It’s a familiar scenario for many: you’re at the gym when you unintentionally overhear the two nice women on the treadmills next to you discussing the parameters of their exercise routines, or a trainer doling out a piece of fitness advice to their client.
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You catch something they say and to yourself think one of two things: “Wait, is that really true?†or “I’m pretty sure that’s definitely wrong.â€
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Unfortunately this is still a misconception that’s sometimes communicated to women who fear building “too much†muscle as a result of training with heavy weights. “Women aren’t built the same way that men are,†says Minna Herskowitz, a NFPT certified personal trainer and owner of Sandbox Fitness. “Our bodies are different—we don’t have as much testosterone as men.†She explained that unless you use supplements and significantly increase your caloric intake, lifting weights won’t cause you to gain excessive muscle mass. In fact, all women should consider adding some form of resistance training to their overall exercise routine, as it provides several important health benefits.
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“Cardio is an important factor in weight loss,†says Ali. “However, lifting weights allows the body to burn more calories at rest and it has a longer after-burn affect.†A truly effective weight loss plan will include both cardio and resistance training. Resistance training will help to increase your lean muscle mass. This can enhance weight loss efforts because muscle is “metabolically active†tissue, which in order to be maintained demands energy (read: calories) from your body over a longer period of time.
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Within fitness circles and gym culture, the “no pain, no gain†idea has become somewhat of a widely accepted motivational tool. But as Williams points out, it’s actually just bad advice. “While exercising may result in temporary discomfort or a very uncomfortable feeling, it should not leave you with pain,†he said. “Pain is a warning sign from your body that there is something wrong.â€
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Click Here to See More Of The Worst Fitness Advice
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“If you change too many exercises too often it’s difficult to actually get better and adapt to any of them,†says Rick Richey, a NASM certified trainer and Master Instructor and owner of Independent Training Spot. “If you want to get stronger, more muscular legs, doing hundreds of different leg exercises will not do you as much good as a well-designed, rehearsed, and repeated routine—they are called workout routines for a reason.†He recommends making sure that you’re not trying so hard to not be in a rut that you end up forgoing a smart path of progression. “Keep a routine consistent so as not to leave it before the results are recognized,†Richey added. “Switch it up by using a well establish system of periodization.â€
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Bright shared a funny story about a client who had been convinced not to drink water while working out because she thought it would extinguish the “fire†that starts in your belly while exercising. “A woman I trained believed this to be a literal fire that water would quench, and she was certain that the fire was what ‘stoked the metabolism.’ I think it’s pretty obvious why this is terrible advice, but for the record, fires do not begin in the stomach. Go ahead and hydrate during exercise.â€
Click Here to See More Of The Worst Fitness Advice
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The point is, there’s lots of questionable and flat-out false fitness advice floating all around — in the gym, online, on TV, and in magazines.
“As a fitness professional with almost 20 years of experience, I’ve seen and heard a lot about fitness,†says Maurice D. Williams, a NASM and NSCA certified trainer and the owner of Move Well Fitness. “In my days of training clients, watching people exercise, and exercising myself, there probably has not been a day that’s gone by that I haven’t heard something that made me cringe.â€
Yes, there are “fitness tips†so wrong that they can make a trainer cringe, so we decided to find out which are the worst offenders.
Williams calls this cringe-worthy advice “gym science,†or untrue information that tends to float around in gym conversations.
“Typically speaking, they either have been proven wrong or are not proven at all,†he said.
We asked a few trainers to share the worst advice they’ve ever heard. Straight from the gym floor, here’s what they reported.
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– Katie Rosenbrock, The Active Times
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