Gym myths

[EKnight]

The "Off-topic" board has been so political and bickering lately, so I thought I'd throw something "lighter" out there. Based on a previous thread on powerlifting, I know lots of you guys/girls work out, so I thought I'd throw out some of the biggest gym-related "myths" I've heard. Feel free to add any.

1. "When you get old, all the muscle will turn to fat." Seriously hear this one once every few weeks. Your body can not change the compostion of its cells. That's like changing bone to hair. Not going to happen.

2. Eating smaller meals several times a day "boosts" you metabolism. The clinical literature does not support this. Likewise, eating breakfast does not "boost" metabolic function, and eating late at night will not cause you to gain weight. As long as you're eating within your basal metabolic rate (BMR), you're not going to gain fat based on meal frequency or timing, barring some outying medical condition.

3. Carbs make you fat. Uh, no. Calories make you fat- specifically too many of them. Look no further than Mark Haub or Chris Voigt, who ate mostly Twinkies and potatoes, respectively, for a month, but stayed under their BMR, and not only lost fat but drastically improved their blood lipid profiles.

4. Incline bench press works your "upper chest" and leg raises work your "lower abs." EMG studies show these things to be fallacies, mainly because a muscle can not contract preferentially- it either shortens from point of origin to point of insertion all the way or not at all. The funniest part of this one is the "lower abs" myth, since your abs connect to your pelvis, not your femurs, so any leg movement has nothing to do with them at all, but instead your Iliopsoas (the 3 muscles making up the hip flexors) which run from the lower spine and attach to the legs. Because they run deep to the abs, people associate the "burn" they feel doing leg raises with their abs, but they're actually working their hip flexors.

5. High protein diets cause kidney failure. No clinical evidence supports this for people with normal renal function.

6. Replacing muscle with fat will boost your metabolism. This one is true- but with the caveat that it will only make a very negligible difference. Remember BMR? It's based on body weight (along with height, age, and gender), not body fat or lean mass. A pound of muscle, at rest, burns about six calories per day; a pound of fat burns about two. So if you replace 20 pounds of fat with 20 pounds of muscle (about a year's worth of steady, intense weight training and correct nutrition), your metabolic rate has increased a whopping 80 calories a day. That's not to say that strength training isn't important- but it's not going to cause some sort of metabolic overhaul, as many believe.

Those are six off the top of my head- I'm sure you guys have heard some others. -EK

[Landshark]

Good post, EK.  I enjoyed reading it.  But I do have a rebuttle on one point.

2.  While this might be true, skipping breakfast, especially before working out, can cause a serious drop in blood sugar levels and make you lightheaded, uncoordinated, and craving food later in the day.  This can cause someone to overeat.

[EKnight]

Good post, EK.  I enjoyed reading it.  But I do have a rebuttle on one point.

2.  While this might be true, skipping breakfast, especially before working out, can cause a serious drop in blood sugar levels and make you lightheaded, uncoordinated, and craving food later in the day.  This can cause someone to overeat.

I weight train fasted and have for years with no problems, but I see your point. The initial week is rough while you get used to it, but on the other hand, the entire methodology behind Intermittant Fasting utilizes training fasted and sipping on BCAAs simply to increase protein synthesis. If you're interested, check out either LeanGains.com for the bulk of the research behind it. It's certainly a personal choice, and isn't necessarily "better" by any means, but it works for many without the issue of overeating later. Along those lines, I remembered/thought of #7:

7. Fasted cardio, first thing in the morning burns more body fat (presumably because glycogen levels are lower). Again, the bulk of the research seems to indicate that fed cardio yields as good or better results. Dr. Layne Norton has done substantial research on this topic.

-EK

[badger6]

The "Off-topic" board has been so political and bickering lately, so I thought I'd throw something "lighter" out there. Based on a previous thread on powerlifting, I know lots of you guys/girls work out, so I thought I'd throw out some of the biggest gym-related "myths" I've heard. Feel free to add any.

Oh, I like this one. I'll weigh in with my OPINION on the subject. BTW, come on and jump in the political threads, the more the merrier, err I guess, ha ha haaaaa.

1. "When you get old, all the muscle will turn to fat." Seriously hear this one once every few weeks. Your body can not change the compostion of its cells. That's like changing bone to hair. Not going to happen.

I agree that muscle will not turn to fat. As you get older your test levels drop and it's harder to gain or keep lean body mass. Also the fact that you are more prone to - workout less, less intense, or injure yourself.

