Common Myths about Exercises

When you start planning to achieve your fitness goals, you will encounter common myths about exercises, so do not believe them, and always search for reliable sources that provide you with safe access to direct facts, without being exposed to the potential dangers that may result from that.

Here are some myths with facts and corrections, relating to exercises before, during, and after doing them

Common Myths about Exercises | Before Exercise

Cardio and resistance exercises affect the heart

It is generally accepted that 20-30 minutes of cardio five days a week should be included in your exercise routine. For those who aim to build muscle, they may need to incorporate both cardio and strength training into their workout schedule.

This makes some people believe that female trainees will develop heart disease due to the exerted effort, because the heart rate may rise during exercise, this is what I consider to be a common myth about exercises, because when we practice cardio and strength exercises regularly, this may speed up the heartbeat for a short period, but it contributes to strengthening the heart muscle, thus protecting it from diseases. These exercises also help reduce the level of bad cholesterol in the body.

Heavy weights inflate muscles

Some people, especially women, are worried about lifting weights because they will build huge muscle mass like a bodybuilder. This is not true, and it is also one of the common myths about exercises. I will explain to you why. For a female’s muscles to enlarge, she must do a lot of strength exercises, because women do not have enough testosterone to build muscle like men.

Exercising replaces healthy eating

Sure you can! If you are listening to common myths about exercise and want to destroy all the exercises you spent hours practicing in the gym. Remember that you can never follow a bad diet because food is fuel, and proper nutrition ensures that you achieve results. It is simple:

“If you want to lose weight, your calorie burn should be higher than your calorie input.”

Stretching helps prevent injuries

It may surprise you if I tell you that this is among the common myths about exercises, knowing that those who grew up playing sports know that stretching before a game is a routine for players, yet it has not been scientifically proven that stretching before or after exercise reduces the chances of injury.

Stretching is beneficial only because it prepares the muscles for movement and reduces post-exercise recovery pain, but research does not indicate that it reduces injury. Rather, it depends entirely on the movements during exercise, and it is useful to use functional and dynamic stretching exercises to help with muscle movement during exercises.

Common Myths about Exercises | During Exercise

The number on the scale doesn’t go down, I’m not losing weight

Many female trainees focus on monitoring the number on the scale, and because it is not considered a true representation of body changes, this cannot be trusted. The number on the scale is the weight of many things, such as the amount of water you drank and what you ate. It varies depending on the time you weigh yourself, and often when you lose a significant amount of weight, the number on the scale may rise due to muscle building after doing the exercise.

If you want to accurately track weight loss and muscle development, I recommend recording your arm, waist, and thigh measurements. If you are going to use a scale, weigh yourself at the same time every day so that you do not get the common myths about exercises.

Exercise machines show calories burned with 100% accuracy

Some people rely on a treadmill to tell them the exact number of calories burned during exercise. Unfortunately, this is one of the common myths about exercises, as this measure is not 100% accurate, because many factors determine the number of calories your body burns, including gender, age, and weight. Currently, while most devices allow you to enter custom data in one or two of these factors, they rarely allow you to enter the three factors: gender, age, and current weight.

Common Myths about Exercises | After Exercise

Workouts give great abs

Belly exercises are great for developing core muscles because they benefit your body in many ways, such as improving your balance and stability on the ground. However, accumulated body fat prevents you from seeing your belly muscles.If you want six-pack abs, you must significantly reduce your body fat to 10%-12% for men or 11%-13% for women. This can be achieved, but it requires firm dedication to a healthy diet and serious exercise.

Supplements and protein shakes are essential

This title falls under the category of completely common myths about exercises because nutritional supplements and protein shakes are not necessary. It is better for you that the benefits you gain come from natural and direct food sources, such as chocolate milk, turkey, and peanut butter. It is important to know that nutrition companies advertise to make money, so they sell their products by convincing consumers that what they’re selling you is the only product that gives you what you need before, during, or after a workout.

While the truth of the matter is that we do not need expensive shakes to obtain the appropriate nutrients as we can obtain them directly from less expensive food sources, we also advise you that if you consume protein-rich foods after exercise, do so within 30 minutes after exercise, to absorb that energy, because during this time it is the peak metabolism.

If I’m not sweating, I’m not training enough

Sweating is an inaccurate way to measure the difficulty of the exercises you have done. Sweating should not be a measure of how hard you work during exercise because this is among the common myths about exercises. There are many factors in the amount of sweat that the body produces, such as the temperature, humidity of the air, and your body’s hydration levels.

If you don’t suffer, you won’t benefit!

While feeling uncomfortable during exercise is normal, feeling pain is not necessary to reap results. In fact, contrary to what many athletes believe, “If I don’t hurt, I don’t benefit,” this slogan is wrong.

Because this slogan falls under common myths about exercises, especially when pain becomes the way your body tells you that something is wrong, because if you start to feel pain during exercise, you must stop immediately, because continuing to train with pain has serious consequences for your life.

Common Myths about Exercises and Time Management

When people ask why they are not more physically active, the most common answer is that they do not have enough time. This gives us the wrong impression of time wasted due to exercise, knowing that many activities have disappeared due to automation.

For example: With a vacuum cleaner, you no longer have to take your rug outside and hit it. Even watching TV has become easier thanks to the remote control. As a result, many of us do not get the levels of physical activity recommended through our daily routine, and you have to use free time to exercise, this is done by the following procedures:

More exercise means more time:

There is an impression that activity takes time, but this is one of the common myths about exercises, as cardiologists recommend that adults perform at least 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity per week, as walking or cycling can be the quickest way to move around the city.

