The Student Room Group

What do you think the biggest fitness myth is?

Tis the season to get fit, however the fitness world is full of myths.. what your biggest myth that peeves you?

Mine is the idea of people having slow or fast metabolisms, people's metabolisms do not vary greatly between individuals of the same sex. Yes if you're 6'8 you will need to eat more than a person at 5'6 but proportionally their metabolisms will be very similar (within a hundred calories or so).

The idea that people have high and slow metabolisms is a myth pervayed by "fitness" and "health and beauty" magazines, websites etc the world over and is extremely damaging as it makes people shrug their shoulders and make them believe that they can't change their bodies because it's not their fault.

So TSR - whats your biggest myth?

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Reply 1
Lifting weights stunts growth. I started "gyming" at 14. Im now 17 and a good 6"3 off the ground
Reply 2
Original post by Angry cucumber
Tis the season to get fit, however the fitness world is full of myths.. what your biggest myth that peeves you?

Mine is the idea of people having slow or fast metabolisms, people's metabolisms do not vary greatly between individuals of the same sex. Yes if you're 6'8 you will need to eat more than a person at 5'6 but proportionally their metabolisms will be very similar (within a hundred calories or so).

The idea that people have high and slow metabolisms is a myth pervayed by "fitness" and "health and beauty" magazines, websites etc the world over and is extremely damaging as it makes people shrug their shoulders and make them believe that they can't change their bodies because it's not their fault.

So TSR - whats your biggest myth?
That it's important to constantly all-out push yourself. What I've found out is that with eating properly all I have to do is go for a brisk walk every day or so.
The idea of spot reduction - that you can do exercises that work a specific part of your body to specifically burn fat in that spot.
Original post by Tootles
That it's important to constantly all-out push yourself. What I've found out is that with eating properly all I have to do is go for a brisk walk every day or so.


I guess it depends how fit you want to be - no offence. You'll keep in shape that way, I'm sure, but you won't build much muscle.
Reply 5
Original post by anosmianAcrimony
I guess it depends how fit you want to be - no offence. You'll keep in shape that way, I'm sure, but you won't build much muscle.
See, to me, building muscle is more relevant to vanity than fitness. I'm perfectly fit and have at least as much physical stamina as the next man, and can lift and carry more than most. I'd rather live my life than spend all my time becoming a beefcake - I'm just not that insecure.
Reply 6
Original post by Tootles
See, to me, building muscle is more relevant to vanity than fitness. I'm perfectly fit and have at least as much physical stamina as the next man, and can lift and carry more than most. I'd rather live my life than spend all my time becoming a beefcake - I'm just not that insecure.


Well the average person is fat and does no weight training, so that's not saying much. Resistance training is certainly important for fitness and health.
Original post by Tootles
I'd rather live my life than spend all my time becoming a beefcake - I'm just not that insecure.


Well this is a fitness myth right there, that weight training is based on insecurity.

Now, admittedly, the modern trend of roidheads on dating sites/instagram who have to tweet selfies in front of a mirror 10 times a day has given weight training an image of loud narcissism, but most guys in gyms do it as a hobby to keep their bodies in the best shape possible and try to test themselves to get stronger which has been done since Athenian gyms. It brings discipline to their lives in terms of their diet, sleeping patterns etc and is a good lifestyle.

In the last 5 years there seems to have been a real explosion in interest in fitness, which from the perspective of public health should be a good thing. Although one thing I have noticed is there seems to be a class divide. Working class guys seem to gravitate more towards bodybuilding and training with weights; in middle-class professional offices there are always loads of runners/cyclists.
"I'm a hard gainer!!!"
The fact is, due to a bit of genetics, and how much sport people do, people have different metabolic rates. To overcome having a higher metabolic rate and so burning energy faster, simply eat more in order to gain muscle, but make sure its healthy food :smile:
Original post by MagicNMedicine
Well this is a fitness myth right there, that weight training is based on insecurity.

Now, admittedly, the modern trend of roidheads on dating sites/instagram who have to tweet selfies in front of a mirror 10 times a day has given weight training an image of loud narcissism, but most guys in gyms do it as a hobby to keep their bodies in the best shape possible and try to test themselves to get stronger which has been done since Athenian gyms. It brings discipline to their lives in terms of their diet, sleeping patterns etc and is a good lifestyle.


