For the purpose of this blog post, I am going to drop a bit
of heat on some myths and fiction surrounding training. There are a lot of
misconceptions surrounding exercise, some are good and some are not so good; so
without further adduce, I shall get right into a few of the biggest
misconceptions I hear surrounding training. I have been working and educating
myself professionally since 2008, so I have heard a lot of mixed opinions, but
will narrow it down to 5 for this blog.
In no particular order, here are 5 myths
and some facts to back my thoughts on the matter up:
1) Weight training makes you bulky:
Over time, with progressive overload and adequate recovery protocols, lifting
weights will enable your body to grow and gain muscle mass. The part that
people often forget though, is that not only is it quite hard to nail the
strength training and recovery protocol to a tee, this process takes a very
long time. So long in fact, that a lot of research has reported that after the
first year of training where mass gains can be anywhere from 3 to 5 kilograms,
each year after that could see a gain of 1 to 2 kilos per year, if you are
lucky. Considering that you can eat at a caloric surplus and not train at all,
and gain that sort of weight in only a few months, I fail to see how weight
training can in fact truly make you “bulky”
2) Lifting weights will make you slow:
Given that we know stronger bodies are more resilient, produce greater amounts
of force and have a massive increase in fatigue resistance when compared to
untrained bodies, weight training will result in nothing but positive
adaptations. By gaining a small amount of muscle mass, you have a better
metabolic rate moving forwards also, which in turn could see you burn more
unnecessary adipose tissue on your body and in turn, continue to make you
faster by being lighter. Weight training will make you anything but slow.
3) If you are not sore the next day, you
didn’t work hard enough:
Whilst progressive overload and overreaching is at the forefront of any
strength training regime, being sore is not always the outcome we are after.
Quite the opposite really, for the most part. Muscles become sore because of an
increase in muscle damage which takes place during eccentric muscle action. We
also produce waste and metabolites during exercise, and these can accumulate
throughout a big training session, again presenting as soreness the next day. A
lot of the time, we are sore due to unfamiliar movement patterns and again, are
not used to the damage and metabolite accumulation seen during this new
exercise. Chasing soreness however is definitely a different story altogether.
The best way to progress an exercise, is to accumulate total working volume and
then slowly work to increase the variables throughout the given exercise. This
means adding 10%-15% total working load per week for roughly 4 to 5 weeks. This
doesn’t mean doubling working volume every time you enter the gym.
4) You need to do cardio based exercise
in order to lose weight:
This one, along with #3 are probably the most common phrases you will hear when
it comes to training. Fortunately, this is not the case, as if it were, we’d
all be very overweight through a lack of activity. Whilst all exercise involves
the movement of skeletal muscle against an external resistance, cardiovascular
activity is aerobic in nature and can see us go for extended periods of time
without a break. Because of this, we can most certainly accumulate a lot of
caloric expenditure and fast track our weight loss journey. There is also an
insane amount of health benefits associated with cardio based activity and
losing weight, but don’t be tempted to rely on cardio as a way to maintain a
healthy weight range. Unfortunately, there is only so many calories that can be
burnt during exercise, and there is only so much fatigue we can accumulate
before we destroy our immune systems and hormonal health. Cardio should be
looked at in the same light as weights training. We need to progressively
overload, monitor out work rates, have our rest days and not consider it the be
all and end all. Put it this way, if it takes a 30 minute brisk walk to burn
350 calories, and the Mars bar is also 350 calories, it’s easier to just not
eat the Mars bar. Get your diet right in order to lose weight.
5) I have tried everything, but nothing
seems to work for me:
This is a broad one, but usually sees somebody join a 12 week program, get
flogged by a barely out of high school Personal Trainer, lose 6 kilograms and
then put it all back on again within the next month and a half. Unfortunately,
this is rampant within the fitness industry, yet there are so many better
alternatives available. The truth is, you can’t out train a poor diet. You can’t
have massive inconsistencies in your training schedule, you can’t have broken
sleeping patterns and you can’t jump from program to program and expect change.
By having a qualified trainer, a qualified nutritionist, a good GP and a good
work/life/stress balance, you will succeed long term. There is no quick fix and
until you equip yourself with a good support network and have the right
conversations, you won’t get as far as you want to.