Fitness Misconceptions that drive you nuts?

likitisplit

Lets say you take 2 people X and Y.

X says something snarky to Y and Y ignores them.
- everybody thinks X is a jerk

Y says something snarky to X
- everybody thinks Y is a jerk

X says something snarky to Y and Y replies with something snarky back
- everybody thinks "what a couple of ****s"

And then everybody posts cat gifs and has fun at work.

JoRocka

HA HA H HA
double post- except we are missing cat gifs... and I can't see them at work anyway sad panda face.

Lets say you take 2 people X and Y.

X says something snarky to Y and Y ignores them.
- everybody thinks X is a jerk

Y says something snarky to X
- everybody thinks Y is a jerk

X says something snarky to Y and Y replies with something snarky back
- everybody thinks "what a couple of ****s"

but then what would we do all day at work?

you can't possible expect me to do my JOB now can you??

notamoment

"I'm not losing weight because I'm building muscle. "

This!^ Along the same lines....."turn fat into muscle"

Another favorite...........spot reducing......(in my dreams)

:laugh: if only i had a quarter for everytime i heard these.

royaldrea

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.

Hey, I kinda love you right now! Because it really bothers me when people harp on the density/weight issue. I feel the same way about self-proclaimed "grammar Nazis". It's like their intention is not to communicate the correct terminology, but instead to show the world that they understand the right way of doing things (and are therefore smarter?), and are so frustrated with persons who just **** everything up (and are of lesser intelligence...). You can be good at grammar, and know that a pound of lead does in fact equal a pound of feathers, without having to point out to everyone how much smarter you are than the dummies, guys!

I typically chalk it up to some kind of inverted superiority complex and let it go, but the whole super-correcty person thing does get under my skin.

likitisplit

What drives me nuts?

- People who get pedantic about "muscle weighs more than fat." Every moron on the planet knows that 1 lb = 1 lb, and you know full well that they're trying to communicate the idea that "a given volume of muscle weighs more an equivalent volume of fat." If you're nitpicking because they didn't use the word "density," then you are trying way too hard to find fault.

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.

Plus you sound stupid- especially if you know better.

So- no I do not agree that it's knit picking- it's about using the correct words to properly describe a concept to someone and NO- not everyone grasps the concept that 1 pound of bowling ball is the same as 1 pound of feathers- you're assuming... quiet a bit actually.




or they could just be engineers.

While I agree that words mean things and thus should be used correctly, colloquially, "lighter" is substituted for "less dense" ALL THE TIME.

- Helium is lighter than air
- Oil is lighter than water
- What is the heaviest element: http://chemistry.about.com/od/elementfacts/f/heaviest-element.htm

likitisplit

How people think that the calorie burn number on their Polar FT4 is perfect. Runs off laughing. :flowerforyou:

Sorry .. I have found it to be at times very very very wrong. And that was doing simple walking. Gave mine away to my sister.

People need to understand that it cannot measure calorie burn at all .. it can only measure heart rate. The calorie burn is just some guys math calculation, just like on every other device. They are often wrong.

This! and why spend the money on something that you can do manually! (for HR that is)

Because it's really hard to count while doing 400 meter sprints.

ladykaisa

How people think that the calorie burn number on their Polar FT4 is perfect. Runs off laughing. :flowerforyou:

Sorry .. I have found it to be at times very very very wrong. And that was doing simple walking. Gave mine away to my sister.

People need to understand that it cannot measure calorie burn at all .. it can only measure heart rate. The calorie burn is just some guys math calculation, just like on every other device. They are often wrong.

This! and why spend the money on something that you can do manually! (for HR that is)

Because it's really hard to count while doing 400 meter sprints.

This.

dbmata

And I'm driven nuts by the people, who yell about science, proper science, citing the right places, calculating TDEE and all its components, shooting down anything and everything "alternative", but who fail totally to defend chemistry on high-school level (yeah, it isn't even taught on uni level). I'm a scientist and wouldn't dream of pushing this "yeah just call mass and density the same thing" message here, so I don't participate in the muscle/fat discussions anymore. It is as dense (pun very much intended) as to insist distance equals volume or time is the same as speed. Science is precise and in every other context that message is pushed here, but not when it comes to density. Pathetically hypocritical.

<snip>

You must be *loads* of fun at a cocktail party.

Funny, I was thinking the same thing about you......

Thinking the same about all ya'll snipers.

Cherimoose

What drives me nuts?

- People who get pedantic about "muscle weighs more than fat." Every moron on the planet knows that 1 lb = 1 lb, and you know full well that they're trying to communicate the idea that "a given volume of muscle weighs more an equivalent volume of fat."

Yeah, i don't waste time with that one. But what i don't get is when people say "muscle weighs more than fat" to explain why the scale might not budge when losing body fat. Muscle's density is irrelevant to that. What they mean to say is "muscle weight gained offsets fat weight lost", or something along those lines.

I'll add some to the pile...

> Exercises to "tone", "tighten", "sculpt" or "shape" a certain area.

