Decoding Top 7 Fitness Myths

Suppose you went to the gym and entered the gym without your headphones on. You start warming up with light weights and suddenly hear someone screaming from a distance, “Beginners should only do body weight exercises.”

The only realization from that statement you should have is that you just entered the realm of fitness myths.

Jokes aside, it is very common to hear different myths throughout your fitness journey; some may be true, but most often, the statements are fiction. As a beginner, it is really hard to distinguish between what is right and what is not. The best thing you should do is to do some basic research and discover the natural science behind any statement.

Today, we will discuss the top 7 popular myths you might hear in your fitness journey, find out why those myths became popular, and decode them so that you can understand and educate others.

Let’s decode Some fitness myths for clarity

Just for clarification, I have provided my justification based on the scientific research behind these myths. If you have a counterargument, please feel free to comment; I would love to hear that.

Myth 1: Higher reps while cutting and lower reps while bulking

The Fitness Myth

This fitness Myth is one of the most common ones. It states that you need to use lower weights for higher reps with lighter weights when you are in the cutting phase (Weight loss phase) and lift heavy weights for lower reps when you are in the bulking phase (Weight gain phase). The higher reps indicate a repetition range between 20 to 30, and the lower reps indicate a repetition range from 5 to 12.

Grain of Truth

Every Myth has a little bit of truth about where it originated. However, that little truth gets overemphasized for no reason.

When bodybuilders get near a competition, they heavily restrict their diet to burn fat and achieve a certain look. They dehydrate themselves so that their muscle can be displayed well on the stage. That is why most of them train with lower weights before any competition so that they do not get injured before the competition, as they do not have much energy at the time because of a restrictive diet.

Decoding the Myth 

It only applies to professional bodybuilders or athletes of any particular sport. For almost 80% of us, this statement does not fit. Research shows that muscle gain occurs when we train to failure or close to failure. A repetition range between 5 and 30 is optimal for everyone as long as you are training optimally, reaching close to failure, maintaining a good diet, and recovering.

Lifting weight that challenges your muscles drives hypertrophy that promotes muscle growth.

Myth 2: You Need to have protein right after workout

The fitness Myth

“You need to have protein shakes right after your workout, or you will lose your gains, bro.” This Myth is not dying anytime soon. It states that you need to have a protein meal or shake right after you finish exercising, or you will miss your protein cycle and lose all the muscle-gaining opportunities you gained from working out.

In short, some people believe that after strength training or resistance training, you need to consume protein immediately, or all your training will be in vain.

Grain of Truth 

Yes, protein indeed helps us build more muscle and also helps us recover from muscle injuries. This statement was pushed so hard that it has transferred its shape to this Myth.

After training, your muscles break down, and at that time, protein helps your muscles to recover faster, but that does not mean that you need to instantly have protein right after finishing your workout.

Decoding the Myth 

It does not matter when you take the protein; the only thing that matters is that you are fulfilling your daily protein requirements. Many fitness coaches and researchers suggest splitting the daily protein intake throughout the day, so your body can process protein better and provide optimal results.

After a workout, you will eventually have a post-workout meal, so having protein there will eventually do the work. It does not matter if you take that meal right after a workout or 2 to 3 hours after the workout.

Myth 3: Ab exercises make you lose belly fat

The fitness Myth

Almost everyone has heard this Myth. It is one of the lucrative ones, as everyone wants to have a well-defined six-pack.

It states that you can burn belly fat if you train your abdominal muscles. Planks, Crunches, or other abdominal exercises burn your belly fat, and you can have a visible six-pack if you do abs workouts daily.

Grain of Truth 

Abs or abdominal muscles, are muscles like any other muscle in the body. When people usually start working out, they also somewhat improve their diet. As a result of improving their diet, they mostly lose the extra water and glycogen weights that they previously had. People usually like to train their abs, and when they see that they are losing body weight, they usually think that they are able to do fat loss because they are training their abs regularly.

Decoding the Myth 

The truth is far from myth. You cannot spot-reduce body fat. When you are in a calorie deficit, your body decides from where it will use the fat from your full body and convert it to energy.

Usually, males can see a visible six-pack when their body fat percentage is between 10% and 15%; the lower they get, the more visibility their abs will be. For women, the body fat percentage usually needs to be between 15% to 20%.

Abdominal exercises train your core muscle underneath the fat but do not reduce belly fat directly. To get a visible set of abs you need to lose weight. I am not saying to quit doing abs exercises, put them in your workout routine like other exercises.

