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Fitness and diet myths that just won't go away

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  • ythannah
    ythannah Posts: 4,366 Member
    ninerbuff wrote: »
    freda78 wrote: »
    ninerbuff wrote: »
    But "breakfast" isn't used in that sense. Especially when you add lunch and dinner to the schedule. The whole motto was written by General Mills to sell more cereal. And many trainers and coaches INSIST that their participants should be eating a morning breakfast...................just because.


    Maybe in your country and/or experience it means "whenever you first eat be it at 7am or 10pm at night" but here, breakfast is what you eat when you get up.

    Lunch is still lunch and dinner is still dinner, even if it is the first food of the day to pass your lips.
    Go to many restaurants here and "breakfast" isn't served past 10:30am. Since the majority of people work from morning to late afternoon, the time they get up is in the morning and why "breakfast" is seen as a morning meal.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

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    It gets even muddier when you see a place that advertises "all day breakfast". So if I feel like ordering pancakes or waffles for lunch I need to find one of those places. Or I hear my supper choice described as "breakfast for dinner" just because it is largely egg-based, like an omelette or poached eggs (I don't eat meat).

    There is a chain here that has "breakfast biscuits" and sometimes the egg and cheese version would make a good takeout lunch option for me to grab on a busy day. But I can't get one after 11 AM.
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,899 Member
    The real myth is that it's one or the other necessarily or some one-size-fits-only answer, and I see that asserted much more often by those saying it's food, not exercise, or 80% in the kitchen or whatever.

    What advice someone gets is going to depend on their specifics, of course, but again I don't really see people telling others that they can eat whatever and just exercise more. I frequently see people saying exercise is not important for weight loss/maintenance (which is true mathematically but not for me personally from a psychological perspective) or that weight loss is all about the kitchen (which again depends on the person). And I keep seeing that any amount you burn is insignificant since you will no doubt go eat 3 candy bars and wipe it out, which has never been my personal experience.
  • amorfati601070
    amorfati601070 Posts: 2,854 Member
    Protein as a supplement is a waste of money. Yeah, prolly gonna get smashed for this one lol
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,453 Member
    mtaratoot wrote: »
    They (whoever THEY are) say:
    "No pain; no gain."

    I say:
    "No pain, no pain."

    No need to hurt yourself to get benefit of exercise.

    So this is very nuanced. An exercise shouldn't hurt while you are doing it ... that part I agree.

    If you are strength training, however, it should be uncomfortable. It should be hard. Your last rep should be difficult -- not all the way to failure but very difficult. Is that pain ? No. But it is pushing yourself to the point of near failure. If you are starting something new and you aren't sore the next day, you might consider whether or not it was really impactful. Once again, this is nuanced -- if you are well trained then you might not be sore -- if you are a newbie you probably should be sore.

    In my opinion, one of the biggest mistakes people make when strength training is NOT pushing themselves hard enough.

    Another example is running. If you are just trying to burn calories then fine, no need to push yourself to your limits. If you are trying to get faster, however, then you have to push yourself to a point of near failure in some cases. So in this case, gain is getting faster. It is true you will not gain if you just continue doing the same thing over and over. You either have to go longer or faster. In either case it can 'hurt' to push your limits. The first time I ran 10 miles my knees hurt and throbbed afterwards. When repeating that a week later is was easier. The first time I ran 20 miles my knees hurt and throbbed afterwards. When repeating it later it was easier.

    Agree here. I think it's dependent on the person. I've done leg extensions and squats to the point where the lactic acid burn actually felt like I was on fire. And I know I had to do it because my legs just don't grow like the rest of my body parts.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

    9285851.png

  • FitAgainBy55
    FitAgainBy55 Posts: 179 Member
    ninerbuff wrote: »
    Agree here. I think it's dependent on the person. I've done leg extensions and squats to the point where the lactic acid burn actually felt like I was on fire. And I know I had to do it because my legs just don't grow like the rest of my body parts.

    Yeah, that's another example of 'good pain.' I'm very in-tune with my body and I know the difference between 'good pain' and 'bad pain.' I think this is something that comes with experience. I'm sure as a good trainer that's part of what you do to help your clients. I mostly learned this the hard way.

