Why do so many people believe that... (common fitness notions)

T

tjl

0
What do so many people believe that:

a. They can "spot reduce" abdominal fat by doing hundreds of crunches?

b. They should do cardio at the so-called "fat burning zone" (60-70% of maximum heart rate), even if they are well past the beginner stage?

c. Weight is the only way to assess your fitness?

d. They will get "too big" (like a body builder) if they lift any weights?
 
They are misinformed. **** bugs the hell outta me.
 
The same reason you think the 'fat burning zone' is skill dependent; because sometimes, they just don't know. =P lol
 
Popular magazines without doubt......hold a 1 litre bottle of water in each hand (or can of beans).....now squat for 50 reps....rest....drink 8 glasses of water.....and only have half the cheesecake.



Bollocks
 
Because anyone with a stupid certification or without it can write a book with all these crap in it.

Because some Doctors don't educate themselves on training, but they want to be trainers. Medical Associations Guidelines are made to protect themselves from sues. That's why the best research is done in Europe, Australia and Asia.

The FBZ is an excuse to not train hard. Is also a way to sell cardio equipment.

Because when some people ask you a question is not to know the answer but to see if you agree with them.

I don't know, but it pisses me off. I preffer to be the coach who gets results and is hated by losers than the nice trainer who is friends with everyone because he just wants to sell.

I think people believe in this crap because the marketing of it is a lot.

The other day I bought some whey protein and the guy told me to get some creatine because blah blah blah... Then the guy told me that if I wanted to lose fat I needed CLA because it helps turns the fat into muscle. I ask him what's his major in college and he didn't went to college.

Then I asked him, where he learned that and he didn't know.

One Word "Ignorance"
 
tjl said:
What do so many people believe that:

a. They can "spot reduce" abdominal fat by doing hundreds of crunches?
Click to expand...


Actually Spot Reducing is possible, but the difference and the effectiveness of isolated exercises is so low that the amount of work needed to get significant results doing crunches or bicep curls is ridiculous and it would be a waste of time.

Also most of the injuries in the gym happen in machines and doing isolated exercices. Because people do like 7 different types of bicep curls until they get hurt or the next day they can't move their arms.

There are many other ways to train your body and get faster, more effective results. But people don't know that.
 
Hoss said:
The same reason you think the 'fat burning zone' is skill dependent; because sometimes, they just don't know. =P lol
Click to expand...

pwnd!!

owned_kid.jpg
 
Hey, what's wrong with letter b? Why is that soo bad if your goal is trying to lose fat? I find it difficult to do HIITs while on a low carb diet. This is a serioud question, not a sacrasam btw.

b. They should do cardio at the so-called "fat burning zone" (60-70% of maximum heart rate), even if they are well past the beginner stage?


Oh, I have another one to add to the list:

e) Why do people think that taking supplement (like NO explode and creatine) without working will help them develope muscle?
 
Rick_CSCS said:
Actually Spot Reducing is possible, but the difference and the effectiveness of isolated exercises is so low that the amount of work needed to get significant results doing crunches or bicep curls is ridiculous and it would be a waste of time.

Also most of the injuries in the gym happen in machines and doing isolated exercices. Because people do like 7 different types of bicep curls until they get hurt or the next day they can't move their arms.

There are many other ways to train your body and get faster, more effective results. But people don't know that.
Click to expand...

I'd love to read up on that if you've got any articles or studies or whatever.
If it does work, I guess people say it doesn't because it's so inefficient.

Though I've seen something that found spot reduction in the tighs from cycling very hard intervals. The researchers were pretty stunned, and the only way they could explain it was that it could have something to do with catecholamines being released due to the very high intensity of the intervals. Too bad I didn't bookmark it :(
 
I just have a comment on the spot reducing question. IMO, I have seen far too many commercials/advertisements on the "magic pill" or the "magic ab machine" and they say, "hey, with just 2 weeks of this ab machine you can have a body like this" and they show a woman/man with rock hard 6 pack abs. so people believe that they can just work on their abs and look like that. its insane. its more insane that people buy into it.
 
Magazines like Men's Health, advertisements for the "perfect push-up", "perfect pull-up", that chuck norris exercise machine, bowflex...they all create the false reality that doing a 30 minute workout 3 days a week can sculpt your body in a rock hard chiseled weightlifting machine.
 
1. No eating Carbs after a certain hour in the evening.
2. Frequent meals increase our complicated metabolisms
3. Performing cardio in the AM is superior to any other time.