I think most people lift for nothing more than image, myself included. The reason lifting was important in Athenian times was because of the greater functional purpose of strength and - being two and half thousand years ago - the closer association between status and physique, which is now much less apparent ('alpha males' today tend to be business owners and politicians tend not to be heroic military veterans). There is no need to be strong today; it has almost no purpose at all except in those rare situations of self-defence or if you work a particularly physical job (which tend to be working-class).

The benefits of diet and discipline are only side-effects (and I'm not entirely convinced that bodybuilding does promote a good diet for the average lifter when you look at the prevalence of dirty bulking and supplements, but that's only speculation). People lift today first and foremost to look good. If it was to keep in shape, they would run or cycle which is what you describe the middle-class as doing - perhaps because they are more intelligent on average and see more use in living longer than building essentially useless muscle (and perhaps also because their higher salary and social status makes them more attractive on average in that regard).

That being said, this does not amount to vanity or shallowness. There is a significant middle ground between being vain and caring about your appearance. Everyone wants to be attractive to some extent, and this does not make you vain unless it's your main (and only) goal in life. As for the member above, anyone who has to preach on a fitness forum about why they're not insecure about their body has just confirmed their deep-rooted insecurity about their body.

But to answer the thread: toning.
Original post by Angry cucumber
Tis the season to get fit


It is not. Christmas has never been that, the roads are icy, there's a social obligation to party, to drink, and to eat rich food. A more general objection would be that there isn't a 'season to get fit'; that looks like faddism

Original post by Himtiaz
Lifting weights stunts growth. I started "gyming" at 14. Im now 17 and a good 6"3 off the ground


perhaps you would otherwise be 7'2''.
Reply 11
"I need to consume 200g+ protein per day for muscle growth" - You only need ~1.7g per Kg body weight for optimal muscle growth, anything more than that would just get burned off or excreted
"I don't want to get bulky, I just want to tone"

"Eating clean"

"I've noticed a big difference in 2 weeks now that I've started taking this whey isolate"
Original post by cambio wechsel
It is not. Christmas has never been that, the roads are icy, there's a social obligation to party, to drink, and to eat rich food. A more general objection would be that there isn't a 'season to get fit'; that looks like faddism



perhaps you would otherwise be 7'2''.

Maybe. But sometimes i think I'm too tall. Would rather have stopped at 6"
Reply 14
Bulking
Original post by MagicNMedicine
Well this is a fitness myth right there, that weight training is based on insecurity.

Now, admittedly, the modern trend of roidheads on dating sites/instagram who have to tweet selfies in front of a mirror 10 times a day has given weight training an image of loud narcissism, but most guys in gyms do it as a hobby to keep their bodies in the best shape possible and try to test themselves to get stronger which has been done since Athenian gyms. It brings discipline to their lives in terms of their diet, sleeping patterns etc and is a good lifestyle.

In the last 5 years there seems to have been a real explosion in interest in fitness, which from the perspective of public health should be a good thing. Although one thing I have noticed is there seems to be a class divide. Working class guys seem to gravitate more towards bodybuilding and training with weights; in middle-class professional offices there are always loads of runners/cyclists.


This is one of the things which appeals to me, there is definitely a classical Graeco-Roman masculine appeal to lifting. You can walk with kings and the common man, just not the quinoa eaters in the middle. I prefer steak.
Reply 16
Original post by macromicro
People lift today first and foremost to look good. If it was to keep in shape, they would run or cycle which is what you describe the middle-class as doing - perhaps because they are more intelligent on average and see more use in living longer than building essentially useless muscle (and perhaps also because their higher salary and social status makes them more attractive on average in that regard).


Weight training helps people live longer and is healthy in general, not essentially useless
ectomorphy/endomorph

It's all ********, just eat enough and you'll grow...
Original post by difeo
Weight training helps people live longer and is healthy in general, not essentially useless


I said "building essentially useless muscle" not "essentially useless muscle building".
Reply 19
Original post by macromicro
I said "building essentially useless muscle" not "essentially useless muscle building".


Seems like pointless semantics. To have the muscle, you have to have done the muscle building.

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