There are a lot of fitness myths out there, so we’re setting the record straight on five common myths that you should know about!
It’s normal for people to feel overwhelmed by conflicting workout advice while they’re trying to stay on top of their fitness goals. With so many diet and exercise trends out there online, it’s become tougher than ever before for people to decipher fact from fiction.
This is why the Rising Legends team is here to set the record straight with real facts that cut through fitness myths that might be holding you back. Below we’re breaking down five common fitness misconceptions, and pointing you in the right direction toward developing a healthier workout lifestyle!
Fitness Myth #1: You Aren’t Training Hard Enough If You’re Not Sore
The reality is that soreness doesn’t automatically equal fitness progress. Although we’ve all heard the no pain, no gain phrase that often permeates throughout the fitness world, we’re letting you know that this catchphrase is far from the truth.
Muscle soreness is a bodily response when we experience extra stress during hard workouts, but your post-workout soreness doesn’t necessarily equal results. What’s important to understand is that soreness comes from muscular stress, so it doesn’t actually amount to fitness progression.
When you get sore after working out, be sure to pay close attention to your body’s recovery. It’s common for people to overtrain their bodies, which can actually prevent them from seeing their desired results.
You should also be sure to get plenty of sleep after challenging workouts to give your body enough time to repair itself. When you combine proper hydration and a healthy diet together, your sleep quality can have a significant impact on your recovery times!
Fitness Myth #2: You’ll Get Bulky Through Strength Training
The reality is that you can only get bulky when you combine strength training with a specific type of bulking diet. This is a particularly common myth throughout the women’s fitness world, and it’s important to remember how female hormonal makeup often makes it a little trickier to build excess muscle mass.
But rather than solely focusing on muscle buildup, it’s much more productive to focus on the other great benefits associated with strength training workouts. From stronger bones to increased endurance, metabolism boosts and fat burning, strength training is a great way to improve your overall health!
Fitness Myth #3: Crunches & Sit-Ups Burn Stomach Fat
The reality is that there’s no specific way to target stomach fat, and you can only control the overall burning of fat throughout your entire body. Targeted exercises don’t necessarily equate to targeted weight loss, and you won’t ever get six-pack abs by solely doing sit-ups.
It’s definitely true that crunches and sit-ups can help you burn calories and move the needle toward losing belly fat, but this is only because these exercises help to lower your total amount of body fat. It’s also important to remember that everyone is unique in how they store fat cells, which means you might see results faster in certain parts of your body than others.
If your fitness goal is to lose belly fat and achieve strong abs, you’ll essentially need to drop your overall body fat levels through strict training programs and nutrition plans.
Fitness Myth #4: Squatting is Bad For Your Back & Knees
The reality is that the exact opposite is true! The truth is that when you strengthen your lower body, you’ll make just about every aspect of your daily life much easier. It’s also widely known that lower body strengthening can have a substantial impact on your overall quality of life and longevity.
Squatting is considered to be a foundational exercise, which means that it mimics what we tend to do on a daily basis. We’re all constantly using our lower body and core muscles to go from sitting to standing positions, and squatting actually strengthens the muscles around your knees to create more joint stability.
That’s why this fitness myth really couldn’t be further from the truth, because not squatting will actually harm your knees and back muscles much more than regular squatting exercises ever will!
Fitness Myth #5: Your Fitness Journey Isn’t Successful If You’re Not Losing Weight
The reality is that weight loss is never the only measure of success when it comes to fitness journeys. People fluctuate in weight pretty dramatically throughout the course of a day, and this is due to factors like diet, hydration and hormonal cycles.
Although weighing yourself can be a good tracking tool when you’re using it at the right times, the truth is that losing weight isn’t a linear process. Weight loss comes in peaks and valleys, which is why you’ll always be better off focusing on other success markers during your fitness journey.
Body composition scans are typically better ways to track your progress, and these in-depth metrics can help you monitor things like body fat percentage, healthy fat mass, skeletal muscle mass, and your overall muscle mass.
Reach Out To Rising Legends To Boost Your Fitness Journey!
There are a lot of fitness myths circulating throughout the Web that people need to be aware of, and teaming up with renowned industry specialists can go a long way to keep you focused on what matters most—honest, effective training regimens.
Rising Legends is one of the leading workout facilities based in the Nyack NY area, and our team is here to guide you toward your desired results through detailed training programs and in-depth fitness knowledge.
We look forward to seeing you at the gym!