Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Workout Wednesday #12

Today's Post:
     There are many myths around exercise and diet that always circulate around the internet and around social circles that many have fallen into believing them to be true.  When I first started exercising regularly, most of the time people would give me advice on things that they had heard before regarding exercise.  The things I would hear were: doing crunches every day to get a six pack and loose weight, eating before exercise is the worst thing you can do and the more time that you exercise the more strength, and size you will gain.  Things like this are always heard everywhere and every day by people who are trying to "help" you out.  Whether it is family and friends or even that guy at the gym who looks like hes in shape, most of the time the things you hear just aren't fact. 


Crunches to Kill the Fat:
     The fact that you can't really target one specific area of your body to loose fat from, pretty much just kills this myth yet I still hear this from people who are trying to get thin for the summer.  On my facebook wall I would constantly see posts from people who would ask what they can do to thin out and get a six pack. The responses would be mainly ab exercises.  "Do leg lifts" or "Crunches" are the usual responses.  Sure it will help you attain a six pack but leaning out is going to take more than just ab exercises.
     The true way of leaning out and truly achieving a lean figure or even a six pack, is to focus on all exercise.  Burning calories is important because that is really what is making you loose weight.  The best way in my opinion is to burn calories with cardiovascular activities.  I personally enjoy jogging outside for my cardio regularly but all exercise is good for loosing weight along with proper diet and nutrition.

Work Out Hard Everyday at the Gym:
     Some people think that every day you should go hard at the gym so you can feel the burn the next day.  Sometimes working out hard at the gym to the point of hurting might be rewarding but if you keep on doing it every time you workout, injury WILL occur.  Being in pain is not a requirement for workout to make it a good workout.  Sometimes a good workout can be you nailing your workouts even if you don't hurt the next day or feel exhausted that same day.
     The problem with working out hard like that every day is injury will eventually occur and no one wants to be injured.  Muscle tears or dislocating a bone can happen which can really set you back on your workouts.  In the long run you can hinder whatever goals you are trying to achieve.

Eating Before you Workout is Bad:
     Eating at any time of the day isn't necessarily bad for you.  Whether you eat at night before bed or before you go to the gym.  Obviously what you eat is important so eating junk food right before you go to the gym isn't going to be the best thing to eat.  Also portion control is important if you are going to eat at different times of the day such as eating at night
     At the same time, some seem to think eating more food might make them stronger and the same message will apply to them.  Portion control and eating the right food will help you grow.  Eating more protein or drinking more protein shakes will not help you grow if you aren't putting the effort in to grow.

Conclussion:
     Although people will give you advice all of the time it is obvious that you have to take time to research what you are planning to do.  The more you research the more you will learn and this will help you accomplish your goals.  Just because your buddy at the gym says something, it doesn't necessarily make it a fact, always research.

6 comments:

  1. Honestly one of the best and most reliable things I ever read regarding workouts and health was "The 4 Hour Body" (I forget the author), it was all things backed by science and experimentation, not just common knowledge passed around from person to person. It had a pretty cool mix of health and science info, so it made for a pretty good read as far as those books go. Anyway, it basically said that the only way to get a really visible and defined six pack is to lose fat to the point of having a low body fat percentage, like in the lower teens or even a bit lower.

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  2. May Yang: Why would anybody want to gai weight?;)

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  3. Good stuff man! I hate the crunches myth.

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  4. Thanks for the advice, definitely useful now that I'm starting back at the gym.

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