Over the last few years fitness has become quite a talk of every household. From a 15 year old to the elderly everybody in the house has some opinion regarding exercise and diet. There is a lot of information available on the internet but all of that information is not true. I am not saying all the information provided on the internet is false but a lot of self proclaimed fitness influencers put up information without any credibility. Like the other day I saw a video on Youtube “How to increase height in just 10 days” The video had 3 million views but any person in fitness industry with basic knowledge of human anatomy would know growing height is completely genetic and any amount of extra work cannot increase your height. A lot of people fall for this and see the video which only benefits the video maker. A lot of such myths are currently being driven in the industry. Today I will try and bust a few of them with the hope of providing real and accurate information.
Spot Reduction is possible
I come across a lot of people who tell me that they just want to reduce their belly fat and rest of the body is fine. This especially happens with a lot of females but doing 100 crunches or 200 leg raises is not going to spot reduce your belly fat. Reducing fat from the body is completely genetic and depends on the type of body. Nobody can tell you that with these exercise you will only lose your belly fat or your thigh fat. To lose fat one must do a combination of strength training and cardio backed with a very good diet.
Lifting weights will make you “too big”
This is a very common misconception amongst women that lifting weights will make them bulky. In reality it won’t happen because women have a very minimal amount of testosterone – the hormone responsible for muscle growth and many other male characteristics. So women can never put on muscles like a male does but by lifting weights they can definitely become stronger and improve their metabolism. Many researches show lifting weights also help in reversing PCOD.
More cardio means more fat loss
Another common misconception people have is doing hours of cardio will help them lose fat faster. Every now and then you will see someone in the gym just doing cardio and heading home. On the other hand studies show doing weight training along with good nutrition will help you get tone 2 times faster than what cardio does. It also gives the benefit of EPOC (excess post exercise oxygen consumption). In this state our body consumes more oxygen to repair the muscles leading to more energy consumption and more fat burn.
More sweat means more fat burn
If this would be true sauna business would be the world’s most successful business. Sweating happens when our internal body temperature rises than normal (37 degree Celsius). Sweating Is just a way our body cooling off to maintain a normal temperature. Different people sweat differently. In fact some people don’t sweat at all but that does not mean they are not losing fat. So next time you don’t sweat during a workout don’t worry you are still losing fat.
Exercise takes care of your bad eating habits
Exercise can never out perform a bad diet. A lot of people after a high intensity workout session consume junk food or alcohol considering it to be a reward. Always remember losing fat is a combination of both. You cannot eat junk thinking I’ll workout 2 hours tomorrow. This doesn’t mean you can never have a cheat meal. You can have a cheat meal every 10-12 days depending on your goal but make sure that cheat meal doesn’t turn into a cheat week.
Eating Fats make you fat
There is something known is essential fats which as the name suggest are essential for survival. These fats acts a layer and protect our organs from shocks and damage. People always confuse between dietary fats and body fat. Our body requires fats for many important functions in the body one of which is making sex hormones. If you want to cut fat from your body don’t worry about the fats in your butter but worry about the sugar in your coffee.
Hit the gym everyday
No rest days. A very common caption I come across on social media. People believe training everyday and means more fat burn and better health. This is not true. Skipping your rest days means when you get back to gym you are tiring out the muscles again and again not giving them the rest to grow. Also our minor muscles such as forearms, wrists, calf (if you are a runner) require a breather to perform optimally. So to gain maximum out of your workouts you should rest for at least 2 days in a week.