Last week in my Health is Wealth blog, I talked to you guys about how learning about fitness through social media accounts could be a positive asset to you, as long as it is from a trusted source. This week, I am going to debunk seven myths and confirm one about fitness to help better inform you.
Myth 1:Myth: Weight lifting turns fat into muscle
False: According to Business Insider, weight training helps to build up any muscular tissue around the fatty tissue. It has nothing to do with fat tissue turning into muscle. A few common ways to get rid of fat tissue is by doing cardio (running) or dieting properly (eating low fat/low carb diets). If your body burns more than you consume, then you will start to burn more excess fat tissue and will begin to slim down.
Myth 2: Lifting weights will bulk a person up
False: According to NBC news, this myth is one of the most common fallacies to date. While lifting weights is helpful towards bulking someone up, it is not always guaranteed. Smart dieting along with the correct weight program will help bulk you up.
Myth 3: You can target your fat burn
False: According to Active, you can reduce your overall body fat but you can’t choose where along your body it will decrease. Setting up a workout plan can help you consistently lower body fat by making it a routine. If you workout enough, then you will be able to target fat over time by lowering fat throughout your body to meet your fitness goals.
Myth 4: Doing crunches or working on an “ab machine” will get rid of belly fat
False: According to WebMD, an ab machine will strengthen the surrounding abdominal muscles, not get rid of fatty tissue around the stomach. Doing cardio, like running, will help lower your fat percentage. While you might gain muscle doing an ab machine, you still won’t be able to see your abs until you decrease belly fat.
Myth 5: If resistance training stops, muscle will turn to fat
False: According to ACE fitness, this is completely incorrect. Muscle tissue and fat tissue are completely two different tissue types that have different metabolic functions. What actually happens is when you go from physically active to sedentary, your muscular tissue weakens and gets smaller. Because it gets smaller, it may appear as though you have gained fat tissue.
Myth 6: The more you sweat, the more you burn
Fact: According to the Meredith Health Group, sweat is a natural biological response that cools the internal body temperature from overheating by losing excess water weight. When your body works harder, it tends to sweat more. Therefore, because it is working harder, it is burning more calories. So as a result, if you are trying to lose weight, sweating more from exercising is a big positive.
Myth 7: Don’t squat past your toes
False: According to the Men’s Journal, squatting with your knees directly over your toes is actually healthy and biomechanically safe to do. We actually do it everyday. It is, however, important to squat with good form or else you could really mess up your knees and back. What you don’t want to do is squat past your toes because that could then result in poor form and put your knee ligaments in jeopardy of going out on you later in life by over-stretching them.
Myth 8: You need a protein shake to build muscle
False: According to USA Today,you really don’t even need protein shakes after a workout as long as you are getting a sufficient amount of protein in your regular diet. Too much protein isn’t healthy either because that can turn into excess fat.
Hopefully, this has made you more aware of some common myths and you can use this information moving forward towards your fitness goals. If you are looking to find trusted sources, then you should look especially at WebMD, USA Today, and NBC. You can also find more on my Vimeo page @austinsan where you will be finding videos that I will be posting over the next few weeks about health and fitness facts from credible sources.
Health is Wealth 