Myth 4: If you are not sore, you are not building muscle

The fitness Myth 

This Myth is a bit controversial as it has two sides. Do not worry; we will explain it thoroughly. It states that if you work out a particular muscle and do not get soreness the next day, it indicates that your muscles will not grow.

Grain of Truth 

Muscle soreness is inflammation of muscle that occurs in your muscles when they get pushed hard, usually through exercises. Lactic acid builds up in your muscles when you work out, and that lactic acid creates soreness.

Decoding the Myth

Soreness indicates that you have trained a muscle hard enough to create inflammation. However, if you do not have soreness, that does not mean that your muscle is not going to grow.

Some muscle groups recover fast, like side delts, calves, and traps. Even if you train these muscles to failure, there is a chance that you will not feel much soreness in them. That does not mean that the muscles are not growing; they just recovered quickly.

Soreness is an indication, but it is not an absolute indication of growth. Also, if you get soreness for more than three days, then you should understand that you are over-training. Over training can increase stress and also can increase the risk of injury so do not try to go all out in every session.

Myth 5: More protein equals more gain

The fitness Myth

One of the most popular nutritional myths states that you must consume more protein to grow more muscle. Protein is the building block of muscle, and if your body gets more protein, you will gain more muscle.

Grain of Truth

Protein is the building block of muscle; this statement has been overemphasized. Fitness athletes or bodybuilders usually eat more protein than regular people, and from this, the Myth was born as fitness athletes and bodybuilders have more muscle than regular people.

Decoding the Myth 

There is always a threshold, and when you try to exceed it, it always backfires. Yes, you need a bit of extra protein to build muscle. However, you should keep in mind that after your body’s protein requirements are fulfilled, the extra protein will not do any muscle-building function rather it will only make you fat.

Extra protein means extra calories, and if you do not burn those extra calories, your body will convert those additional proteins into fat after a certain point. Excess of carbs or protein both will turn into fat as our body stores them for future usage.

Do the math. If your body requires 2000 calories and you are giving it 3000 calories, then you will be in a calorie surplus, and it does not matter from what source that extra calorie came (Protein, Carbohydrates, or Fats). If you are in a calorie surplus, you will gain weight.

Myth 6: Cardio kills your gain

The fitness Myth

This Myth is another controversial one. It has different opinions, and the opinions make sense to some extent. It states that if you want to build more muscle, you should stop doing cardio. Cardio burns calories and puts you in a maintenance or deficit state, so you will not be able to build muscle if you do cardio.

Grain of Truth

You need to be in a calorie surplus to build muscle. Cardio exercises are usually well-known for losing fat, so the statement became popular in that aspect.

Decoding the Myth

Anything extreme is bad. It is true that if you do heavy cardio before your weight-lifting session, you will lose your stamina, which will make you suffer in the weight-training session. So, should you stop doing cardio?

The answer is no. After your weight-lifting session, you can do moderate-state cardio like jogging, walking, or any other joint-friendly cardio. What is the benefit of having a good body if you do not have good heart health?

Cardio also increases your metabolism and it burns a good amount of calories, allowing you to eat more food. So, do not take extreme measures; take a more moderate approach.

Also, there is another popular statement related to cardio ” Exercise on an empty stomach burns more fat.” I have a detailed article related to it.

Myth 7: Whey protein is harmful for your kidney

The fitness Myth

We saved the best one for the last. You have already heard this Myth even if you are not into fitness. It states that consuming whey protein will hamper your health, especially it damages your kidneys or decreases your metabolic rate as it is an artificial way to consume protein.

Grain of Truth

The origin of this Myth is unclear. Most assume it came from people having digestive issues after consuming whey protein or some people having bloating issues after consuming whey protein.

Decoding the Myth

“Correlation does not mean causation.” This statement is very true for this Myth. Whey protein is a natural food supplement. Whey is a natural dairy component just extracted and transformed into powdered form.

Even baby food formulas are pretty similar to whey protein, just the protein quantity is less as it is recommended for babies. If you can consume that, then you can also consume whey protein.

Yes, some people indeed face bloating because of lactose intolerance. In that case, you can switch to “Isolate whey protein,” which has very low lactose.

Whey protein is a supplement, and it is not a must-have. It is best for its convenience, as you can just drink it, which is easy, and the protein-to-calorie ratio is very good.

It is not some magical product that will give you a boost that an egg or any other protein source cannot provide.

If you want us to debunk more myths like this, then leave a comment and let me know. Also, tell me whether you liked the grain of truth section or not. You can also contact me if you have heard any myths and cannot justify them.