Debunking common fitness myths!

Despite an increased interest in health and fitness, I am still hearing the same old rumours flying around. The most important tool that you can acquire when you want to get fit is information. Given the right information and your potential increases massively. Given incorrect information however, the chance of you finding success is greatly reduced. 

There are lots of different reasons why people might be misinformed. For example, the chances of you reading a blog like this without having a major interest in the industry is very small. So somebody who takes little interest in their physical fitness is unlikely to have compared the evidence in regards to a specific subject and then come to a rational decision. The result is a lot of people relying on the major news outlets providing them with the majority of their information. Unfortunately however, health and fitness doesn’t make it onto the evening news quite as much as other subjects and when it does it can often be the more eye-catching stories that aren’t massively relevant.

Then you have the people who simply don’t have the time. Maybe they have to drive for hours everyday and then come home to look after the kids and then they just don’t feel up for working out. If you are somebody like that, or you know somebody who is, sifting through information to find what is accurate probably won’t be high up your list of priorities.

So what is the answer to this? Well you can’t force this to people. Some people will find it on their own and others might need a gentle push but what we know for certain is that if somebody is being forced into it, they are almost certainly going to give up. Debunking a few of the myths that just won’t go away can be a good start. And believe me, I thought some of these were gone for good:

• Fat CANNOT turn into muscle. I know of exactly zero chemical reactions that would lead to fat changing into muscular tissue. If you think that you have too much fat and you would rather it was muscle, the only option you have is to strip away the fat AND THEN build muscle in its place.
• Strength training doesn’t just make you bigger and stronger. If you hear somebody saying that they just stick to cardio because they aren’t interested in building loads of muscles and increasing their strength then your mind should immediately be telling you to chip in. Strength training still burns calories, it can still aid weight loss and it can therefore improve your cardio.
• Walking for one mile and jogging for one mile does not have the same physical effect on your body. If you run for a mile, you will burn more calories than if you had walked that mile. I can’t really see where this confusion came from but it is something I hear so often.

Don’t let me make you think it is all doom and gloom though. There are still positives. The evidence suggests that more of the population are starting to understand calories and how they work. That’s right, calories in vs. calories out is starting to hit home. More people are going to the gym, more people are using a personal trainer and therefore more people are getting access to this information they need! Long may it continue and then hopefully we can debunk all the myths that just have no supporting evidence.