Top 3 fitness myths you should throw out the window

If you’re a health nut or a gym buff like me, you’ve probably hear one or two people asking you whether or not this health/fitness fact is true. I’ve had my share of strangers inquiring about the effectiveness of exercise programs and diet plans to help the body become stronger and healthier, so I’ve decided to put together a short list of things about fitness that people take as gospel truth—but are actually nothing but empty claims.

1. If women do strength training, they’ll turn into hulky, bulky male-looking creatures.

This is just wrong. You don’t expect a woman to puff up with beefy muscles even if put through the same exercise program as a man, for the simple reason that the biological makeup of the two genders are drastically different.
The male hormone testosterone is the primary reason why males gain bigger muscle mass than women even if both of them undergo the same resistance training class. And while women do produce testosterone, they do so only in insignificant amounts—not enough to boost muscle mass the size of a man’s.

2. Crunches and ab workouts will give you the six pack abdomen you’ve always wanted.

Believe me, it doesn’t matter if you do abdominal workouts a zillion times a day—you still wouldn’t get a trim, slab-like abdomen. The first thing you need to remember is that you simply cannot do spot reduction of body fat, and toning just your abdominal muscles will do you no good.

To be able to see real results, you have to first reduce your overall body fat and then work on building the muscles. You can’t simply isolate an area and hope that all your spot training will result to increased muscle mass.

3. Food supplements are necessary to help you achieve your fitness and health goals.

Here’s good news for all the health nuts out there who want to be fit but cannot afford to purchase all the trappings, equipment and food supplements that are ‘required’ to help them get the body they want.

Food supplements are necessary only to the extent that they can help you lose weight and build muscle mass faster, but they are not really part and parcel of the fitness program. What you need is good nutrition, and it’s likely that you won’t have to buy the pricey food tablets and protein powders anymore.