Here are some suggestions to increase your activity to be more efficient:

Climbing the stairs is faster than waiting and taking the elevator, as it is a practical activity that is equivalent to exercise.
Another example is when many of us drive our car into the mall parking lot and go around the parking lot more than once until we find the place closest to the mall entrance to park the car, which wastes precious minutes. Often, time consumption is less when we park in the first place we come across, even if it is farther away. And we continue walking to the door.
Run errands either by bike or walking. If you live in or near the city center, walking or biking can be faster than driving, especially during rush hour due to congestion. Additionally, it can save you money on parking.
It is useful to do more housework yourself. Studies have recently proven that doing housework is the best way to increase physical activity and reduce the risk of heart disease and premature death.

The examples above are just a few suggestions of methods that might add more activity to your life. Another idea is to plan to go for a walk during your lunch break. This helps you get some energy while also making you more energetic in the afternoon. Instead of sitting at a desk, try walking in your meeting with your colleagues.

Even with these changes, some people may still need to be more active and want to exercise so they can raise their heart rate. Getting active during social visits is also a good way to exercise, whether you’re walking with friends or playing tennis or basket.

You can also monitor the increase in your daily activity because you want to monitor the progress you are making. For those suggestions mentioned above, a pedometer will tell you how well you are doing by climbing stairs or walking to complete errands.

Common Myths about Exercises and Nutrition

Many people prefer to eat their favorite fast food, and keep their exercise on track to maintain balance, while some choose to ignore healthy food. However, the correct way so as not to enter the stage of common myths about exercises is to try to follow a diet full of foods while introducing more activities to your body, it is not just walking or running, but things like dancing, swimming and aerobics that have proven to be beneficial for a healthy lifestyle.

Common Myths about Exercises and Planning

Whether it’s your food and nutrition or your fitness training sessions, you need an action plan. It helps to know exactly what exercises work for you when you step into the gym so you can actually achieve your goals.

Also, since the planning shows the exact exercises that you should do that day, it will not be beneficial to do only the exercises that you prefer, because you will fall prey to common myths about exercises.

Stay away from free weights

If you’re a cardio fan or sitting on stationary machines to exercise, you’re missing out on developing your muscles further, which can lead to improved bone density, increased weight loss, and reduced inflammation.

Additionally, it makes your posture completely better because you are using your stabilizing muscles throughout your movements instead of relying solely on the machine.

Exercising incorrectly

How do you know if you are using incorrect form in your exercises? In addition to pain during exercise, there are other reasons that only a specialist will discover.

Exercising with a qualified personal trainer is the best way to relax your head and avoid deformities and bruises, followed by using mirrors when you train to know that you are lifting weights in a healthy way.

Lift light weights only

When you do strength training, you must develop yourself. This means that you must add weight in every session, and do not respond to common myths about exercises that call for carrying weights that you cannot bear to lift at once.

Because this increase in weight does not have to be large, you can lift up to one kilogram on each side (or even half a kilogram) of a barbell when performing a squat or deadlift, or lift one kilogram per dumbbell if you use free weights in Shoulder compression, for example.

Now how do you know if you’re not lifting enough weight?

When counting your repetitions, if you are doing an exercise consisting of four sets of eight repetitions, you should feel tired by the seventh repetition in the third set, and struggle to finish the eighth repetition in your last set (and may not be able to complete it). If you can easily do fifteen repetitions when your goal is eight, this is a clear sign that you are carrying a light weight and need to increase it.

Lifting heavy objects

If you pile on weight and think you can handle it, but you end up lifting a weight that is too heavy for you, you will likely find yourself in a problem that takes you into disfigurement and may lead to injury.

This is a mistake made by many beginners, and it is best to consult an exercise professional, or follow Sarah’s PopFit videos and her distinctive tips.

Common Myths about Exercises from Others

When you are in the gym and are being shown the correct exercise from your personal trainer, it is important to stick to this method of doing the exercises.

Do not be upset if one of them does something different from what you know. It is possible that the way she exercises is completely wrong, and when you imitate her, you follow common myths about exercises.

There are also many different videos of people (mostly beginners) in the gym doing some weird exercises in an unconventional way and using equipment in a way it shouldn’t be used.

If you are in doubt about any movement you are doing, no matter how small, ask one of the trainers at the gym. Even if you are in one of the complex movements, the fitness trainers there should be able to show you the correct way to complete the exercise.

Doing exercises too quickly

Whoever tells you that you have to do exercises too quickly is implicating you in common myths about exercises. If not using correct form is one way to cause injury, then completing repetitions in an exercise quickly is a way to make mistakes. When you think you can progress to a heavier weight without going through the weight, you will then discover that you are causing serious injury without warning.

Also, if you go ahead of phases too quickly, you are not allowing the muscle group to work, which means you will not reap the desired effect of your goals.

Common Myths about Exercises and Rest

Many people do not take the appropriate amount of rest they need in their exercise program, and this is a bad practice.

Try not to waste the five or ten minutes of rest between exercises or sets by talking to your friend, because after that you will not be able to maintain the intensity necessary to exercise your muscles vigorously.

Rather, resting for an insufficient period of time may mean that you will not be able to complete the number of repetitions in your sets, and if you are able to do so, it is likely that you are not maintaining the correct form for the exercise. Resting appropriately ensures that you obtain the maximum effectiveness of your exercises.

Finally, not everything that is said about sports is true. In this article, I tried to correct some common myths about exercises. We started with cardio and resistance exercises and the necessity of practicing them for specific periods without paying attention to their possible effects on the heart. We touched on heavy weights that should not scare women from muscle swelling. We also explained the importance of eating good food and staying away from fast food, and we talked about the role of stretching, nutritional supplements and sweating, the imaginary waste of time, and mitigating its effects by integrating activities into the routine of daily life, and more common myths about exercises that you should not believe!