When it comes to wellness myths, nothing is as dangerous as those related to fitness. If you adhere to certain false principles, you could put your wellbeing at risk to injury, or at least impede your progress and performance. Let’s take a look at four of the fitness myths that are in serious need of debunking.
1. If you want a flat and toned stomach, abdominal muscle workouts, such as crunches, are the way forward.
Yes and no. While crunches, sit-ups, abdominal rollers and similar exercise are great for toning your stomach, your abdominal muscles are covered with body fat, and so you need to get rid of the blubber first before you start targeting any particular area. For the fastest results, you need a combination of cardio and weight training.
2. If you want to lose weight, drinking a tonne of water will help.
While there is some truth to this one, proceed with caution. According to Dr. Brenda Davy, associate professor of human nutrition, foods and exercise at Virginia Tech, drinking two to three glasses of water 20 to 30 minutes prior to each meal helps you to lose weight more quickly than those who don’t. However, it is possible to drink too much water, so count your body weight in kilograms – this is the number of ounces of water you should drink in a day.
3. If you stretch before a workout you won’t get injured.
Most people believe that stretching before a workout increases your range of motion, but this just isn’t the case. The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention have shown that people who stretch before a workout aren’t any less prone to injuries than those who don’t, and researchers of a 2010 Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine study found that people who did more active stretching and used more muscle groups were more flexible than those who used traditional stretching methods, such as touching their toes.
4. If you want to bulk up, weight lifting will definitely get you there.
Women are reluctant to lift weights as they don’t want to look like the Incredible Hulk’s unfortunate sister, but as muscles take up less space than fat, using weights will actually cause your measurements to shrink instead of increase.