Welcome to Chau’s Top 5, my list of top 5… well… anything! I’ll try to stick to health and fitness related stuff, but, we know how it goes when you live in the real world ;).
We’ve all seen posts on Fitness Myths, but I’ve realised that sometimes these beliefs are somewhat cultural, so I asked some local trainers and fitness enthusiasts on the myths that they’ve heard, been told or seen in practice that really irks them. Not surprisingly, the personal trainer had the most to say. Here’s the list in order of the least popular to the most.
5) Weightlifting Stunts Growth in Children (Contributed by Franz Gillezeau): The basis of this myth is simple – heavy weights push down on children so that they can’t grow properly. This was due to seeing a few child bodybuilders who looked short for their age — the weights were blamed. Since the start of that rumour, extensive research has been done monitoring the growth plates in the bones of children who lift and it has been found that there is little to no effect. In fact, it has been shown that children gain the same benefits that adults do from weight lifting, i.e. Stronger bones and muscles! Because childrens’ bones and muscles are still developing, a good rule of thumb is to progress them slower through weight training than with an adult, allowing them extra time to adapt to changes and reducing the risk of injury.
4) “Carbs” Means Flour (Contributed by Franz Gillezeau): Every time someone wants to lose weight, they say, “I’m eating too much flour.” Hogwash! First of all, when we refer to a reduction in carbohydrate intake we usually mean simple sugars (sugar, honey, agave, etc.). Simple sugars usually have very short processing time in the body, so that means that if you don’t utilise all of that energy immediately, your body will start to store the energy (and the body’s way to do that is in fat). The best way to combat this is to ingest complex carbohydrates — starch. Here’s the thing that people don’t know; flour is basically starch. This means that flour is actually a complex carbohydrate. Where bread can do harm is that people usually flavour it with sugar. Flatbreads, however, hardly have sugar in them. Rule of thumb if you want to have flour, try whole wheat (or, better yet, whole grain) flour, since those have more of the natural nutrients (including fibre) than plain white flour. P.S. Fruits (that people laud as super-healthy) are PACKED with simple sugars (glucose, sucrose and, most commonly, fructose, which has its own health risks involved). This means that they, too, are sources of carbs! Also, all the ground provisions and rice that people eat are carbs. They all, however, also have a lot of valuable micronutrients.
3) I Need to do Cardio for Weight Loss (Contributed by Franz Gillezeau): There is this ridiculous myth that Cardiovascular exercise is how to lose weight. The truth is that all you need to lose weight is to create a *caloric deficit*. This means that you need to burn more calories than you ingest. You can do this with weights, cardio, or just change your diet. In fact, it has been shown that weightlifting with proper technique and with a proper programme could, potentially, lead to greater fat-loss benefits than common cardio. P.S. Common cardio is what is known as “Low-Intensity Steady State” (LISS) Cardio. i.e. you just run (or whatever) at a steady pace forever. This has cardiovascular benefits, but it only burns calories during the workout and for a VERY short time after. Weightlifting has shown to have fat-burning benefits for 24-72 hours after (depending on the intensity). If you must do Cardio, it is better to do “High-Intensity Interval Training” (HIIT). This means that you interchange high and low intensity periods. This also is shown to have long-term fat-burning benefits.
2) I Just Want to Lose The Belly Fat (Contributed by Jehiah Hope): This sounds wonderful, but here’s the thing — you CAN’T spot-reduce fat. Doing a million reps of ab exercises (crunches, sit-ups, bicycles, etc.) will NOT give you that flat stomach/6-pack that you crave. You need to work your core because you need a strong core for stability in exercise or even everyday living. You do NOT need to work core to flatten your tummy. All you need to do is eat and train right and burn fat from all over the body.
1) Women Shouldn’t Lift Weights Because They Will Look Like Men (Contributed by Alicia Ramdeo, Jehiah Hope and Franz Gillezeau): This one irks anyone who is into fitness and, more so, knowledgeable and experienced trainers. First of all, what is “look like men”??? This is societal and arbitrary. Secondly, no matter how much weight you lift, if you eat more calories than you burn in exercise, you will never trim down your body fat. The “bulky” look comes from developing muscle and lowering your body fat. This can be controlled with guidance from a trainer (or enough research, if you are willing to do that). The reality is that the benefits of weight training for women outweigh any potential drawback. In addition to all the regular benefits (stronger, healthier, fitter, ability to shape your body), lifting heavy helps to strengthen bones and fight osteoporosis in older women. If you don’t want to lift heavy, please don’t say, “because I don’t want to get too bulky.”
Honourable Mention 1 — The Use of Waist Trainers (Contributed by Jehiah Hope): Many women (and some men) have this ridiculous belief that waist trainers are an effective method of weight loss. They either think it will “push the tummy in” (which, if it is tight enough to do that, is downright dangerous, as it will rearrange organs and unnecessarily increase intra-abdominal pressure, increasing the risk of organ failure) or it will help them “sweat it out.” This is also risky as all that you end up doing is training dehydrated. This reduces the effectiveness of your metabolism and could, in turn, reduce the amount of fat burned from a workout. Also, since we all know that we need to stay hydrated, any weight you lose from dehydrating yourself with a waist trainer (or track suit or whatever) will be regained when you drink water to rehydrate after.
Honourable Mention 2 — I’ll Train and Look Good for Carnival (this is one of MY pet peeves): Oh boy…. Every November, December and January, every gym and savannah sees an increase in seasonal fitness fanatics. There is this ridiculous idea that you can change your body in 4-6 weeks…. You CAN’T. People see my results and believe it will work for them. Here’s the thing, though — I train and eat well all year, so that 4-6 weeks is about fine-tuning, but not actually changing everything. Getting that Carnival Body starts on Ash Wednesday of the year before (with a good post-Carnival rest). From there, you should be paying attention to your diet and exercise constantly. When it gets closer to carnival (the typical 4-6 weeks), you should increase the volume of your workout and do more LISS Cardio to increase your Cardiovascular Endurance and your Muscular Endurance (Stamina) for those high-impact 2 days on the road. I know you want to fête all the time, but your alcohol intake should be monitored as it will only decrease any training results that you are working for. Overall, Carnival Fitness is a year-long endeavour.
There you have it. A long, but good one, trying to correct some of those myths that so many of us incorrectly live by. I hope you found this helpful and can use these tips to improve your health and fitness levels from a safe and scientifically sound standpoint.
Good read, to the point, common sense approach
[…] “the look”, as well as make your body more efficient in movement. N.B. Contrary to the popular fitness myth, “carbs” mean more than just flour. Rice, pasta, provisions (potato, sweet potato, etc) and […]