Want To Get In Better Shape? Stop Believing These Myths
Myths have a way of holding ourselves back and influence our behaviour.
When it comes to getting into shape, I’ve long held the belief that there is no perfect solution out there. There isn’t a precise path to it. It’s this particular belief that keeps me going on being somewhat active in my life and holding the value of losing weight, even as I’ve stopped showing up to exercise on occasion for the past decade.
This year I want to give myself something actually tangible for myself and so I delve back into the world of weight loss.
And much like any sort of self-help aspect, it’s a complete mess.
Losing weight or being fit is one of the most basic self-help goals out there. Many of us consistently make this a resolution for ourselves to complete each year only to give up before trying.
The list of reasons is many, but one thing I haven’t fully explored is myths. When it comes to health there are all kinds of things that we hear and that all changes our thinking and behaviour.
Myths actually make quite an impact on ourselves and our goals though we often don’t notice it. But at the same time, disregarding them can mean we can grow a lot in this area. Here are some significant ones.
Timing Is Everything
One of the most common traps in the fitness world is getting overloaded with information and worrying about the tiny details. When it comes to health there is a tonne of stuff out there and people will be saying all kinds of different things about what you should and shouldn’t do.
A prime example of this is the general rule that we all need to exercise three times per week. This is a rule I hold as there is a lot of reasoning behind it. For one, you’re more committed to it if you can workout three times per week rather than once or twice.
But things start to get messy if you go with a plan and that plan gets screwed up partway through. Say your plan is to workout Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. It’s a good idea, but what happens if Monday or Friday are a holiday and the gym is closed? What happens if something really important happens and you can’t make it to the gym at all during one of those days?
Should you swap Monday’s workout to Tuesday? Friday’s to Saturdays?
Should you do workouts back to back?
Or maybe you can cram in a three workouts over the remaining weekdays?
Should you just skip that workout and just workout as planned?
There’s a lot of options to consider and the thing is each one of those answers is correct for their own reasons. What really matters in those moments is the bigger picture rather than what exercises you did, whether there’s a rest day in between each one, or what muscle groups you’re working on.
This even extends to things like when should you be eating or you have to have certain things at certain times too. You don’t need to guzzle down a protein shake immediately after a workout for example.
The idea is to workout and stick to your routine as best as you can.
Ditching Certain Foods Because Someone Said So
Recently I learned one of my cousin’s made the decision to throw out chicken from her family’s diet. Now, her, her husband, and kids are to be eating red meat if they’re to have any meat-based protein in their diet.
The reasoning I heard for this has to do with the various chemicals that they put into chickens. After all several articles articulate the dangers of eating chicken.
I know when it comes to using animals as a source of nutrition it’s tricky to navigate. Even as some would encourage a vegan or plant-based diet, that too has its drawbacks as organic food doesn’t always mean it’s better for you.
This is on top of the fact organic food still has some pesticides and chemicals in them, and expanding organic production would mean farming a wider area and damaging wildlife in the process.
My point in all this is is that bodies are weird and so are our methods for food production. Just as there will be many who advocate for us to eat nothing but fruit for the rest of our lives, there are people who will advocate for eating nothing but red meat.
There’s going to be trade-offs to each option that we go for. Eating organic food might give us more warm fuzzies inside and might be better for us, but it’s at the cost of spending more money, and now knowing you’re probably damaging the environment the same if not more than the person eating a big ol’ steak. Maybe.
All the same, the person eating the big steak is more likely to have heart problems than someone having those organic kale chips they made themselves.
Just because someone is doing a thing or has told you the dangers of something doesn’t always mean it’s inherently bad for you. Things in moderation and paying attention to your body is smarter.
Eating Poorly Is Excusable After Exercising (And Vice Versa)
One thing we can all agree on when it comes to eating is to avoid junk food and fast food. We know by now those foods have a lot of calories and offer little to no benefit.
As such, it’s not good to permit yourself to eat junk food (or poorly) after every workout session. It’s only going to slow down progress.
