Facts and Fitness
- What article am I raging at?
- Do you believe these fitness myths?
Just as I was struggling for inspiration about today’s blog, I stumbled across an article.
The article is normally from a reputable source but in this case, it made my blood boil.
I hate when false information is provided in fitness because it becomes easier to believe than disregard.
In the case of the article here, suggesting that weight training is counterproductive to weight loss (and instead advocating higher repetitions) is clearly wrong.
It was one of the first things I learned in fitness almost 7 years ago and is something that has been proven with all my clients.
Even the wording of the article is amateurish.
From a perspective of general fitness, squats are one of the best exercises you can do. They involve the most muscles, get the blood pumping and strengthen the body. To suggest this is one of the worst exercises defies belief.
Another fitness myth is that “spot reduction” exists, whereby you can target where you lose weight eg using crunches to get abs. This article suggests that you need to target the specific muscle to get results, in actual fact, exercises like squats are much better for core stability than many other exercises.
The body doesn’t designate which areas to lose weight from but by building stability through a resistance routine, you will not only lose weight but build lean muscle.
If you follow my blog, you’ll know that building muscle is one of the toughest things to do and it isn’t necessarily done through exercise. Much depends on the food (and quantity) that you eat.
It’s about having an all round perspective (with balance and enjoyment!) it cannot be done without both aspects.
As for suggesting that lighter weights and more repetitions is the way forward, this is an age old myth.
You need some stimulus on the muscle to encourage growth: light weights don’t do this and it simple wastes your time for no end result.
It would be like trying to get over 70 miles per hour in a Fiat 500 whilst only using second gear; it is probably possible but would take forever and is an enormously inefficient use of energy (and fuel).
I feel like I’m fighting a losing battle with trying to get the correct information out there as articles like this are what people want to hear (and also a lot more popular).
It’s no wonder that people get disillusioned with fitness when they quit after trying “what everyone else does.”
It’s easier to believe what people tell you than examine the actual facts and understand what physiologically happens.
The cycle of resolution > Failure > despondent > repeat is common and it’s easy to see why when articles like this are published.
To quote: “don’t hate the player, hate the game.”
Moral of the story: I firmly advise learning the facts before you plunge into an exercise plan.
In case you’re wondering, the article is below (and I do normally recommended The Bright Side – except in this case)…
https://brightside.me/inspiration-health/5-useless-exercises-that-wont-help-you-lose-weight-353160/?utm_source=AdMeApp&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=facebook&utm_content=353160
Joking Nicola and win over £100 of RYPT coaching this week. Just visit the RYPT website and see how…
Ross