2. Eating smaller meals several times a day "boosts" you metabolism. The clinical literature does not support this. Likewise, eating breakfast does not "boost" metabolic function, and eating late at night will not cause you to gain weight. As long as you're eating within your basal metabolic rate (BMR), you're not going to gain fat based on meal frequency or timing, barring some outying medical condition.

I kind of agree. In the fact that several small meals won't really boost your metabolism. But I do think that eating smaller more often has more to do with calorie and protein utilization and positive nitrogen balance. The more calories you eat at once the more chance that your body won't burn or use all of those calories and they could be stored be stored, any calories not used will be stored. Alternatively, eating smaller more often gives your body a chance to burn off those calories. Also, IMO, eating smaller meals helps with binging, insulin response, and energy levels throughout the day.

3. Carbs make you fat. Uh, no. Calories make you fat- specifically too many of them. Look no further than Mark Haub or Chris Voigt, who ate mostly Twinkies and potatoes, respectively, for a month, but stayed under their BMR, and not only lost fat but drastically improved their blood lipid profiles.

I would dispute this somewhat. Carbs don't make you fat, but they play a big role. Blood sugar levels and insulin response has a lot to do with fat storage and loss. Everyone has different metabolisms and body types that respond differently to consumption of carbs. In my personal experience, I have tried many different macro ratios, carbs types and timing. Assuming the same daily calories don't change, the best for me was simple carbs until 11am, complex carbs until mid afternoon, and fibrous carbs the rest of the day. Actually, that change got me to my lowest BF%. When it comes down to it, it's calories in vs calories out, but there are other factors that can help or hinder weight loss.

4. Incline bench press works your "upper chest" and leg raises work your "lower abs." EMG studies show these things to be fallacies, mainly because a muscle can not contract preferentially- it either shortens from point of origin to point of insertion all the way or not at all. The funniest part of this one is the "lower abs" myth, since your abs connect to your pelvis, not your femurs, so any leg movement has nothing to do with them at all, but instead your Iliopsoas (the 3 muscles making up the hip flexors) which run from the lower spine and attach to the legs. Because they run deep to the abs, people associate the "burn" they feel doing leg raises with their abs, but they're actually working their hip flexors.

I wouldn't say that an incline bench press works your upper chest per se. I would however say that I think it is best to work muscle groups from as many different angles as possible. As for the lower abs, most in shape people have developed abs, they are just covered by fat. Unless you are competing you shouldn't need much direct ab work. However, I get the best ab workout from different types of roman chair leg raises, not sure if you consider that "leg movement" or not.

5. High protein diets cause kidney failure. No clinical evidence supports this for people with normal renal function.

High protien, moderate fat, and moderate to low carbs for me....

6. Replacing muscle with fat will boost your metabolism. This one is true- but with the caveat that it will only make a very negligible difference. Remember BMR? It's based on body weight (along with height, age, and gender), not body fat or lean mass. A pound of muscle, at rest, burns about six calories per day; a pound of fat burns about two. So if you replace 20 pounds of fat with 20 pounds of muscle (about a year's worth of steady, intense weight training and correct nutrition), your metabolic rate has increased a whopping 80 calories a day. That's not to say that strength training isn't important- but it's not going to cause some sort of metabolic overhaul, as many believe.

I agree with this one.

Those are six off the top of my head- I'm sure you guys have heard some others. -EK

Good thread EK !!!


A couple that I have

1. You can't lose fat and gain muscle at the same time, ie, a recomp. You certainly can, I do it every year.

2. You need to spend hours in the gym or do countless sets and reps to get results. Again, not true.

[EKnight]

Oh, I like this one. I'll weigh in with my OPINION on the subject. BTW, come on and jump in the political threads, the more the merrier, err I guess, ha ha haaaaa.


I kind of agree. In the fact that several small meals won't really boost your metabolism. But I do think that eating smaller more often has more to do with calorie and protein utilization and positive nitrogen balance. The more calories you eat at once the more chance that your body won't burn or use all of those calories and they could be stored be stored, any calories not used will be stored. Alternatively, eating smaller more often gives your body a chance to burn off those calories. Also, IMO, eating smaller meals helps with binging, insulin response, and energy levels throughout the day.

Your body will burn those calories irrespective of when the meals are eaten.
 