> Almonds & avocados have "healthy fats", so portion control isn't necessary

> Eat 6 small meals a day to boost your metabolism

> Train in the "fat loss" heart rate zone to lose fat.

dbmata

thank god words aren't important.

SezxyStef

I went to join our local gym...I have a one month trial so I thought eh why not...

I walked in to check out the equipment...

When I went in the guy at the front desk, after I told him why I was there said...

"The cardio stuff is upstairs....."...Im like :noway: :grumble: :explode: "Yah no looking for the power cage/squat rack actually"...his response "The smith machine is over in the corner"....:explode: :mad: "Yah no...the powercage please..."...his response "huh?"

All that in 10min from one guy to a female..and there are some heavy lifting females there...I walked out..gonna sell the trial I think.

lalepepper

To answer the OP, the main thing with me is that I can no longer talk to people about nutrition and exercise. Most people just are not knowledgeable and it's difficult to have a discussion because their level of understanding is mainly based on what they read in Cosmo or something they saw from Jillian on Facebook or something they read from Gary Taubes. So, it's just nonsense, and to tell them everything they know is mostly wrong just starts a weird conversation. So, I just keep to myself and avoid those discussions. The only time I will get into it is if I can tell someone does know something, especially if they know more than me. Or, if someone asks me a specific question out of genuine interest. Then, I'll tell them my view. But, most of the stuff out there drives me crazy because it's just not true. But, people live by it. So, it's weird to tell them they are living in a lie.

This is a very good point and something I've run in to myself. With people at work I don't care as much, and I've been lucky to have gotten through a bit to my mother. My mom has also struggled with her weight since my younger brother was born and she was very resistant to my dad's advice when he dropped about 50 lbs 10 years ago. Now that she is seeing me succeed and lose even more with similar practices, she's slowly coming around. In the past I may have taken it upon myself to correct anyone's misconceptions, but I've learned that communication is largely about meeting people where they're at. If someone is so absorbed with those fallacies that they believe them to be true, I don't waste my time unless they've asked me what's working for me.

Azdak

"You don't need to do abdominal isolation work. You get all your core strength from squats and dead lifts"

Which brings me to: "Squats and dead lifts are the ONLY EXERCISE YOU WILL EVER HAVE TO DO! EVER!!!!!!"

I get that you are engaging your abs in your squats and dead lifts however your abs also support your back and I would personally rather have a strong base for my back to prevent injury before doing an exercise that could cause an injury.

I also get that squats and dead lifts are excellent exercises but they are not the end-all-be-all of exercise.

Maybe not, but pretty damn close.

And you don't need to do abdominal isolation work to get a strong core.

Ever.

bugaboo_sue

or something they saw from Jillian on Facebook

The problem with this though is that Jillian was THE face of The Biggest Loser so of course she knows all about losing weight and getting in shape.

I know someone who was of the "I don't want to lift heavy because I am going to get bulky!" mindset and would teach that to her clients (she's a PT). My husband was going to the gym she worked at for a while and on more than one occasion he had to correct an exercise she was teaching someone because she was doing it wrong.

Now all of a sudden her mindset is "You're not going to get bulky if you lift heavy!" and she tells me all about the awesome workouts that she does and how she has one leg day a week because 'trust me. That's all you'll ever need you'll be so sore!" Sorry but soreness=/= a great workout and while I don't mind being some-what sore after a workout (like today my tri's, quads and butt hurt) I don't want to be so sore that I can't function/do any other exercise because of it.

I take what this person says with a grain of salt because most of her information has been proven wrong.

ValGogo

"anything... for woman".

unless "anything" = tampon.

OMG....YES!!!

ValGogo

How about when you are doing something to lose weight and it's working (mainly eating right and exercising) and someone has some input on how you should continue to do it so it works.

Did I not JUST tell you what I'm doing and how it's working for me? Do you ever listen?

yo_andi

Lets say you take 2 people X and Y.

X says something snarky to Y and Y ignores them.
- everybody thinks X is a jerk

Y says something snarky to X
- everybody thinks Y is a jerk

X says something snarky to Y and Y replies with something snarky back
- everybody thinks "what a couple of ****s"

Or everybody secretly snickers about the snark while publicly proclaiming what douches X and Y are.

likitisplit

I went to join our local gym...I have a one month trial so I thought eh why not...

I walked in to check out the equipment...

When I went in the guy at the front desk, after I told him why I was there said...

"The cardio stuff is upstairs....."...Im like :noway: :grumble: :explode: "Yah no looking for the power cage/squat rack actually"...his response "The smith machine is over in the corner"....:explode: :mad: "Yah no...the powercage please..."...his response "huh?"

All that in 10min from one guy to a female..and there are some heavy lifting females there...I walked out..gonna sell the trial I think.

You can't let his ignorance affect your ability to workout.

Ignore the front desk, because all they'll do is tell you to drink green shakes anyway and seek out the ladies who go heavy in there. It's a little Bro, but it's better than the alternative.