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30 Popular Fitness And Health Beliefs That Aren’t Accurate At All
Working out is a great way to be healthy and stay in shape. That’s why people love to try different fitness tips and hacks to see which works the best. The problem with that is there’s so much information all around that there’s bound to be misinformation as well.
People don’t really fact-check the health tips they share, which unfortunately means that there are a lot of bogus fitness facts to sift through. Fortunately for you, these posts from a Reddit thread about inaccurate health beliefs will help open your eyes.
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#2
That you can’t lose weight effectively just by walking, and you won’t build muscle just by walking. You can lose a f*** ton of weight just walking an hour every day. A nice brisk pace, go and see the ducks or something. It’s fun and accessible and it will make your b**t look nice (because despite what some people may also believe, your leg muscles do actually do work when walking! Shocker!) Also great for posture and pain and your mental health. Especially if you’re walking outside. Also you get to go see ducks. TL;DR: ducks.
#3
That you need to "flush your system" with all kinds of [nonsense] cleanses to "detox" your body. Honey, you're "detoxing" right now, it's called your normal kidney function.
You’ve probably come across all these health tips at least once in your life. The issue with them is that they’re very easy to believe. The real health facts are often considered boring or require too much effort. That’s why Bored Panda reached out to the author of this post, u/MaxEhrlich, to see if he had any useful fitness tips to share.
To put it very simply, his advice was, “Probably don’t drink stuff beyond water (sodas, alcohol, energy drinks, sports drinks, etc). Play a ton of basketball, and the weight tends to stay off.” Although these tips seem too simple, they’re backed by a whole body of evidence, especially the point about drinks. Science has shown that increased consumption of sugary beverages can increase weight gain and lead to a higher risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular problems, and some cancers.
#5
People don't understand that disability is, like many things in nature, a spectrum. That person in a wheelchair might be able to stand for 30 seconds at a time to reach something but not stand for the entire shopping trip. The person you saw park in a disability-designated space might be able to stand and walk, but it's excruciating and best limited. The perfectly healthy-looking person with a service dog might not be perfectly healthy. We mask so others will [don’t care] about it or at least not gawk. The overweight person who only ever walks on the gym treadmill when they gym each night at 11 pm might’ve never physically recovered from a significant bone break and consequent surgeries a decade ago. They might go to the gym during off hours to be left alone as they focus on walking in a straight path and not ridiculed as “needing to lay off the cake” as they do their best not to limp in and out the door. “Baby blues” isn't always depression but can involve a myriad of variable psychiatric disorders and symptoms, including psychosis. These symptoms can be disabling and worsen over decades or the rest of someone’s life. Don't be a d**k to struggling new moms or anyone struggling with mental illness.
#6
That you can target certain areas of the body for fat loss. You can't. When you lose fat, it just comes off your total body wherever your body sees fit.
It’s interesting to note that hormones play a big role in exercise and the way we approach fitness. For women, their menstrual cycle and changing hormonal levels can impact the amount and type of exercise they can do. According to Healthline: “given that each life stage may present unique hormonal side effects and challenges, exercise must be adapted appropriately to enhance quality of life and provide a sense of symbiosis with one’s anatomy.”
To dive even deeper into the world of health and fitness, Bored Panda interviewed Vinod Channa, a celebrity trainer and fitness consultant. Vinod had this to share about the effect of hormones on exercise: “Male hormones and female hormones are both different. Women produce estrogen, which is why they have more adipose tissue that stores fat. That’s why they’re soft, so they are prone to injuries. Women must do more strength training to build up their muscles and their joints.”
#7
Rest days are setbacks. they most certainly are not your body needs to rest every now and then.
#8
No pain = no gain. If you're in pain, you should stop because chances are you're going to seriously injure yourself.
#9
That sweating more = more calories burned. My ex worked out in a hot garage with sweats on in the summer trying to burn off more fat, and it was maddening trying to convince her to stop. DO NOT GIVE YOURSELF HEATSTROKE TRYING TO SWEAT MORE. YOU ARE ONLY LOSING WATER WEIGHT!
People also love to complicate the process of working out. But Vinod states that “it depends on a lot of things. If you’re doing weight training, it depends on the body parts, which are the same for males and females. Just the intensity will go lower and higher depending upon the person’s fitness level, lifestyle, age, injuries, and a lot of other things.”
Research has also shown that tracking your diet and exercise can help with weight loss because it leads to positive behavior changes and increases motivation. “The other thing is the person’s target. If somebody’s looking for running, powerlifting, flexibility, according to that, the changes happen in the workout routine, how many calories they eat, and the reaction of the body,” Vinod shared.