    Another thing that I think I've learned is 'bad pain' for me is a sign of an area of weakness. Instead of completely avoiding that area (the common sense approach) I try to find ways to strengthen it. I find an exercise that does't hurt but focuses on that area of my body.

    At 54 (I know you are also near that age) I have a few problem areas. One of them for me is my knees. Oddly, I don't have an issue when running (no pain there) but I have issues with lunges particularly. If I neglect my lower body strength training for a while it gets worse. Instead of completely avoiding lower body exercises I try to find a way to stress those areas where it doesn't hurt. For example, I can do squats without pain if I space my feet correctly and put my weight on my heels. When I focus on this then eventually I can get back to lunges without pain.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,453 Member
    ninerbuff wrote: »
    Agree here. I think it's dependent on the person. I've done leg extensions and squats to the point where the lactic acid burn actually felt like I was on fire. And I know I had to do it because my legs just don't grow like the rest of my body parts.

    Yeah, that's another example of 'good pain.' I'm very in-tune with my body and I know the difference between 'good pain' and 'bad pain.' I think this is something that comes with experience. I'm sure as a good trainer that's part of what you do to help your clients. I mostly learned this the hard way.

    Another thing that I think I've learned is 'bad pain' for me is a sign of an area of weakness. Instead of completely avoiding that area (the common sense approach) I try to find ways to strengthen it. I find an exercise that does't hurt but focuses on that area of my body.

    At 54 (I know you are also near that age) I have a few problem areas. One of them for me is my knees. Oddly, I don't have an issue when running (no pain there) but I have issues with lunges particularly. If I neglect my lower body strength training for a while it gets worse. Instead of completely avoiding lower body exercises I try to find a way to stress those areas where it doesn't hurt. For example, I can do squats without pain if I space my feet correctly and put my weight on my heels. When I focus on this then eventually I can get back to lunges without pain.
    When you lunge, is your stride long or short? And if it does hurt, make sure your knee bend does stop short of going over your toes on this exercise to help reduce tension on the patellar tendon (which may be the source of your pain).

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

    9285851.png



  • FitAgainBy55
    FitAgainBy55 Posts: 179 Member
    ninerbuff wrote: »
    When you lunge, is your stride long or short? And if it does hurt, make sure your knee bend does stop short of going over your toes on this exercise to help reduce tension on the patellar tendon (which may be the source of your pain).

    The pain is definitely reduced if I keep my weight more on my heels than toward my toes. The pain is behind my knee, however, which I think is behind the patellar tendon (according to google images :smile: ) but I don't claim to actually know a patellar tendon from a quadriceps tendon but it appears to be more toward the quadriceps tendon just based on location of pain.
  • amorfati601070
    amorfati601070 Posts: 2,854 Member
    Protein as a supplement is a waste of money. Yeah, prolly gonna get smashed for this one lol

    Is this the myth or did you skip straight to the debunking?

    The myth is that protein powder actually offers benefits. For majority, not really. So yeah..debunking it. Was poorly worded.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,453 Member
    ninerbuff wrote: »
    When you lunge, is your stride long or short? And if it does hurt, make sure your knee bend does stop short of going over your toes on this exercise to help reduce tension on the patellar tendon (which may be the source of your pain).

    The pain is definitely reduced if I keep my weight more on my heels than toward my toes. The pain is behind my knee, however, which I think is behind the patellar tendon (according to google images :smile: ) but I don't claim to actually know a patellar tendon from a quadriceps tendon but it appears to be more toward the quadriceps tendon just based on location of pain.
    Could be meniscus. I hate lunges too (still do them) because I still feel a little pain in my left knee (I actually tore my meniscus and had surgery on it 4 years ago)when I do them. I do have to take a longer stride and make sure on lunges that I don't let my knee pass my toe or it hurts a lot. Only on lunges thouugh. No other issues with leg extensions, single leg presses, squats, step ups, etc. I'm guessing that the actual accident I had to tear my meniscus, which was stepping down a step and missing it (basically a downward lunge), has something to do with it.


    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

    9285851.png