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Gym Myths - fact or fiction?

Myth #1 – If you exercise a specific muscle you can burn the fat off around it.

The Hard Truth – So often we get asked the best exercise for losing ‘bingo wings’, tummy fat, love handles, bra fat, inner thighs and many more. Now listen closely (I’m sorry to break this to everyone) but there are no magic, fat blasting, super toning, spot reducing exercises that will burn the fat off the one area.

For example, you could perform 1000 sit ups a day for the next 12 months and at the end, this alone, will not give you a flat stomach. You would however have stronger stomach muscles as a result! There are, of course, some good general guidelines to follow in helping rid the blanket of fat that covers that lovely physique you’re hiding and I will get to this later.

Myth #2 – You need to starve yourself, count calories, cut carbs or crash diet to lose weight.

The Hard Truth – In the long run these methods of weight/fat loss can end up causing the body to put more weight on than before and potentially maintaining your goal weight a bigger challenge than it needs to be.

Certainly these methods can often bring immediate weight loss in the form of body fluid, lean muscle mass and only very little body fat. When you significantly decrease your daily calorie consumption this can cause the body to go into a starvation type mode. This causes the metabolism to slow down, resulting in the body storing any of the few calories consumed as fat and using muscle proteins for energy.

Myth #3 – Heavy weights make you bulky and very light weights with lots of reps tones you up.

The Hard Truth – It makes me really sad to hear that so many people and especially women, fear looking like a bodybuilder as soon as I suggest strength training for weight loss. The simple fact is, women simply don’t have the testosterone to easily build up and retain muscle like men or bodybuilders do.

In the case that there is a noticeable difference in body size as a result of strength training (e.g. legs getting bigger) it’s usually because there is wonderful lean muscle developing underneath fat stores that haven’t been moved yet. So it’s important to get the right balance of cardio, strength and healthy eating habits to get rid of the fat on top.

Key weights training benefits:

- Boosts our metabolic rate and the total amount of calories that we use over a day as muscle uses more energy than fat.

- Increases bone density and assists in warding off conditions like osteoporosis. This is particularly important for those in the 50+ age group as hormonal changes can contribute to a drop in bone density.

Myth #4 – Muscle turns to fat if you stop lifting weights

The Hard Truth

Again, not true. Muscle and fat are very different compounds in the body. Both are made up of totally different cells and have totally different jobs in the body.

We can increase the size of our muscle cells through training and in some high volume training even develop more of these cells. When they become inactive these cells become smaller and if unused for a prolonged period of time can degenerate (muscle Atrophy) but it is physically impossible for them to turn into fat cells. This is the same in the opposite sense that fat cells cannot be turned into muscle cells.

If your diet doesn’t change and your amount of training drops, certainly fat can develop on the body to cover up the muscle that is still sitting underneath and waiting to be used again.

What's important?

A Balance and Consistency of…

Huffy Puffy Stuff!

Cardiovascular exercise plays an important role in helping maintain a healthy body weight, heart and lungs. Try 3-5 x a week of 30-60mins. Pushed for time? Try an Interval Program for 20-25mins but remember that although it’s less time this means you need to make up for it in intensity.

Move A Muscle!

Strength training has many benefits including improving your lean muscle mass, appearance of tone, increasing your metabolic rate and keeping you at a lesser risk of injury. More muscle can basically make you a more efficient fat burning machine.

Eat!

You heard it right! You need to eat to fuel that fat burning machine, help those muscles move and to do the huffy puffy stuff that is so important. But not just any old food as the body requires a mix of nutrients to help it function effectively.

Imagine your body is the most expensive sports car you could ever buy. Now think about how it would run on the cheapest, poorest quality fuel you can find. On the other hand, if you are always filling it with high octane fuel and the best compounds, it would run like a dream. At the end of the day you can’t trade your body in if it breaks down on you!

Rest and Sleep

Firstly, sleep plays a huge role in allowing our body to fully repair and regenerate cells to get it ready for another day of activity. Lack of sleep can cause our hormones to go out of balance and the body will look for other ways to repair and energise trough quick energy sources. Often, this produces nasty sweet and caffeinated cravings, which can result in weight gain.

Also, people often don’t realise that rest days from exercise can be just as important as training days. The reason for this is that our bodies again need time to recover between workouts so it can regenerate new and stronger cells to help us improve and progress. Try to give the body 1-2 rest days for every 3-4 training days and see how your training might progress.

Please speak to a member of the gym team for advice and to help you to create a fitness plan tailored to YOU and your goals.