Debunking 5 Common Fitness Myths and Misconceptions

Whether you’re simply looking to boost your mood, tone your body or slim down, if you’ve recently started working out, it’s likely because you want to lead a healthier lifestyle. However, there is a lot of fitness advice out there that, instead of helping you, will do the opposite. To address this problem, personal fitness trainers in Toronto have debunked common myths and misconceptions to ensure you better understand how to have an improved fitness regimen.

Sweating is our body’s natural way of regulating its temperature and cooling down. However, it is in no way an indicator of how many calories you might be burning during your routine. The perspiring rate also differs between individuals, meaning not everyone sweats the same while exercising. For some people, it’s possible to burn energy without breaking a sweat while others may do so profusely as soon as they start their routine. It’s true that you are losing some weight while perspiring but it’s generally just from water and will come back once you re-hydrate.  Losing weight requires that you burn energy (measured in calories). It cannot be measured by how much you sweat.

The best outcomes when focusing on weight loss can be achieved by maintaining a daily caloric deficit. Remember, while endurance training can burn energy faster, it’s not the only way to do so. Resistance training is a great way to shed those unwanted inches as it burns fat by elevating your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate). This is the number of calories that are needed for normal bodily functions while you’re at rest. When you have an increased BMR, it means your body is burning more fat and which results in increased lean mass, even when you haven’t worked out in a while. 

Although this may hold true for professional athletes, it isn’t the case for the rest of us. If your weight is around 160 lbs and on a given day, you run 3 miles, you will burn around 300 calories. That’s approximately the same number of calories that can be gained back with a single banana and a cup of oatmeal. Unfortunately, just because you workout doesn’t mean you have a license to eat whatever you want. Your main aim should be to burn the same number of calories you’re consuming in a day to maintain your weight. If you’re exercising to lose weight, then your goal should be to burn more than you’re consuming.

This is a popular myth, mainly because people want it to be true. It is the belief that focusing on a specific area on the body can get rid of unwanted fat from that area. For instance, when someone does crunches, it’s generally because they think it will help them have a flat stomach faster. However, this isn’t how our body works. The fat layers are present between the skin and the muscle and while we’re burning fat when working out, it’s never from one specific area but overall.

Women produce very small quantities of testosterone. This makes them less likely to gain lean muscle even when they exercise with the same intensity as their male counterparts. Focusing on different muscle groups using lighter weights and performing a higher number of repetitions can aid in toning the muscles while losing weight. So, as long as it isn’t powerlifting, women can safely lift weights during training sessions. 

Hopefully, this blog post has helped clear some of the myths and misconceptions regarding what’s right and what’s wrong when it comes to fitness. Just because something worked for someone else doesn’t necessarily mean it will work for you the same way. The most important thing is to listen to your body and see what works best for you. 

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