But I’d also extend this to the idea that you have to workout hard after particular meals. Even if that meal was good for you, there are athletes who push themselves to health issues just because they had a decent meal that their body needed.
While we’re not all trying to be athletes here, it’s a dangerous slope to be on if you find yourself having to exercise intensely and compulsively after having a meal.
Stretching Will Prevent Injuries
I remember when I went to summer camp we had a period devoted to physical fitness. Before doing said activity, we were to do various stretches and we were told that it would prevent injuries.
That’s a lie.
While stretching does provide benefits to people it doesn’t prevent you from getting injured.
I learned this after having mobility work reinforced into my mind by a fitness trainer who said simply that the mobility work would allow me to stretch my muscles and work them more.
They were right.
The mobility work didn’t protect me from injuries. However the various stretches I did allowed my muscles to loosen up and allow me to do various movements that I otherwise would struggle to do.
Mostly because my muscles would’ve been stiff.
Definitely be doing stretches, but remember that form and movements during a workout are the real determining factors in whether you’ll hurt yourself or not.
Experts Know What They’re Talking About
Harking back to the nutritional advice, one thing is pretty clear: it sounds like experts have no clue what they are talking about.
Just as there is reasons to be doing a certain exercise, eating a certain way, or do some quirky health thing, there are many others who will say that it’s absolute bogus nonsense.
There are some general rules that we can all abide by for sure, but the important thing to keep in mind is that every person has their own goals and objectives.
The guy who thinks plant-based diets are the best will go out of their way to tell you that it’s the cure to cancer and will solve all of your problems and is the best thing ever.
Meanwhile the gal pushing a 3-day juice cleanse will talk about the healing benefits of it and how she lost belly fat during it after years of struggling.
Every person is going to have some kind of agenda and they’re not going to contradict themselves in the middle of the process. They’re going to deliver precise messaging.
Beyond that, exercise routines are going to vary based on the creator or trainers own views of certain exercises. Everyone has different fitness goals and there is no exact one way to go about it.
At the end of the day, those in the health world are going to be partially right most of the time and what really matters is whether this person’s goals or what they achieved is something you resonate with.
You Need Protein Shakes And Supplements
Pre-workout shakes, post-workout shakes, meal replacement shakes, and various vitamins. Companies will convince us that we absolutely need these in order to get the maximum nutritional benefit.
And of course they will tell us this. They’re trying to make money from all this after all.
The reality is these sorts of things aren’t crucial for any sort of health results. If you’re that worried about not getting enough protein, consider increasing the amount you’re taking in rather than spending a tub of protein powder every month.
By all means it’s your body and if there are certain things that can help, go for it. Before I left the gym, I was taking some pre-workout powder which has a low level of caffeine in it. This would at least get me wired and eager to move around and exercise.
But even after that, I know I don’t necessarily need it.
All it is is marketing at the end.
Workouts Are Suffering
The common phrase “no pain, no gain” can be reinforced quite often and gives people the impression that workouts are all about suffering and pain. If you’re not stiff and sore by the end of it or the next day, your workout is pathetic.
Workouts should be work for sure. It’s in the name after all. But it’s not like every workout is torture and the people who push through them day after day are masochists.
Not every person hates going to the gym or sees it as this necessary evil of their lives. In fact, seeing it like that is more likely to deter you from exercising in the first place.
There are going to be easy days where you don’t feel like you workedout hard enough and then there will be days where you’re two thirds done and you’re already exhausted but want to push yourself through the rest of the training. The idea is to have a mixture of those sorts of routines and to hold yourself back a bit when you’re truly exhausted.
Even working three times a week will result in your limbs being a little stiff or you struggling with basic form at times.
At the end of the day, exercising shouldn’t hurt you and will be intense enough for you to steadily work towards your goals, whatever those are.
This isn’t an exhaustive list of myths as there are many others out there. However these subtle beliefs that we hold can influence our behaviour and how we view the fitness world. No one is perfect or is going to have the full answer for what is the best workout and meal plan for you to have.
But picking away at bits and pieces of it and forming your own strategy for what works best for you will be better than believing in these myths.
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