Top 10 Fitness Myths BUSTED!!!

I get a lot of questions from clients, friends and social media about the many conflicting fitness messages you read or hear. I’m going to bust them and give you advice that you can actually use right away.

1. What’s the best time to exercise’ Some say morning, some say lunch or evening. Let’s bust this myth. It’s the time of day in which you will do it on a consistent basis. For me, that means shagging it at 5:30am. I know, trust me dragging my tush out of bed that early does suck, but once it’s done I can go on with me day. How about you, what’s a time of day that you can consistently commit to working out’
2. If I want abs, I got to work them EVERY DAY. I get it you look at any fitness magazine and you see the girl in the sports bra running down the beach with a six pack.  You turn on the TV and the infomercials tell you, that you can virtually turn any part of your body to steel. You want to feel comfortable in a swimsuit, button your pants and hell look great naked. Do you need to do 1,000 crunches a day’ Sorry no… first abs are made in the kitchen if you aren’t watching what you are eating no matter how many crunches you do I will never see your hard work. Second you should never to a 1,000 of anything. more isn’t better.  Focus on QUALITY versus quantity. Instead of just doing crunches focus on your entire core.
3. Lifting heavy weights, will make me look like a dude! Sorry ladies, we don’t’ have enough testosterone to build muscles like a dude. Lifting heavy weights will cause you to burn fat like nobody’s business and you will burn calories LONG after you are done your workout. So put down the pink dumbbells and LIFT! If you can’t remember the last time you changed your weights, the time is now!!!
4. The more you sweat the more calories you are burning. Sorry, how much you sweat has two major factors. 1) if you are very fit, you will sweat more and 2) you maybe genetically predisposed to sweat more. I apologize again, but hot yoga doesn’t burn more calories, you are sweating because it’s hot!
5. No Pain No Gain. I know that it takes time to see the efforts of your workouts, so if you can’t SEE the efforts of your workouts you should at least FEEL them. You feel like if you leave a workout and can’t lift your arms the next day or get off the toilet without a help up you workout SUCKED!! I get it. I like feeling sore, BUT everyday you can’t HIT it hard. One of my former fitness coaches use to say to me that still sticks with me to this day. You can go long, you can go hard, but you can’t go hard for long. Yes, challenge yourself with your workouts, but be sure you are using good judgement and good form.
6. Eating fat will make me fat. Back in the 90s it was all about low fat, no fat. As we have learned having good fats in your diet actually is very helpful for a number of systems in your body. Now as soon as I say good fat, most people think nuts and olive oil. There are so many great oils out there, give them a try. You can have any oil beside, corn, veggie and soy. Report back in the comments and let me know your best good fat.
7. You need to cool down after working out. The best thing about fitness is that it’s always changing. Researches thought they needed to cool down after cardio, but they have not found that you don’t need to do that. So.. if it feels good keep it up, but if you are pressed for time feel free to stop doing it.
8. If you stop working out my muscle will turn to fat. It’s really not possible for your muscle to turn to fat, but what typically happens is when you stop working out the hard earned muscle starts to atrophy so you are no longer looking firm. The other thing that happens is you may still be eating like you are a lifting machine. That make be giving the appearance of having your muscle turning to fat.
9. If you really want to lose weight you shouldn’t eat carbs. Since the popularity of the Atkins diet, carbs have been blamed for everything short of war. All carbs aren’t bad. In fact it’s carbs that gives your body energy and fuel. Without carbs, we could really think (without carbs I’m a raving bitch) and our bodies would turn to our muscles to get energy. Instead of saying NO carbs, how about you opt for the RIGHT carbs. Click here for a grocery list.
10. When I eat no calories foods, I can eat as much as I want. I’m sorry. When you seen the sugar free , zero calorie foods typically then have at least 5 calories. The FDA doesn’t require you to put calories on food under 5 calories. Keep this in mind as these calories can add up.

Did any of these surprise you’ Are there more myths you’d like busted. Let’s keep the conversation going.  Leave a comment below. I’d love to help you out!!

During my Lean & Sexy program we bust this myths and you will learn how to stop them yourself. During our time together I will turn you into your own fat loss coach.