Let's Clear Up Some Myths

M

mike100

0
It seems like I always hear about some great new excerices or concept for weight training and after i've been doing it for about three months I learn it's total garbage. Or, I find out its horrible for your body. So I was wondering if we could all just kinda collect what we know is a myth into one post.

The obvious...

Doing crunches will not reduce the fat on ur stomach, nor will any excercise reduce the specific fat anywhere on ur body.

Lifting weights makes you..Slow, Unflexible, easily injured

Stretching can be considered a warm up

What I'm wondering...

Is the whole, wide grip close grip, decline incline bench press thing bull? Is a pec muscle a pec muscle and working your pec muscle is working your pec muscle?

Stretching before weight training will increase chance of injury AND reduce results while stretching after increases results
 
Yes. The whole "wide grip" "close grip" thing is bull. A pec muscle is a pec muscle. Changing the grip is a good idea if you want to change the emphasis from the chest (wide grip) to the triceps (close grip). But the whole "inner chest/outer chest" thing is bunk. Whichever grip you choose, the tension the resistance device (weights, machine, bands, etc) places on the muscle it places across the entire muscle. It's like hanging a weight from a rope. Where is the tension greatest in the rope? No where. The tension is equal throughout the entire rope. The same thing applies to your muscles when you exercise.

Stretching before lifting is not necessarily going to increase the chance of injury. If you try to stretch to a significant degree then it's more likely, but still not a sure thing. Stretching A LOT before a workout can temporarily weaken the muscle. It is better to stretch after a workout but it wouldn't hurt to stretch lightly before the workout.
 
Eliptical machines burn just as many calories as the treadmill in the same amount of time but with less wear on your joints.

Wrong, eliptical machines are better for your joints but instead of wasting an hour of your life on one, do some squats or hit the treadmill for 20-30 minutes.

Eliptical machines are for old and/or injured people with blown knees.
 
I have to disagree about the ellipticals... you can burn more calories on an elliptical on 10 Resistance that sprinting. You get your heart rate up way more than jogging and burn more fat. Just my $.02.
 
I gotta agree with TSC on this one... Elliptical is a pretty cool machine when used properly. And, it certainly ain't only for old and injured peeps. If you raise the resistance you can get a kickazz workout off that puppy. Plus, you can also run backwards on an elliptical to add to the muscle groups hit!

And, because you can change the incline on it, you can pin-point different muscel groups than treadmill. Even though a treadmill inclines, it never changes your leg movement. The elliptical on higher settings becomes more like a stair stepper and works the hammies and calves more.

It is a good machine when used properly.

As far as stretching, Prometheus is right-on... Heavy-duty stretching should happen after your workout when your muscles are good and warmed-up. If you do stretch before, make sure you warm-up first and only stretch lightly.

Don't forget that sport-specific massaging can GREATLY improve your muscle repair and help to increase your strength faster! And, you can do sport-specific massaging for yourself.

Crunches will not burn much fat at all. And, it is true that body fat is burned away from ALL areas of your body and can't be pinpointed by specific exercises. However, if you want your abs to bulge after you have trimmed away the fat, you will need to work them.

-Rip
 
There is this stupid myth going around that turkey is bad for you - they just think that since they gain fat on the holidays it must be the turkey. They don't realize its actually all the cookies, candy, chocolate, beer etc.
Turkey breast is one of the best sources of protein next to whey supplements and it doesn't containt much fat at all.
 
I'm glad noone in my family bought into that myth. I never knew that was a myth.
 
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