5 Most Common Gym Myths

1. Crunches blast belly fat
This is the number 1 biggest gym myth. If I had 1 dollar for every time someone asked me how to lose belly fat! You can’t spot reduce and doing a zillion crunches, sit ups etc will not help you lose belly fat. The answer to losing belly fat or any excessive fat, wherever it may be is to burn excess calories. Burning more than you eat (starvation or not eating is not an option!)
2. Weight lifting bulks you up. It amazes me that women are more scared of gaining muscle than gaining fat. Personally, if I had a choice to have some muscle or fat, I would choose muscle. Muscle is more dense and the more muscle you have the more fat you are likely to burn. More muscle makes you stronger, who would not want to be strong? I simply don’t understand why anyone would believe that lifting 10 pounds in the gym would make them big and bulky? There are probably so many things you lift throughout the day that weighs at least 10 pounds that you don’t get big and bulky from lifting.
3. Sweating = good workout. Thank goodness that this is false because I do not sweat a lot. If you never walk, just getting up and walking is a good workout. It is way better than the nothing you may usually do! Getting your heart rate up is a good sign of a good workout.
4. Working out with machines brings better results. Actually working out with free weights is way better for so many reasons, but if you don’t know how to use free weights then it’s best to learn how to use proper form first. One advantage of free weights is that free weights are more versatile and can work your muscles in more ways.
5. No pain, no gain. Some people believe that working out should hurt and pain is good. Actually some of the pain may be lactic acid build up and high reps generally cause lactic acid buildup. Personally I like some of the muscle soreness the day after training but I have to remember that no pain does not mean no gain. The other side of this is that just because you have some muscle pain/soreness does not mean that you have to give up. A great man once said "some pain is a sign that you are still alive"!