Fitness Misconceptions that drive you nuts?

biggsterjackster

Muscle weighs more than fat

This... (most often said by the 'experts' here too)

a pound of muscle on a scale, a pound of fat on the scale... HELLO a pound is a pound! It will look different but it will make the scale perfectly balanced!

The internet is full of articles about that Let's all just hope people are really not that stupid or are they?

1Cor1510

"I work out for an hour everyday and eat 1200 calories a day and I don't lose weight." A friend told me that once at the gym...she was on the elliptical going at a snails pace because she "doesnt like to sweat" and on the way out got cheetos and a juice from the vending machine....

LOL! I have this friend too!

eslcity

Or they actual care that words mean something and if you can't be bothered to type DENSITY instead of WEIGHT it indicates either that you're lazy or have a lack of comprehensive knowledge and general ignorance and poor grasp of the entire concept. It is not THAT difficult to use the right words to properly express yourself. The statement is wrong. Things that are wrong bother me- sorry if that's pedantic to you- but it's just a false statement.

When you are asked which weighs more: steel or feathers, do you ask about their volume?

No. Of course not. Because every idiot on the planet understands that you're talking about equivalent volumes in your question.

It's a litte something we like to call "context." To pretend *NOT* to understand that is what is pedantic.

It's called effective communication. When two parties understand the basics of the conversation, it is not necessary - and even becomes cumbersome - to have to expressly lay out the ground rules with every single sentence. That is the height of *IN*effective communication.

So feel free to remain pedantic, that's certainly your right. However, back in the real world, people really don't need everything spelled out for them in order to undertand basic concepts.

once again....amen brother...

DR2501

When people refer to normal (ie not diet) coke as "full fat" ... its fat free but high in sugar!

I do this for want of a better title for it...
Plus, it kind of makes sense (I haven't drank full fat for 10+ years easily)

dedflwrs

I was with my son in the emergency room because of a problem with his hernia surgery. The doctor there asked him who performed his weight loss surgery and when he said "I didn't have that, I just dieted and exercised" the doctor said "No, you can't lose weight like that".

Another favorite: I have two morbidly obese friends who insist they are fat because they ruined their metabolism but not eating. According to them they only eat one tiny meal each day and that's why they have weight problems.

leggup

-Kick-start, boost, jump start, reset, restart, reboot in relation to fitness, metabolism, diet.
-People who are losing weight can't have cake/cheese/whatever. I can and I will and I do and I lose weight!
-That exercise is necessary for weight loss. Sure, it makes it easier to lose weight if you exercise. Sure, it makes you look better if you exercise, but when one of my coworkers asks how to lose weight and she is completely and utterly clueless, so I start talking about a calorie deficit, and my other coworker butts in about how you have to do insanity or whatever new craze is, I get so frustrated. If you start talking about HIITS and crossfit with someone who hasn't exercised in 10+ years, you're going to put them off.

Erilynn93

That if you have trouble meeting your calorie goals, and you are usually under 1200 (unintentionally), that you are a) lying b) attention seeking or c) not logging accurately.

I probably shouldn't ask, but why would it be hard to figure out how to get to 1200 calories or over?

I honestly had trouble with this in the beginning, but it was because I had been eating so low for so long. After about a week of forcing myself to eat higher, I now have no problem eating at least 1400-1600 a day haha. If they say that, it usually just means they aren't trying.

I love when people who are very large claim that they barely eat anything. I know a few people like this that I know for a fact eat nothing but junk food all day long. Only under certain circumstances can this ever be true.

CMcBryer

Can we all agree that volumetrically equal amounts of fat and muscle do not weigh the same due to the density difference between the two? After that, can we also please agree not to argue over assumptions in communication instead of just civilly explaining how we came to our conclusions, providing some evidence if need be, then go about our days happily? Or is this me just being horrifically naive?

bugaboo_sue

That if you have trouble meeting your calorie goals, and you are usually under 1200 (unintentionally), that you are a) lying b) attention seeking or c) not logging accurately.

I probably shouldn't ask, but why would it be hard to figure out how to get to 1200 calories or over?

I honestly had trouble with this in the beginning, but it was because I had been eating so low for so long. After about a week of forcing myself to eat higher, I now have no problem eating at least 1400-1600 a day haha. If they say that, it usually just means they aren't trying.

I love when people who are very large claim that they barely eat anything. I know a few people like this that I know for a fact eat nothing but junk food all day long. Only under certain circumstances can this ever be true.

I had a friend who was constantly struggling with her weight and would say she "hardly' ate anything (and would tell me what she had for breakfast and lunch). The problem was that she never made dinner at home. She and her husband always went out to dinner and you can't control the calories in the food that's prepared at a restaurant. Also she "exercised" but never got her heart rate up because someone told her to keep it in the "fat burning zone".

