I figured I’d save you a little time and bring some fitness clarity into your life. Today I will explain the 10 most common gym misconceptions. In fact, for the longest time I believed these same misconceptions! I can’t say I’m perfect, but like the saying goes, “Your best teacher is your last mistake.”
Right, but I’m going to save you time so you don’t fall for these misconceptions like I did.
So here we go!
1) You have to work out more to see, more results In other words, working out for over and 1+ hours.
FLASE! This is one of the most prevalent misconceptions in the fitness industry. More is not always better. “I train 2-4 hours in the gym because I want to see more results.” I’m sorry, but I’m here to tell you more, doesn’t always equal better especially if you’re natural. Many study’s have shown that when resistance training over an hour, cortisol levels peak. (The hormones responsible for stress) Also, if you’re lifting for more than an hour and you’re not tired then you need to increase your intensity.
2) Working ABs every day will give you an Adonis-like 6 pack.
Not only can working out abs every day leads to postural problems, but also muscle imbalances. The ABS complex, which is all your ABS muscles, gets worked like no other in almost any compound exercise. (Rectus abdominus, transverse abdominals, internal obliques, and external obliques)
There’s better uses for your time on improving different muscles than the abs. Spending 1 hour of your week working with one muscle group that is a complex is not a good use of your time. The myth that you can remove stubborn body fat from a particular body part isn’t realistic. Ab exercises don’t remove stubborn belly fat a caloric deficit does. Believe it or not, doing ABS exercises isn’t the best way to get a strong core, or even a six-pack. What will get you a strong core and six-pack are compound lifts like dead lifts and squats.
3) I need to do high reps and less weight for burning fat
This is counterproductive when trying to lose weight, keep muscle. I could get scientific on this one, but I rather keep it simple. What weight loss comes down to is not so much weight training, but being a caloric deficit. In other words, burning more than consuming. So taking in less food then you’re burning. When you train with less weight and more reps your not even burning as much calories as you could with heavier weight and low reps. Not to mention, weight loss is notoriously known for robbing strength. That’s why it’s important to still train heavy, so you can keep on as much muscle and strength as possible. As opposed to fat, the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn.
4) Doing a static warm-up before weight training or in (some cases none at all)
It’s always important to warm up before a working out. Especially when performing a resistance-training workout. Many injuries result from inadequate warm-up or even the wrong type! It’s important to do mobility stretches. Some Stretch’s include foam rolling and dynamic warm ups before a heavy bench, squat, or deadlifts. Traditional static stretches are not the best before a heavy workout. Dynamic stretch’s and foam rolling is the way to go. This does prevent injuries, actives the muscle and increases strength. It allows the muscle to generate a greater amount of torque throughout the lift.
5) You must go to failure on every set to gain strength and size.
When you go to failure on every set, especially lower rep sets. You put yourself at huge risk of injury and burning out your CNS (Central nervous system). Usually there are indications to knowing if you have CNS fatigue. The worst part is you physically you feel great, but mentally you tired. That is why many will take a week off after lifting for so long and come back stronger. This time off allows the CNS to recover.
6) You have to skip cardio because “It destroys muscle”
A caloric deficit causes weight loss. Too much cardio at a low calorie diet is bad if your focus is to build muscle. Cardio is the not most common denominator to weight loss. The key to weight loss is a caloric deficit. I recommend HIIT cardio when trying to build muscle. It keeps body fat levels low.
7) Ignore being sore and do the exercise anyway because only the weak give up.
The most important person to impress in the gym is you. Why risk your health if your sore or in pain? This only leads to more problems. It’s as simple as this, if you’re sore, but you decide the muscle that’s sore then you put yourself at risk. The only way a muscle growth is from breaking it down and recovering. You do just this when working out, resting, and eating proper nutrition.
8) Not keeping a training log or notes about how you feel after certain workouts and exercises. Don’t solely rely on memory because you can remember it or don’t need it.
I’m sure a lot goes on in your life and it can make things difficult to recall. But when you plan out your day and keep track of things you cause less stress. This simply means that you’re in control. And this relates old saying “Failing to plan is planning to fail”. I had mentioned a gym journal is key to improvement. But so is a life journal. When you keep track your progress this helps encourage positive feedback. System. You can review the numbers from the previous week so you can come and challenge yourself
9) The best time to do cardio is right before any resistance or strength work.
This is the worst time. There’s a clear distinction between warming up and cardio. Warming up the right way will improve your workout. But doing cardio before any strength or resistance training leads a chance of injury and fatigue.
Cardio requires a large amount of energy. So it isn’t ideal to do cardio before engaging in weight training. You really do need as much energy as possible to perform at your best. But, cardio after a workout is great. It can help burn off the remaining bits of glycogen and target fat for energy.
10) Not using the correct intensity on a set or the entire workout
Many lifters will go either too light or too heavy on the sets. When you go too light you don’t get the full benefit and when you go too heavy you sacrifice form and put yourself at risk. Also resting too long or too little in-between sets on certain workouts can affect performance. That’s why it’s best to stick to a weight where you feel you can make a comfortable amount of reps, but struggling to reach the last two reps. For example, lifting 45lbs dumbbells for 3 sets of 10 should look like this. You should be reaching 10 on all the sets but the last two reps in the sets should be a challenge. Once you can get ten with ease, then it’s time to increase the weight by 5lbs. The next time you would come in you would be lift 50lbs by 3 sets of 10.
It’s important to also rest the correct amount of time based upon your goal. If your goal is to gain strength more than 2-4 minutes rest is ok, if your goal is for muscle or toning then 1-2 minutes is perfect.
There you have it! If you follow these guidelines you’ll will be a step closer to achieve your fitness goals and on a faster track than I was!