I would dispute this somewhat. Carbs don't make you fat, but they play a big role. Blood sugar levels and insulin response has a lot to do with fat storage and loss. Everyone has different metabolisms and body types that respond differently to consumption of carbs. In my personal experience, I have tried many different macro ratios, carbs types and timing. Assuming the same daily calories don't change, the best for me was simple carbs until 11am, complex carbs until mid afternoon, and fibrous carbs the rest of the day. Actually, that change got me to my lowest BF%. When it comes down to it, it's calories in vs calories out, but there are other factors that can help or hinder weight loss.

The bulk of medical literature would dispute this. Insulin is also not the rate limiting factor in fat loss or storage. It affects lipolysis, but NOT fatty acid oxidation.

I wouldn't say that an incline bench press works your upper chest per se. I would however say that I think it is best to work muscle groups from as many different angles as possible. As for the lower abs, most in shape people have developed abs, they are just covered by fat. Unless you are competing you shouldn't need much direct ab work. However, I get the best ab workout from different types of roman chair leg raises, not sure if you consider that "leg movement" or not.

High protien, moderate fat, and moderate to low carbs for me....

I agree with this one.

Good thread EK !!!


A couple that I have

1. You can't lose fat and gain muscle at the same time, ie, a recomp. You certainly can, I do it every year.

2. You need to spend hours in the gym or do countless sets and reps to get results. Again, not true.

My responses in bold. -EK

[masterfins]

Good post EK.  I'm overdue to get back into the gym for my annual fall workouts (to take off the 20 lbs I seem to put on every summer).  Any good tips on balancing cardio vs weight training?  I usually like to do 20-30 minutes of elliptical for cardio, then do 20 minutes of work on the universal weight machines (same thing every day, 5-6 days per week).  When I first get back into working out in the fall I'll do situps or crunches, but they seem to lose their effectiveness after a month or so.

[EKnight]

Master- In terms of improving body composition, I would consider the following:
1. Determine your BMR and activity level (there's a few calcultors online that will do this for you), then subtract 300-500 calories from it. This is enough to lose the weight slowly and effectively.
2. Cut the weight training to 3 non-consecutive days and increase elliptical by 20 minutes on the non-weight training days.

If you have trouble with the BMR thing PM me and I'll be happy to help! -EK

[Brian Fein]

I'd try to avoid doing the same weight training exercises every day.  Instead of working out your muscles, you're practicing that motion.  There are 10-15 different exercises for every muscle group, maybe switch it up every day.

[Dolphster]

Not sure if this one falls into the Gym Myth category or the Blatant Lie category:
"Tomorrow I'm going to get back in the gym and get serious about my workout routine."         This one is closely associated with  "Okay, since I'm going to start working out seriously tomorrow, I'm going to have this last day of pigging out."    And yes, I am guilty of these offenses sometimes.  I'm famous for working out really hard for 8 months and getting into great shape, then falling off the wagon and getting flabby again and then another 8 months of killing it in the gym, etc. etc. 

[badger6]

Not sure if this one falls into the Gym Myth category or the Blatant Lie category:
"Tomorrow I'm going to get back in the gym and get serious about my workout routine."         This one is closely associated with  "Okay, since I'm going to start working out seriously tomorrow, I'm going to have this last day of pigging out."    And yes, I am guilty of these offenses sometimes.  I'm famous for working out really hard for 8 months and getting into great shape, then falling off the wagon and getting flabby again and then another 8 months of killing it in the gym, etc. etc. 

I do the same thing, but I'm not young anymore. My body can't hold up year round. I usually hit it hard 3 months on 3 months off. My weight doesn't change much when I train or not train, but I go from a somewhat loose 32 to a somewhat snug 34 in the waist. My weight stays between 185-192.

[EKnight]

I'd try to avoid doing the same weight training exercises every day.  Instead of working out your muscles, you're practicing that motion.  There are 10-15 different exercises for every muscle group, maybe switch it up every day.

For the most part, but it depends on your goals. Strength specific athletes do exactly this ^^^ to get better at the motions they compete with. Plus, neurological adaptation for motor fiber recruitment takes 6-10 weeks to fully develop. -EK

[masterfins]

Master- In terms of improving body composition, I would consider the following:
1. Determine your BMR and activity level (there's a few calcultors online that will do this for you), then subtract 300-500 calories from it. This is enough to lose the weight slowly and effectively.
2. Cut the weight training to 3 non-consecutive days and increase elliptical by 20 minutes on the non-weight training days.

If you have trouble with the BMR thing PM me and I'll be happy to help! -EK

Thanks for the pointers.

[EKnight]

You're welcome! -EK