Common weight-training myths

Back in the day, I used to hear all kinds of nonsense coming out of the mouths of the uninformed, usually from those who wanted excuses not to enter the gym. Some of these myths still exist today. Maybe you have heard these as well.

• Spot reduction – The best one is doing lots of sit-ups to lose belly fat. Or triceps extensions to lose fat on the back of the arm. Strengthening these areas as an end in itself is fine. But no amount of exercise targeting specific muscles will burn the fat off. Fat loss is a function of caloric intake. You must burn more than you ingest. Of course it is not that simple: quality of calories is important too. It is true that you burn calories while building muscle, but it isn’t muscle specific.
• Muscle can turn into fat – Fat cells and muscle cells perform completely different functions. It is not possible to transform one into the other. If you become soft and lumpy after being hard and lean, it is because your training has decreased and your eating – of unhealthy foods – has increased. Muscle loss is due to a lack of external stimulation. Muscle atrophies as fat increases; they are not transformed one into the other.
• Your muscles will get too big if you do strength training – It is common to make noticeable gains in muscle size in the first few weeks or months of strength training because the muscles are adapting to the stimulation of lifting weights. Accidentally getting too big is a myth. And if you have been doing strength training for very long, you will find this one quite funny. It takes a lot of hard work to build muscle mass and strength. It takes time. A strong, muscular body is built through consistent dedication to strength training and proper nutrition. Consistency means training regularly and steadily, week in and week out, never missing a workout.
• More is better – If you are weight training, in general, 30-40 repetitions, is enough to build strength. This can be broken up into sets of 3-4, totalling between 30 and 40 repetitions for one muscle group. Overtraining will not make you stronger. With other forms of strength training, sufficient work depends on many factors such as genetics, diet, sleep, training intensity, frequency, and volume or duration. If you are overtraining, chronic fatigue will set in, you may lose motivation, sustain injuries, and develop and increased resting heart rate.
• You can reshape a muscle doing isolation exercises – Your muscles can better bigger or smaller but shape is genetically determined. You can reshape your body but doing strength training, by reducing fat and building muscle, but you cannot reshape individual muscles by doing isolation exercises.
• You need high reps for definition, and low reps for mass – Muscle definition is based on the size of the muscle and the amount of fat surrounding the muscle. Doing high repetitions to burn extra calories is highly ineffective. Building muscle burns calories and high repetitions is a long road to building muscle. A consistent variety of high-intensity interval training along with proper nutrition is the way to get defined muscles.
• Strength training makes you big, cardio makes you lean – Again, diet is the major factor that regulates body composition. Strength training is the best fat burning strategy. More muscle burns fat. Endurance training can assist in fat burning but it won’t build muscle. To gain weight, increase caloric intake and build muscle through strength training. To get lean, decrease calorie intake and increase your metabolism by building muscle. Coupled with endurance training, you will become leaner.
• You can’t build muscle and lose fat at the same time – With proper nutrition it is possible to make gains in strength while losing fat at the same time, especially if you are just starting out. For more experienced athletes, it becomes more difficult but not impossible. You need to take in sufficient calories to build muscle. By choosing your food well, you can build muscle and lose fat.
• Weight lifting decreases flexibility – weight lifting will actually make you more flexible. Lack of movement makes you inflexible. Increasing your muscle mass or strength won’t reduce your flexibility at all.

So, there you have it. Strength training in combination with proper nutrition is important for everyone’s health and longevity. No excuses. So get out there and train!

Remember, “pain is weakness leaving the body”. - Unknown