5 Fitness Myths Busted

I have always considered myself to be a generally healthy person. I've been on multivitamins most of my life, I've known my way around a gym since I was 12, and I've always eaten pretty healthy... or so I thought.

Look, everyone thinks that they're generally pretty healthy and on a track to physical wellness- even if they're plainly wrong. Sometimes, it takes us a while to realize just how wrong we are and many of us take a Machiavellian look at our prior mistakes and say, "oh well- I know how to do it right now." Let's face it, guys: would you rather be making mistakes in improving your physical health until you stumble into figuring it out, or would you rather face your mistakes head on and take control of your fitness?!

We're going to jump right into this and bust some myths that you've probably been centering your workouts around. THESE MYTHS ARE FOR MEN AND WOMEN ALIKE! We've all been making mistakes and we all need to confront them! So let's dive in: here are 5 fitness myths that we've got to stop subscribing to.

1. "I Want to Elongate My Arms." I hadn't heard this phrase until I'd started working out with Eric. He asked for my fitness goals and was apparently worried I'd say something like this. I went back and researched it and, lo and behold, this is a goal for a lot of women and they'll Pinterest the shit out of how to elongate their arms.

Ladies, look: our arms aren't getting any longer. If you are a grown woman, you have the length of arm now that you will have for the rest of your life. What I believe women are TRYING to communicate, based on the ballerina workouts and flexibility exercises I often see paired with "elongation" posts, is that they want slender arms. THAT we can work on! To get those, you'll have to do a little weight lifting, which many of Eric's clients have been very reluctant to do (because Pinterest told them not to). Slender arms are strong arms- message us if you'd like a workout plan to lends itself to slender (not elongated) arms.

2. "If I Work My Upper Body, the Rest Will Follow." Okay, boys, it's your turn. You hit the gym and you walk on the treadmill to warm up, then you go to the free weights and bench press and bicep curl until you feel sick, then you go home. And we're willing to bet you still have pretty lean legs, a bit of a gut, and can't run (RUN the whole time) a full mile without wanting to puke.

Guys, if you want a full, fit body, you've got to exercise your WHOLE body. You've got to incorporate aerobic exercise, like running or intense circuits; you've got to stretch so your muscles won't tear; you've got to do something with your lower body and core to get them engaged. Eric has more expertise in this area; as a competitive obstacle course racer, he would rarely isolate workouts on his core or arms- BUT he'd be in shape because his training involved exercises that engaged his whole body! If you want a plan that'll engage every muscle group but doesn't involve crunches or squats, talk to Eric- but beware: he'll kick your butt.

3. "If I Focus On My Abs, The Rest Will Follow." Um, no. I've got many friends, both male and female, who will spend a short amount of time at the gym. They run a quick mile, then they do a quick ab circuit, then they're done for the day. Alright... at least you're getting your heart rate up and doing something. But if you want muscular (or slender) arms and powerful (or sexy) legs, you have to focus on your arms and legs at some point!

I actually hold that the opposite approach to this workout is true: if you focus on engaging your whole body in your workout, every day, you will see effects on your abs and core. I also believe that if you can save a smidgen of time for a quick ab circuit and some yoga balance poses at the end of your workout, you'll notice results a lot faster and more comfortably than you would if you only paid attention to ab workouts.

4. "The More Time I Spend In The Gym, The Better." This belief might be more common to men, but plenty of women (including myself, sometimes) hold it too- and it is WRONG, my friends. Exercising frequently, 4-6 times per week, is definitely good. And maybe some longer days in the gym, where you push yourself to ultimate failure, are beneficial once in a while. But goodness gracious, don't go to the gym for three hours every day of the week. It's unhealthy, it's time wasting, and you're not doing that much better for your body.

A good workout happens when you push your body until it can't go any further (failure, in fitness-terms), then you rest and let it recover. Keyword: REST. You have to slow down! The muscle heals and rebuilds to be stronger when you rest. Therefore, if you don't rest, you don't get stronger. Most of the people we see in the gym for hours on end are standing around to allow for needed rest much more than they're actually exercising. Create (or ask for help in creating) a workout that is time-efficient, pushes you to your limits, and diversifies your muscular engagement. The smarter you plan your workout, the better.

5. "I Take Yoga and/or Zumba As My Only Exercise Form, And It Works Great." For now. I know someone that lost 30 pounds in only a month and a half, doing Zumba three times a week. She kept going, taking more classes and singing the exercises' praises. And you know what happened three months later? Though she kept taking classes regularly, her weight loss plateaued, then she started gaining weight again.

Why? What happened? If you didn't work out a whole lot before and then you started regularly doing yoga or taking cardio dance classes (like Zumba), you are going to see a lot of results very quickly. Then, once your body adjusts to the workout and knows what to expect? It's going to have a lot less of an impact. Yes, you will have gained a certain level of fitness (be it in flexibility, cardio, whatever), but if you don't increase the intensity or vigor of that exercise you are going to lose those benefits. Celebrity trainers preach that dynamic workouts that regularly change are one of the keys to fast results and well-defined muscles. If you fail to change up your workout, your workout will fail you.