Category: Myths Busted

BUSTED:  Look, training longer is not synonyms with training harder.  If one person walks 1 mile in 20 min and another person runs 1 mile in 8 minutes, who do you think exerted more energy?  The answer is obvious, the person who ran 1 mile in 8 minutes clearly exercised with a increased level of intensity and with out a doubt burnt more calories than the other guy!

Same goes for the person who lifted weights intensely for 45 minutes as opposed to the person who lifted weights for 2 hours.

Your body is a well oiled machine and if you think you can out-smart it, you are wrong!

There are a multitude of immediate physiological responses to high intensity training that are just not present in moderate, longer exercising routines.

There are numerous studies that show how more intense exercise for shorter periods of time is more effective at burning fat than long, drawn out routines.

And look, I know what you might be thinking now… You are thinking I am telling you to go do HIIT training or some sort of crazy, intense routine.  Nope.

What I am saying is maybe your routine can be shortened by a few minutes to give it the extra “edge.”

So if your routine is 1 hour and you have a set amount of exercises you need to complete, challenge yourself to finish the routine in 45min with the same amount of exercises you’d perform in the 1 hour.

I can guarantee that you will burn more fat and see faster results doing this for 1 month as opposed to your older, slower routine!

 

 

 

FALSE: We may refer to our abs as the “upper part and lower part” for the sake of describing what we are talking about, but when it comes to anatomy, there really is no such thing.  A quick lesson in anatomy will explain this myth.  Your abdominal consists of several different muscles.  The main part that gives us the “6 pack” or the part that we visually see working is the Rectus Abdominus.  So when most people say they are working the “lower abs” they mean the bottom portion of the Rectus Abdominus, even though all the muscles in the abdomen are working. However, there is a another muscle that lies underneath your Rectus abdominus called the Psoas.  This muscle is part of your hip muscles and responsible for flexion of the hip (raising of the leg). SO if you are doing leg raises or knee tucks, your abdominal’s are more so stabilizing your movements than being worked. And unless you’re getting a strong contraction on your abs at the peak of the movement, you are not really working your abs at all!  Instead, that “burning feeling” you feel is probably your psoas muscle.  And doing this exercise incorrectly is why some may even feel “lower back pain.”

If you are unsure of how you are performing this exercise, stick with crunches and planks.

FALSE: There is no such thing as spot reduction in either men or women.  If you have a higher percentage of body fat and are unable to see significant definition of your obliques (or any muscle group), doing side bends is not going to burn the fat any faster.  Yes, you will probably strengthen the muscle group. And you will strengthen any muscle group that you put resistance on and include a periodized workout. However, if you want to lose the fat on your belly, it comes down to correct dieting and a proper routine to insure loss of body fat and increase muscular definition.  If you  predominantly concerned with fat loss, then you may want to include more aerobic exercises (carido) in your routine.  When you decrease your body fat, you decrease it from your entire body, not just one spot.  In fact, the last place to lose body fat is usually the midsection, hips, and thighs.  Stick with a solid diet and routine, and you will get the desired body you want in ALL SPOTS.