It’s funny the myths that are out there!  I overhear people give their friends advice on how to loose body fat, on how to eat properly, on how to get fit.. most of it is WRONG!!!!  Let’s take a look

Myth 1 – You only have to do cardio 20 mts before breakfast every day to loose body fat – FALSE

The truth is that cardio workout before breakfast is a strong tactic to burn body fat if and only if it’s done for a minimum of 45 minutes then is fueled with a protein rich meal.  Your body uses it’s stored energy for the first 20 minutes then will go to the body fat as a secondary source of energy, go longer to see the benefits

Myth 2 – Strength training is not for women, we end up looking like Arnie! – FALSE

Strength training is a very important component to a training program. Women don’t have the testosterone levels to seriously look like Arnie.  Female body builders have to work 4X as hard as their men counterparts to get a serious cut.  Muscles burn fat, absolutely!  Muscles feed the bones, keeping bone desease at bay when we age, absolutely!  We will get cut pushing weights, absolutely!  We will loose body fat pushing weights, absolutely!!! but getting bulked up like Arnie just won’t happen unless you seriously train, eat and sleep that way! Go ahead ladies, push those weights!

Myth 3 – doing cardio workout before pushing weights will help loose weight – FALSE

Ok, here’s the thing on this one.  Doing a few minutes (15 mts) of cardio before your strength program is a GREAT idea.  Doing long cardio before your strength program is a BAD idea!  You want to keep your energy to push those weights.  What’s the sense of depleting your muscle and energy system before your workout?  We need to keep the focus of the workout in check.  If it’s a cardio workout, go for it, go long, go hard.. just go! if it’s a strenth workout, push and push hard!!!  both workouts have a different focus! Stay on track by knowing what you are doing and what the goal of the session will be!

Myth 4 – Combining Weights and Cardio is a great workout – TRUE

The trick is to lower the weight load in order to combine both components.  For example, let’s look at the Boot Camp format:  weights, cardio, all body moves all in one session!  If you take a good look at it, no one is pushing anything higher than 45-50% of their one rep max. In other words, the key is to push only half of what you can do in a pure move. It’s the number of repetitions here that count in a given time frame.  Love those boot camps!

Myth 5 – Only do pure moves when pushing weights – TRUE & FALSE

If you are in a phase where you want to increase your weight load, go heavy but stick to pure moves, it’s safer and you can experiment with a higher weight load.  If you are used to the weight load, then go ahead and add combination moves or all body moves.  It’s what we are engineered to do!

Myth 6 – It’s better to use machines instead of free weights because I can push more load – FALSE

No!  although you can push more weight because you are in essence strapped in (body is completely isolated), you will better and faster results by using free weights.  Pure isolation is not the key to fitness and strenght.  Go ahead, bend down to pick something off the floor, what have you isolated? how many moves has your body done to get the task done (squat, arm extension, back extension, bicep curl)?  the answer:  WHO CARES! it’s about getting the task done!  pushing weights for fitness is the same thing!  Move people!!!

There’s alot to know about building a program that is right for you.  I always suggest to speak with a professional before you undertake a program.  Ask the questions, be sure you are comfortable with that person then work towards understanding the mechanics.  You can do it!

I love to hear how people undertake their fitness programs, leave me a comment on what has worked for you!

Tags: all body moves, body fat, bone desease, bulking up, cardio training, combination moves, core strengt, dumbbells, engineering system, strength training, women and weights

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This entry was posted on Thursday, December 23rd, 2010 at 5:35 am and is filed under Life skills, fitness, general health, phases, strength training, training style. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.