JoRocka

That if you're eating at a deficit you will lose.

Uhmmm...

That's not a misconception.

Agreed. If you're at a deficit, what exactly is being stored?

Laughs, I knew this would get someone. Okay I'm 135 and 5'4. I've eaten at under 1300 cal for the last 3 months. Three weeks ago I stalled out. I lift heavy 5 days a week followed by 25-30 minutes of cardio. My BMR is 1325, my TDEE is 2061. I've lost nothing in 3 weeks. I'm either a very bad logger (NOT), yes I use a digital scale and I'm anal, or I'm NOT losing at a deficit!
Yes I would LOVE advice/explanation.
P.S. I raised my calories 1 week ago today to 1600, still exactly the same.

Something's not right-

My maintance is around 1900-2000 and I'm almost 30 pounds heavier than you. Me thinks your numbers aren't quiet right.

rjmudlax13

Something even some more experienced people fall for: everyone should do stretching.

Not true. In some cases stretching is detrimental to your chosen sport and creates instability at the joints.

Can you please provide a source for this?

I very interested because I'm wondering if I should change things up for all the activities I participate in.

hoyalawya2003

LIFT HEAVY!!!!!!$$$$&&*........Now what was the question...

And the suggestion that CV training wastes the muscles

Those who appear to have credibility, through personal success, pronouncing on their own preferred form of exercise as the ONE TRUE WAY (tm)

^This drives me nuts too.

Lots of things are effective and fun. Enjoy some quality human movement, eat to support the activity level you are undertaking. How hard does it need to be?

Preach, brother.

Bellodesiderare

My family and close friends are fat and struggle with their weight. They think they can lose it and keep it off by going on dumb diets; such as completely cutting out carbs, not eating meat, "cleansing", crash dieting, etc. You know.. the usual crap. Whenever I hear them talking about weight loss, they always advise others that these are the things that need to be done to lose weight. But as long as I've known them, they've always been fat and have NEVER been able to sustain weight loss with these diet methods that they advocate..yet they ALWAYS advise the same crap.

What blows my mind is that I'm the only one who's been able to lose a significant amount of weight and keep it off, yet they completely disregard any type of advise I give them; specifically when I tell them that you don't need to follow crash/fad/restrictive diets to lose weight.. just look at ME. But nope.. completely disregard what I say. Yet if some retard comes along and regurgitates the same crap that they believe in, they are in complete agreement.

They also always give me **** when I have fast food or "junk" food.

Absolutely ridiculous.

^^^ YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!! All of this. All of it.

MissSarahAllison315

Nice thread, didn't have a chance to read all. These aren't all misconceptions, but things that just generally irritate me.

- Do a cleanse to improve your health: Yeah, nothing says "health" like lemon juice and maple syrup.

- Pilates makes your muscles longer / elongated: Nnnnoooo... muscles have fixed insertion points that could only be surgically changed and no surgeon would do that without a really good health-related reason. You can become more flexible, but not longer. LOL

- You need to Squat 2 1/2 times your weight to advance to an "intermediate" program. No. Most people will NEVER EVER see a 2 1/2 times body-weight squat or deadlift. There is nothing wrong in moving on to a well defined "intermediate" strength program or system when you feel ready.

- You need to Leg Press 2 1/2 times your weight before you can do plyometrics, especially with kids. NO, you should be sensible about your application of plyo but there's nothing wrong with it, even with kids. If there is then we better out-law basketball, volleyball, jump-rope, football, or anything else that requires our children to jump.

- Aspartame: Not really misconception but when I hear somebody say that it affects your brain, meanwhile they have no problem tossing back tons of alcohol; it bothers me a little.

- Keto diets are bad: No, they are incredibly restrictive and unrealistic long-term (years) for most people, but there's nothing wrong.

- Carbs are bad... Sure, if you live off of pop-tarts, hot pockets, cookies, and pepsi.

- Paleo and our ancestors didn't eat grain: Kidding right? Not everybody had buffalo and whatever the hell else people are saying available to them. Depending on what part of the world our ancestors lived in they had different meat options, or even little to none at all. Fossil records are even finding evidence of GRAINS being consumed. What? Oh noz not da' gluten...

- CrossFit is horrible: No, the strength programming is generally horrible depending on the box's coach, but CF is a good way for somebody to achieve good all-around conditioning. People have ****ty form in CF, Oly, PL, and general gym-goers, chill on CF folks. Kipping pull-ups not withstanding of course...

- Studies cited out of context: Don't tell somebody they should eat or do XYZ and base your comment on research that was conducted on senior citizens (if the OP isn't a senior) or on a test group that had a certain nutrient deficiency (assuming OP is healthy).

- HRM's & Eating-Back calories: Why go through all the hassle for something that isn't even very precise, something that can vary by 300 to 500 calories? Dieting is hard, simplify your lives and use a more basic approach that doesn't require calorie burn monitoring and eating back what was supposedly "burned."

