Top 5 Most Common Fitness Myths

As fitness myths go, a new theory pops up everyday . . . confusing us on how to stay fit and what to eat. Here are 5 very common fitness myths which pop up so often that we almost believe them.

Lifting Weights Will Make You Bulky

There is a common belief that lifting heavy weights will make you look like a bodybuilder which is simply not true. A pound of muscle next to a pound of fat will be smaller in terms of volume. This means the more muscles you have, the less space you take.

Honestly, to get that kind of body-building bulk it takes an immense amount of time, food, discipline and sometimes even the use of certain drugs. So, it is time to lift weights, look lean and rev up your metabolism.

Eating No Carbs Will Make You Thin

This is something I have heard since god-knows-when. On the contrary, I have seen that if I don’t eat carbs I become cranky and irritable. It is important to know when to eat carbs and which ones to eat.

Whole grains, pulses, legumes and vegetables are healthy carbs which are essential to give your body energy.

Avoid highly-processed carbs (and especially towards the latter part of the day). So if your goal is to be cranky and irritable ‘Don’t eat carbs’ but if it is to be healthy, then ‘eat them.’ They are not your enemy—if anything, I’d say that fitness myths might be, however!

Detoxification and Cleansing is Healthy

The lemon-juice diet, the master-cleanse program, the cider-vinegar diet and god-knows-how-many more are around to cleanse and detoxify you. Using laxatives, tea, cayenne pepper, lemon, syrup. etc. to detoxify your body is nothing healthy. These are not solutions to a healthy body or permanent weight loss and do not even really detoxify you.

On the contrary, you end up binging much more when you finish the diet and you have deprived your body from vitamins and nutrients.

Remember your kidney and liver are adequate to detoxify your body.

Cardio is good enough to keep you fit and healthy

Yes, Cardio is important for increasing our heart rates but as we grow older we need to use weight training to say strong, upright and fit. Weight training strengthens muscles, ligaments and tendons and also increases our bone density, thereby keeping us healthy and lean. Keep a healthy balance between strength and cardio.

Eating Fat Makes You Fat

Oh, this is another favorite of the fitness myths (and also a totally mythical health tip) that has been around for years. Please, please, please, do not believe it. Our body needs essential fatty acids to function and stay fit. Fats support our immune, nervous, cardiovascular and reproductive system.

It also helps us to stay lean and burn fat consistently. Essential fatty acids produce a substance called prostaglandins which control functions like blood clotting, fertility, heart rate and blood pressure; it also helps in regulating inflammation thereby increasing immunity. So to lose fat, therefore, eat good fat.