Fitness Myths? when you first start an exercise routine, it can be easy to fall into traps set by the fitness industry around how you should be training and eating. These are some common mistakes and myths to avoid when starting a strength training program so that you can reach your goals optimally. Here are 4 top fitness myths.
1.“You need to work out every day to gain muscle”
If you’re trying to gain muscle, you need to be working out. The process of gaining muscle involves eliciting sufficient muscle damage to stimulate the process of hypertrophy in which muscles are torn and grow back bigger and stronger. So the truth in this myth is that exercise is key. But the myth that you need to work out every day to gain muscle couldn’t be further from the truth. Your muscles grow back bigger and stronger during periods of recovery, the damage is caused in the workout and the recovery is caused during sleep and via proper nutrition.
2. “You need to shock your muscles”
Your muscles don’t know how heavy the weights you’re lifting are, and they don’t know what exercise routine you’re following: they only know what force is being exerted. Your muscles don’t grow from being shocked, they grow from consistently increasing the intensity of exercise over time to applying a sufficient stimulus to initiate the process of hypertrophy. In fact, the best way to gain muscle according to research is to repeatedly do the same exercises and implement progressive overload. This refers to increasing the weight, altering the tempo, decreasing the rest time, or increasing the reps or sets; to ensure that the stimulus is enough to damage the growing muscle to make it grow more.
3. “Lifting weights will damage your joints”
Another belief is that heavyweights are bad for your joints as you age, which is partially true. But you’d have to be lifting very heavy consistently for a number of years before this caused serious damage, like in the case of competitive bodybuilders. In fact, lifting weights improves bone density by putting stress on bones, prompting them to increase in density and become stronger. This is particularly important as you age and your bones can become brittle and weaker. A study conducted on older adults found that resistance training increased bone density by up to eight percent in a trial lasting for 27 weeks.
4. “If you don’t feel the burn, you’re not working hard enough”
When you are pushing through a workout and you start to feel the burning sensation, lactic acid is starting to build up, which causes you to feel a burn. The harder you work, the more you feel a burn. However, this doesn’t mean that you’re not getting a good workout in if you don’t feel the burn. For example, the fitter you are, the more effective your body is at clearing lactic acid buildup, so you’ll be able to exercise for longer at a higher intensity without feeling the burn.
Don’t fall into the trap set by the fitness industry, these are 4 myths that we have debunked to ensure you’re getting the most out of workouts without getting influenced by false claims.
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