Misinformation Everywhere!
There’s loads of crazy fitness information floating around the internet, some of which simply beggars belief. But here are a few fitness myths that on the surface make a lot of sense, and I honestly wouldn’t blame anyone for believing.
Myth 1: Eating after 6pm will make you gain fat
Your body doesn’t know what time is is. That’s not what the term ‘body clock’ means.
Your body will only store calories consumed from food as fat if you’re eating in a net surplus throughout the day. If you need 2000 calories per day and eat only 1800 per day, even if you eat them all after 6pm you’ll lose weight. If, in the same situation, you eat 2200 per day, you’ll gain weight. Time of day doesn’t play into it.
When considering meal timing, figure out what’s most convenient and suitable for you. If you like eating late, eat late. If you like eating early, eat early. Just make sure your calories and protein are in place.
Myth 2: Cardio for fat loss and weight training for muscle gain
We’ve established that all you need to lose fat is to be in a calorie deficit, which is best achieved by controlling your food intake. Now, what form of exercise should you be doing to compliment that deficit? Whatever form of exercise you enjoy most!
In my opinion, though, weight training is the best form of exercise to accompany a fat loss phase. Even if you don’t want to build muscle, there are myriad benefits to weight training including better cardiovascular fitness, bone density, strength, muscle preservation and more.
Weight training isn’t limited to bodybuilding and powerlifting. It’s one of the safest and most effective styles of training, regardless of what your goals are.
Myth 3: You’ll get ‘bulky’ or ‘too big’ quickly if you lift weights
Let’s just stomp out the idea that you’ll get too big or too bulky out of nowhere by weight training.
This is something I hear from new clients all the time. They’re scared that if I put them on a weight training plan for the first time that in 3 months they’ll turn into some kind of superman!
It just won’t happen. You will gain muscle in your first year of weight training, but what’ll bulk up far more quickly will be your strength and confidence.
Myth 4: Fasted cardio is superior for fat loss
Net calorie balance is all that matters. Next!
Okay, I’ll elaborate a bit because this is a really common misconception. The idea is that if you train fasted your body will use fat stores for energy instead of food.
The thing is, we have to take a step back and look at calorie balance on the whole. Whether you create a bigger deficit by training before or after eating, the amount of fat lost still comes down to how much food you’ve eaten vs how much you’ve moved that day. Train fasted if you prefer it, but if you’re looking to lose fat it’s all about the calorie deficit.
Myth 5: You should stretch before you weight train
While you shouldn’t just dive straight into training, static stretching isn’t an ideal way to prepare for a lifting session. Instead, you want to be warming up dynamically in order to prepare your body for the movements it’s about to do.
When you’re weight training you’re stretching and contracting your muscles across a wide range of motion repeatedly, often under heavy load. So, it’s all about warming your muscles up and making them sorta springy. Imagine an elastic band: before you used it you’d warm it, tug it and move it around a bit, rather than just lengthen it.
Dynamic warming up is moving in and out of the positions that you’re going to be training it. A good example would be simply doing a set of bodyweight squats to prepare for a set of back squats, as opposed to just doing hamstring stretches.
