 2011

Can Bodybuilders Build Muscle and Lose Fat at the Same Time?

Build Muscle then Lose Fat?
Build muscle then lose fat?

There are the hard-gainers, the obese slackers, the off-season bodybuilders, the weekend warriors, the overweight housewives, and a million other kinds of aspiring athletes. Everyone has a goal. Some goals are simply to lose weight, while others are mainly to build muscle, but for most people fat loss goes along with muscle gain for a variety of reasons – everything from general health, building a beach body, sports performance, competition prep, and even to combat aging.

The most popular fitness newbie belief is that you can gain muscle and lose fat at the same time. Every personal trainer in the world then tries to convince the newbie that he or she simply can’t try to accomplish both goals at the same time. Why? Because gaining muscle and losing fat seem to be mutually exclusive.
(more…)

Share the Swole!

You Can’t Digest More Than 30 Grams of Protein in a Single Meal

Friday, June 24th, 2011

Can Bodybuilders Digest More Than 30 Grams of Protein in One Meal?

High Protein Food

This myth has been around since the late 1970’s, and I really can’t figure out why or where it originated. There are about a million theories about how much protein, fat, and carbs should be eaten each day, each meal, even each hour. Most bodybuilders are concerned about eating exactly the right amount of protein, because they want to maximize muscle gain but they also want to avoid any excess calories, even from protein, getting stored as body fat.

So, how much protein should we eat in a single meal? How much can our bodies process at once? Some nutritionists say only 20 grams, while many professional bodybuilders consume as much as 100 grams in a single meal! What’s the truth?!
(more…)

Share the Swole!

Don’t Eat Late At Night

Monday, June 13th, 2011

Should Bodybuilders Eat Late at Night?

Don't Eat at Night

Bodybuilders are subjected to a million different tips about what to eat, when to eat, and how to eat. We are constantly looking for new foods and diet strategies to help us gain muscle but not fat, or to lose fat but not muscle.

So what is the truth? Should we listen to Oprah? Should we listen to Mr. Olympia? Is Atkins right or does Intermittent Fasting work better? As an individual you need to try different strategies in order to see if they work best for you.

The Myth

It is common knowledge that if you eat before bed, those calories will stored as fat. It might be considered common knowledge, but is it true?

The Truth

For athletes looking to gain muscle mass and strength, one strategy that I have used and recommended to clients over the years, is to eat within 15 minutes of going to bed at night. Not junk food. Nothing full of fat and carbs. Instead it should be a small meal of slow-digesting protein with an optional small amount of complex carbohydrates.

(more…)

Share the Swole!