And add this excellent post, by Steve (Stroutman on this forum):

Steve said:
A good friend of mine is one of the authors of an upcoming fitness book which is going to be huge in the fitness industry. He asked in his forum, for us to give him some common misconceptions that are floating around as they pertain to weight training. He wanted to make sure the authors were not forgetting anything. Thought it couldn't hurt to post them here as they apply to anyone and everyone who is lifting weights. I will post more as the list grows, if it grows. And they are in no specific order:

-Women have to be careful or they'll get 'bulky'
-Women should do high reps/light weight
-Crap about people having some type of muscle fibre that means they should lift high rep/light weight
-High reps for 'cutting'
-Bodypart splits = best way for a natural beginner/intermediate trainee to make gains
-Insane amounts of volume and/or too many exercises per session
-Machines are better, "most physiotherapists recommend machines"
-Fasted cardio
-Spot reducing
-'Toning'
-Muscle can turn into fat if you stop lifting (or vice versa)
-Full squats are bad for your knees and/or is not a natural movement, etc.
-Sort of spinning off what absolute said, but that there's a difference in how men and women should train ("you shouldn't lift like a man, sweetie!")
-Training the ****e out of your abs will give everyone a "washboard stomach"
-cardio is the only way to burn fat
-3 sets of 10 reps is the magical approach
-women shouldn't go heavy on squats and DLs
-cardio an hour a day (more cardio rather than menu determines abs and cuts)
-building muscle while dieting (most think they are doing this with crazy volume and high reps)
-the smith machine is the best way to do squats
-Managing fatigue isn't as important as managing volume and intensity.
-only use protein powder if you want to get huuuuuuuge
-You can build muscle and lose fat at the same time.
-If you're not at the gym for at least an hour, you're not doing enough
-Soreness is the best measure of a good workout
-Your muscles need at least a week of recovery (see: bbing splits)
-If you work a muscle more than 1x/week you're OVERTRAINING
-Cardio is where its at
-Fasted cardio is where its at
-You grow while you lift
-cardio makes your legs more muscular so there is no need to train legs
-Plyos are great for fat loss
-You should feel the burn when lifting
-You should lift even more while dieting.
-You should drop all heavy movements/compound movements when dieting and concentrate on isolation movements


Probably some repeats, and I am sure there will be more. Just a friendly reminder.

Oh, I should also say, if you have any, post them up. I haven't added to this list yet.
Click to expand...


Best regards,

Chillen
 
Karky said:
I'd love to read up on that if you've got any articles or studies or whatever.
If it does work, I guess people say it doesn't because it's so inefficient.

Though I've seen something that found spot reduction in the tighs from cycling very hard intervals. The researchers were pretty stunned, and the only way they could explain it was that it could have something to do with catecholamines being released due to the very high intensity of the intervals. Too bad I didn't bookmark it :(
Click to expand...

I've heard this discussed at various ACSM and NSCA conferences about the possibilities of spot reducing. I've been trying to find all my hand-outs and presentation outlines to give you a clearer picture, but it's been misplaced from a recent move.

Can't say much that I believe it, but the presenters had the research to back it up.
 
Chillen,

that list is lengthy, and I can only think of about a billion others to put on that list, sadly. I like what you say about credentials do not make one a good trainer, and this is pretty funny because all of the articles written in magazines or newspapers or on TV, have come from credentialed professionals (most). These are the people that are feeding this information to the public, and it kills me to see everyone take it all in as truth.

I not only got into this business to help people, but also to educate the crap out of them..lead them away from these petty misconceptions. However, the myths keep building and gaining steam, and even though I am producing great results for these people, they still ask "Is this true?" I can see in their eyes that they just might be doubting me and my opinions, even for a second.

I can't really blame myself, because they are seeing results. I blame this on mainstream media, word of mouth, and horrible trainers.
 
Found This one, is Interesting

Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise:Volume 39(7)July 2007pp 1177-1185

Subcutaneous Fat Alterations Resulting from an Upper-Body Resistance Training Program

Purpose: It is believed spot reduction, the exercise-induced localized loss of subcutaneous fat, does not occur as a result of an exercise program; however, evidence as a whole has been inconsistent. To reexamine this concept, we compared subcutaneous fat measurements before and after resistance training among 104 subjects (45 men, 59 women).

Methods: Subjects participated in 12 wk of supervised resistance training of their nondominant arm. Magnetic resonance imaging and skinfold calipers examined subcutaneous fat in the nondominant (trained) and dominant (untrained) arms before and after resistance training. Repeated-measures ANCOVA tested for subcutaneous fat differences within and between arms before, after, and from before to after resistance training by gender and measurement technique, with BMI and age as covariates. Simple linear regression compared subcutaneous fat changes before and after resistance training as assessed by MRI and skinfold.

Results: Subcutaneous fat, measured by skinfold, decreased in the trained arm and not the untrained arm in the men (P < 0.01); it was similar in the total sample and in the women (P > 0.05). MRI determinations of subcutaneous fat changes were not different between arms in the total sample and by gender (P > 0.05).

Conclusion: Subcutaneous fat changes resulting from resistance training varied by gender and assessment technique. Skinfold findings indicate that spot reduction occurred in men but not in women. In contrast, MRI found a generalized subcutaneous fat loss independent of gender, supporting the notion that spot reduction does not occur as a result of resistance training. MRI, sensitive to changes along the entire upper arm, detected greater variation in resistance training responses, preventing significant differences between trained and untrained arms. Variation in upper-arm resistance training response was not evident from a single skinfold measurement at the belly of the muscle.

©2007The American College of Sports Medicine

So making it simple, spot reduction in your eyes, using a skinfold is possible but in the eyes of an MRI machine is not.

I found another one, done by using leg extension exercises and it supports that there is more fat breakdown on the work muscle than the resting muscle. The difference was like 1gram of fat per 30minutes of leg extension.

At the end spot reduction is possible but not convenient. Is better to have 200 muscles burning more fat than having 1 or 2 burning little fat.
 
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