The 7 Most Common Fitness Myths Curb Your Enthusiasm

Introduction

If you’ve been working out for a while, chances are that you’ve heard some fitness myths at one point or another. But do they hold up to scrutiny? In this article, we’ll explore seven common fitness myths and then debunk them so you can stay informed and make smart choices about your health.

1. You can spot-reduce fat from specific areas.

The truth: Spot-reduction is possible, but it’s not something you should go out of your way to try and do.

Why? Well, when people say that spot reduction is a myth and that all fat on the body is essentially the same type of tissue, they’re right—but they’re also wrong. In reality, there are two different types of fat in our bodies: white adipose tissue (WAT) and brown adipose tissue (BAT). WAT stores energy in cells around our waistline while BAT helps us stay warm by burning calories through thermogenesis (the production of heat). In other words, both types of tissue serve very different purposes within the human body—and trying to lose weight off one area may only make another part bigger instead!

2. Low-intensity exercise is more effective than high-intensity.

This myth just won’t die.

Low-intensity exercise is better for fat loss, according to the mainstream fitness industry and a lot of your friends. But it’s simply not true. Here are reasons why high-intensity exercise should be your go-to method for burning fat and building muscle:

It burns more calories than low-intensity exercise.

It improves insulin sensitivity, which helps keep your blood sugar in check and prevent diabetes.

It increases cardiovascular fitness, which means your heart will be able to pump blood more effectively throughout the body when you’re at rest or exercising hard—better than if your heart had less endurance from less intense workouts 

It increases athletic performance in sports like soccer, basketball and football (because these require bursts of power rather than sustained aerobic activity).

3. Losing weight and losing fat are the same thing.

One of the most common misconceptions about weight loss is that it is the same thing as fat loss. Weight loss simply refers to the decrease in body mass, which can be composed of both fat and muscle tissue. Therefore, when you hear a friend say that they lost 20 pounds by cutting back on their carbs, it’s important to remember that what they actually lost was only 9 pounds of fat.

With this in mind, it may seem like getting rid of your unwanted belly fat could take forever if all you’re doing is dieting and exercising—but there are simple ways to speed up this process!

4. Eating a meal after 7 p.m. will make you gain weight.

While it’s true that eating late in the evening can increase your risk of gaining weight, it has nothing to do with your metabolism. Your body’s metabolic rate is determined by many factors, such as age and gender, but also by what time you eat.

5. Stretching before exercise prevents injury.

Not so, says the National Strength and Conditioning Association, which states that stretching before exercise can actually decrease performance and increase your risk of injury. In fact, a 2016 study published in the Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research found that static stretching (the kind where you hold a pose for 10 seconds or more) was associated with greater muscle soreness over the following 48 hours than not stretching at all.

That said, static stretches are still important for runners who want to prevent injury when they’re running on surfaces like concrete or asphalt—these surfaces put pressure on your joints that can cause inflammation if you don’t stretch first. But if you’re just walking down the street or taking part in another low-impact activity like yoga class? Save your time and skip those pre-workout stretches; they aren’t doing much good for you anyway.

6. Doing cardio and strength training on the same day hinders performance during both.

There is no reason for you not to do both cardio and strength training on the same day. Doing so does not mean that your performance in either activity will be hindered. In fact, the opposite can be true: doing both types of exercise can help you develop a more well-rounded fitness routine.

Before we discuss how strength training and cardio are compatible, let’s look at what each one does for your body. Cardio workouts involve sustained periods of intense physical exertion (such as running or cycling). They improve cardiovascular fitness and burn fat by increasing oxygen consumption throughout the body—which means they’re also great for building endurance! Strength training, on the other hand, improves muscle mass and tone while also increasing bone density—and therefore lowers risk of injury during high-impact activities like running or dancing.

These two forms of physical activity have different goals; therefore they don’t necessarily interfere with each other when performed on their own time or days apart from each other

7. You have to workout for hours to lose fat or gain muscle mass.

The truth is that you don’t need to spend hours working out to lose fat or gain muscle mass. For example, if you’re looking to lose fat, research shows that 30 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise (e.g., a brisk walk) performed five times per week can be more effective than 60 minutes of vigorous-intensity exercise at burning fat and improving your insulin sensitivity in comparison to not exercising at all.

Similarly, if you want to gain muscle mass, 30 minutes of resistance training two times per week has been shown to increase strength similarly as 90 minutes worth of resistance training done three times per week—and it’ll do so in half the time! All this can be done by following our exercises on YouTube and using resistance bands at home or going into any gym with weights and machines.

Bonus!! Learn about fitness myths and don’t believe everything you hear!

Exercise is good for you.

You need to exercise regularly.

You need to eat healthy.

You need to sleep well.

You need to have a positive mindset.

This list could go on and on, but the point is that if you want to be fit and healthy in the long run, it’s important that you start eating right and exercising regularly now! And what’s even more important than all of those things combined is having a positive attitude about it all—after all, if you’re not happy with your progress or how things are going in general then there’s no way anything else will work out either!

Conclusion

In conclusion, we hope these seven myths have helped you gain a better understanding of fitness and what it means to be healthy. It’s important not only to debunk them but also remind ourselves that there are no shortcuts or quick fixes when it comes to achieving long-term goals like weight loss or building muscle mass. We can all do better by learning from one another and getting back in touch with our bodies—what they need right now, not what they did yesterday!