With the rise of social media, the fitness industry has become way more easily accessible to everyone. There are millions of influencers, athletes, and trainers who share their workouts, diets, and health knowledge online. It’s amazing to have so much free information at our fingertips, but with all of this diversity and access comes a lot of fitness myths that need to be debunked. 

Myth #1: You can spot reduce fat.

I’m sure many of us have been scrolling through Instagram, Facebook, or TikTok and seen workouts claiming to help you lose fat in specific spots such as love handles, arm fat, and cellulite. Although the idea of choosing exactly where we are going to lose weight may seem appealing, the truth is that it doesn’t necessarily work like that. 

Just because you are working out a particular muscle in the body, it doesn’t mean that the fat around it will go away. If you are already lean, these workouts could possible help you define those specific muscles, but because you are focusing on such small muscles in the body, there is usually not a lot of results in fat loss.

Genetics has a lot to do with where your body will carry weight. This means that the best way to lose fat is to focus on training larger muscle groups and overall fat loss.

Acefitness.org says it best: “You can try to cook a turkey with a candle, or you could use the oven.” 

Myth #2: Lots of crunches will give you abs.

This fitness myth has been around for a looonnggg time. It seems like it should make sense, crunches build a stronger core, and a stronger core means abs…right? Not necessarily. Having abs has a lot less to do with the strength of your core, and a lot more to do with diet, type of training, and genetics.

Although crunches will make your core stronger, they will not give you abs. Some people will genetically be more inclined to have a 6 pack, and others no matter how strong their core is, will never have a 6 pack in their life.

All in all, if you are trying to get visible abs, focus more on your diet, living a healthy lifestyle, and engaging your core through every exercise you do in the gym. Many people build abs without even doing crunches.

Myth #3: You can’t drink too much water.

This myth is 100% false. Although people often don’t drink enough water, there is such a thing as drinking too much water. This causes a condition called hyponatremia which is when your kidneys are unable to get rid of the excess water and the sodium content in your blood becomes diluted.

Once again, this is extremely rare however feel free to check out our freeHydration Calculatorto learn your recommended daily water intake!

Myth #4: You should always do cardio before your weight session.

Many people will start their session off with cardio before their weight session because it is said that it will help you burn more calories. However, this is not necessarily true. Doing cardio before your weight session actually uses up a lot of your energy and fatigues your muscles before the more strenuous activity. This means that you may not get as effective of a weight session.

On top of that, if you do cardio after you lift, your body will generally tend to burn more fat.

Myth #5: Strength training will make you bulky.

This is probably one of the most frequently heard myths in the fitness world, and it is not true. Although strength training is often associated with bodybuilding and professional athletes it does not make you bulky unless you train to be so. 

Strength training is great for heart health, metabolism, posture, and increasing energy! Lifting usually works multiple parts of your body at once and having strength in your muscles actually helps to reduce injuries.

Many women get nervous to lift heavy weights but the fact of the matter is that women’s hormones are different to men’s and it is harder for women to “bulk up”.

Working out is different for everyone. Although it’s great to have so much free access to fitness content all of the time, it’s easy to take everyone’s advice seriously. The biggest piece of advice we would give for people in fitness is to try different things until you find what works best for your body!