#11
That you can look like most Instagram fitness “models”/Youtubers. The reality is most of these people, especially guys, are on some sort of steroid/gear. TRT being the most common. Also their pictures are not raw and typically taken after getting a “pump” with perfect lighting. I HIGHLY recommend not comparing yourself to these people, it can definitely affect your self-confidence when it comes to your fitness goals.
#12
That you must be overweight or have a poor diet to have high cholesterol/blood pressure. My mother was the healthiest, most active person I knew, she never topped 110 lbs in her entire life, and her cholesterol was always atrocious. Both her parents had that problem and passed it on to her. Genetics 🤷🏻♀️.
Another fitness myth that many people subscribe to is spot training. This is the process of only working out or training one body part to try and lose weight in that particular area. Unfortunately, spot training isn’t really effective. It’s actually important to exercise your whole body instead of just focusing on one part.
According to Vinod Channa, “[people] can create different patterns of workouts, which work on the body parts as a whole. Otherwise, what will happen is you’re doing only arms or upper chest, and the back and legs will get weaker. Before starting, you always have to work on basic mobility and flexibility that will help you to perform better and move faster without any muscle wear and tear, dislocations and injuries.”
#13
People really need to stop going on diets that cut essential nutrients out of your diet. If you can't eat how you're eating for the rest of your life, then losing weight in that way won't be sustainable.
#14
That that BMI is a legit scale… it’s not. It’s a basic scale that was created in the 50’s and is not an accurate measurement of fat mass and fat free mass.
#15
It's not all about how much you weigh. If you're working out and getting results, the number on the scale might go up. Muscle weighs more than fat and muscle burns fat. So you might gain weight even though you're getting stronger and thinner. One of my friends stopped working out because she gained a few pounds and wouldn't listen to me telling her that's a good thing because she's obsessed with weighing a certain amount. Don't do that.
In modern times, people are exercising less and less. The BMJ found that around 1.4 billion people are at risk of developing diseases from not doing enough physical activity. Vinod also shared his own experience with the people he trains, saying: “[exercise] is very important nowadays because everybody is doing 13-14 hours working on their laptop. Their ankle, knee joints, hip joints, shoulders, neck, everything is weak.”
#16
If working in physical therapy has taught me anything, it’s that an alarming amount of people have never worked out in their lives and have no idea that muscular soreness is normal after exercising. Also, soreness and pain are not the same thing.
#17
That carbs are bad for you. That you can turn fat into muscle. It doesn’t work that way, friends.
But a lot of people turn to these fake fitness hacks because they’re looking to make progress fast or lose weight quickly. Weight loss plateaus are quite common, and it’s nothing to be discouraged by. That’s why Vinod Channa shared a useful tip to combat this dreaded problem. He said, “let’s say you’re a beginner doing 10 repetitions of squats and burning 100 calories on the first day. Because you’re a beginner, the calories are burnt faster, but after a year to three years in that time, you’re not even burning as much.”
“It’s because your body is used to that and you need to keep progressing. That is also very important. If you don't keep progressing, you won’t get results. So you have to [go] back two steps. Whatever you’re doing, do less. Like if you’re doing five days workout, go only three days and let your body put on two to three kilos. After that, you have to add one day extra workout and decrease one meal and see how your body reacts,” he added.
#19
Losing weight = Healthy. A friend of mine once had a health scare that involved unintended weight loss and someone had the f*****g balls to say to her face they wished they could lose weight without trying.
#20
That you can’t over work out. Exercise dependencies are so common in the fitness industry. No Karen, I’m not going to reward you for going to the gym 3 times a day, that’s a problem.
Fitness doesn’t have to be complicated and unachievable. Once you’re able to sift through the popular but useless health hacks, you’ll be able to focus on what actually matters. That is, losing weight in a healthy and sustainable manner. People couldn’t wait to debunk the top fitness “facts” they knew, which is why this post got 5k upvotes and 3.9k comments. Do you have any health tips that you’d like to prove wrong? Share them in the comments and let people know!
#22
The general public who don't know s**t about nutrition, thinks that healthy eating is solely living off salad and vegetables.
#25
The food pyramid. Not it at all really. Also, some people don't believe in germs still. Germs.
#26
Not really a view, per se, but most folks go all in on diets designed for fitness models and weight lifters.
If you're just casually getting into fitness, eating 1.5× your body weight - or more - in protein is a daunting task. So is going to the gym for an hour plus 5 days a week.
Most people would have better success taking smaller bites of the fitness apple before tying to eat the whole thing in one bite.
#27
That diet and exercise will trump genetics on life span. You can improve your chances slightly, but life span is a c**p shoot.
#29
Carrots are good for eye sight. From what I know, the British made it up to mess with the Germans.
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