- Cardio on various machines: "Today I did 20-min's on a treadmill at a moderate pace, then 20-min's on a elliptical at a moderate pace, and then 20-min's on a bike at a moderate pace." Seriously, why the hell didn't you just stay on the treadmill for an hour?

- "Newb Gainz": It's called neural adaptation folks and you can make solid progress doing any well structured program. StrongLifts5x5 is not the end-all be-all to strength training, seriously...

ALL OF THIS. :drinker:

BigT555

Nice thread, didn't have a chance to read all. These aren't all misconceptions, but things that just generally irritate me.

- Do a cleanse to improve your health: Yeah, nothing says "health" like lemon juice and maple syrup.

- Pilates makes your muscles longer / elongated: Nnnnoooo... muscles have fixed insertion points that could only be surgically changed and no surgeon would do that without a really good health-related reason. You can become more flexible, but not longer. LOL

- You need to Squat 2 1/2 times your weight to advance to an "intermediate" program. No. Most people will NEVER EVER see a 2 1/2 times body-weight squat or deadlift. There is nothing wrong in moving on to a well defined "intermediate" strength program or system when you feel ready.

- You need to Leg Press 2 1/2 times your weight before you can do plyometrics, especially with kids. NO, you should be sensible about your application of plyo but there's nothing wrong with it, even with kids. If there is then we better out-law basketball, volleyball, jump-rope, football, or anything else that requires our children to jump.

- Aspartame: Not really misconception but when I hear somebody say that it affects your brain, meanwhile they have no problem tossing back tons of alcohol; it bothers me a little.

- Keto diets are bad: No, they are incredibly restrictive and unrealistic long-term (years) for most people, but there's nothing wrong.

- Carbs are bad... Sure, if you live off of pop-tarts, hot pockets, cookies, and pepsi.

- Paleo and our ancestors didn't eat grain: Kidding right? Not everybody had buffalo and whatever the hell else people are saying available to them. Depending on what part of the world our ancestors lived in they had different meat options, or even little to none at all. Fossil records are even finding evidence of GRAINS being consumed. What? Oh noz not da' gluten...

- CrossFit is horrible: No, the strength programming is generally horrible depending on the box's coach, but CF is a good way for somebody to achieve good all-around conditioning. People have ****ty form in CF, Oly, PL, and general gym-goers, chill on CF folks. Kipping pull-ups not withstanding of course...

- Studies cited out of context: Don't tell somebody they should eat or do XYZ and base your comment on research that was conducted on senior citizens (if the OP isn't a senior) or on a test group that had a certain nutrient deficiency (assuming OP is healthy).

- HRM's & Eating-Back calories: Why go through all the hassle for something that isn't even very precise, something that can vary by 300 to 500 calories? Dieting is hard, simplify your lives and use a more basic approach that doesn't require calorie burn monitoring and eating back what was supposedly "burned."

- Cardio on various machines: "Today I did 20-min's on a treadmill at a moderate pace, then 20-min's on a elliptical at a moderate pace, and then 20-min's on a bike at a moderate pace." Seriously, why the hell didn't you just stay on the treadmill for an hour?

- "Newb Gainz": It's called neural adaptation folks and you can make solid progress doing any well structured program. StrongLifts5x5 is not the end-all be-all to strength training, seriously...

i agree with all of these expect the last 2. people switch it up because after an hour on the treadmill i feel like putting a gun to my head from boredom, and newb gainz aka neural adaptation are real, noone said it has to be achieved with stronglifts though (although stronglifts is a great starter routine, hence it being recommended so frequently), anyone new to lifting will see huge progress in the first few months with any strength routine

00Allie00

"fill in the blank" is bad.

Wheat is bad.

Sugar is bad

Dairy is bad

Bananas are bad.



Bad, bad, naughty food :P

JoRocka

Carbs are bad... Sure, if you live off of pop-tarts, hot pockets, cookies, and pepsi.

hey- don't knock my diet man- it's fantastic and delicious.

marie3221

I was with my son in the emergency room because of a problem with his hernia surgery. The doctor there asked him who performed his weight loss surgery and when he said "I didn't have that, I just dieted and exercised" the doctor said "No, you can't lose weight like that".

Another favorite: I have two morbidly obese friends who insist they are fat because they ruined their metabolism but not eating. According to them they only eat one tiny meal each day and that's why they have weight problems.

Actually, I have to disagree with this. I worked at Jenny Craig (I know, I know, don't bother lecturing me) and more times than not, ppl who were very obese (50 plus pounds to lose) did in fact only eat 1-2 small meals a day. Skip breakfast, a salad with meat and bread for lunch, and same for dinner. They were not binge eaters, they did not gorge themselves on fatty sugary foods.