More Worst Fitness Advice Ever
Well, you’re back! In Part I we covered some of the worst fitness advice ever and mainly the biggies that turned out to be complete BS. Now, let’s dive into some of the other “wise” pieces of health/fitness advice that we have heard before that are a little more obscure but still ridiculous nonetheless.
More Fitness Advice to Ignore:
“You need a shovel hour”
This was a pretty comical one that we had to add, “I lived with a roommate in college who allowed herself one hour a day to eat whatever she wanted.
She literally sat at the kitchen table shoveling donuts, ice cream, and cookies into her mouth for an hour and thought that was a good way to manage her weight since she was good the rest of the day,” said Victoria Walsh, Communications Specialist. As with all things nutrition, make sure to consume ANYTHING in moderation even if you have a “shovel hour”!
“Try this diet: celery and water”
We’ve all heard that celery takes more calories to chew and digest than you actually consume from it.
We have seen this taken to the extreme where only celery and water were consumed in order to lose weight quickly.
Remember that word “moderation” that we’re always talking about? Don’t get carried away on incredibly calorie-restrictive diets. Sure you may lose some pounds but just think of your food urges after 3 days of this diet?
Every carton of ice cream, a bag of Funyuns, and a box of Oreos would be running for their lives!
“You can get the best workouts from a magazine”
We always believe that workouts should be personalized to fit your needs; they shouldn’t be of the cookie-cutter variety and Joanne Blackerby, Owner of Spirit Fitness Training in Austin, TX agreed, “Magazine workouts; if your trainer is relying on the latest fitness mag to train you, something is definitely wrong.”
“Yoga will give you longer muscles”
We’ve heard this one several times before and have always had to say, “huh?” Chris Cooper, NSCA, co-owner of Active Movement and Performance explained, “Among the worst fitness tips I’ve heard are that exercises like yoga and Pilates will make your muscles long and slender.
The first misconception ignores basic anatomy in that muscles already have a set length due to where they begin and end on the skeleton.”
“The workout shouldn’t be over until you puke”
This is one that didn’t instantly come to mind but as soon as we read the response from Amy Hendel, owner of the Health Gal, we had to include it because we have all heard or seen this one in action:
Working out to the point of “throwing up” – still going on as showcased on The Biggest Loser.
“What people don’t seem to realize is that by the time you throw up – you may be dehydrated, not getting enough blood supply to the brain, depleted of electrolytes – getting to that point of your body reacting to vigorous exercise is considered a danger point. Yet, it still goes on…”
“Forget adding weight, only worry about reps”
Adding reps can be a great practice but eventually, you need to challenge yourself by upping the weight/intensity in order to work the muscles more effectively. Joanne Blackerby, Owner of Spirit Fitness Training in Austin, TX explained, “If your trainer’s idea of progressing your regimen is all about how many more reps can we add each month/week, the program is lacking.
Effective exercise regimens are progressive, have measurable results, and are periodized to keep clients from plateauing. “Train the same, stay the same.” More reps over and over just mean more reps.”
Always be trying to improve and move forward!
“Going to the bar? Only drink straight vodka”
If you are seriously trying to lose weight, one of the easier things to do (maybe not easy but a simple way to cut calories) is to reduce the amount of alcohol consumed.
This will save you a ton of empty, useless calories. For instance, one shot of 80 proof vodka (1.5 fl ounces) has 97 calories. that is quite a few calories in such a little package.
Jackie Keller, Founding Director of NutriFit agreed, “One that stands out in my mind was a trainer who told his client that the best thing to do in a bar was to drink vodka straight, as it would get a person drunk faster and with less volume.” If you really are serious about losing weight, forget the booze for a while!
“Women get huge when they lift”
This is definitely one we hear all the time! The fact is women do not have the proper hormone levels (testosterone) to achieve massive muscle gain. The few women you do see with bulging muscles are usually physique competitors or bodybuilders and they look like that because they give a huge chunk of their time to the sport.
What will happen if you do decide to start lifting, is that you will build strength, gain muscle, and burn calories.
Along with your healthy diet, strength training will allow you to develop some underlying muscle that burns calories. Plus your nutrition program (and exercising) will help expose this muscle by removing fat on top of it. This equals a toned physique which is what everyone strives for.
So ladies pick up the dumbbells and start strength training! We promise you won’t turn all green, angry, and massive!
Wrap-Up
When it comes to fitness advice, even the professionals aren’t always right.
Make sure you do your research before taking anyone’s “expert health advice” at face value.
They may be completely oblivious to the fact that what they are saying isn’t worth squat (pun intended)!
Updated 5/6/18
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