Fitness / Health Myths...WHY Are They Still Around?

These emails, articles, posts boggle my mind, you can search the Google and you will find the same re-hashing of these myths in articles going back for years, YEARS! So, why are we still talking about them and a better question…why doesn’t everyone know these to be myths? I bet you’re saying to yourself everyone does know they are myths; the authors are just churning out the same old articles to make money. I would tend to agree on some level, but being a fitness person and a NASM Certified Personal Trainer, I talk about fitness all the time to anyone who will listen. And I run into people all the time that STILL don’t know that these are myths or facts that have been proven false.

Every few weeks or so I get an email from one of the many fitness people I follow about Fitness / Health Myths. In fact, I got one today - - “Seven Myths of Strength Training for Women” (the author didn’t spell out “seven”, which isn’t the grammatically correct, but that’s a different blog post, any number under 10 is supposed to be spelled out, in case you were wondering).

Here are a few of the MYTHS I hear almost on a daily basis (yes I talk about fitness/health that much)

1.    I can’t eat eggs, I have high cholesterol – Eggs are the one of the closest foods to being perfect. It is a perfect balance of protein and fat for the body to utilize.

2.    It has to be fat-free or I’ll get fat – We need to change our mindset. Fat-Free means chemically laden. This means toxins in your body that make you retain weight.

3.    Doing crunches will get rid of belly fat – You’ll have sore ab muscles under the layer of fat you’re trying to get off. Health, fitness, and how you look is 80-90% of what you eat and 10-20% of your exercise regimen

4.    And my all-time favorite ... Weight training will make women bulky. – Unless you are a woman that is naturally high in testosterone you cannot bulk up like a man. And even if you are naturally high in testosterone you will never get a s big as a bodybuilder without supplementing with steroids.

So, why do we get weekly reminders that these are myths? And why do many people still believe that they are truths?  Well, I personally think it’s because there are people in the fitness industry that still believe them as truths.

In my quest to find a job in the fitness industry, as a certified personal trainer, I was talking to a trainer, who owned a franchised gym, that said to me (and I quote) “as women we need to do yoga to lengthen our muscles so we don’t bulk up.” What?! What did you just say?!

And that’s how these myths continue and I’m sure there will be new articles next week telling us again that you can’t spot reduce fat.