Dispelling Health and Fitness Myths – Part 1
In the complicated maze of health and fitness information, separating fact from fiction can be confusing. Misconceptions about nutrition, exercise and well-being can often create a fog that obscures the path to genuine understanding.
As you embark on your fitness journey with W Fitness www.wfitness.co.uk, you will find that our mission is to be very clear about common myths and to give you a straightforward, comprehensive way to focus on your health and fitness journey.
Here’s 5 of the most common health and fitness myths:
- It’s ok to follow the same plan forever
It’s easy to get into the habit of doing the same exercises, for the same reps with the same weight. We love when something feels familiar to us, however, this can be a reason that we plateau in the gym.
The general rule for changing your workouts is between 6-8 weeks. It depends on the individual though as some people can keep the same workout for longer and still see progress whilst others plateau sooner.
Next time you are working out, pay attention to see if it is feeling too easy. Can you do extra reps and still feel okay; have you been using the same weight/resistance for a while and don’t feel that you could lift more; are you seeing any progress. It might be time to mix it up to get through this barrier, or you’re not seeing progress (mix things up to challenge the body in different ways).
You don’t suddenly need to change your whole workout to mix it up, simply increasing the reps/resistance/tempo of an exercise is enough to challenge the muscles more.
- Exercise only counts if it’s in a gym
Exercise is defined as an “activity requiring physical effort, carried out to sustain or improve health and fitness”
So yes, a gym is a great place to get your workout in and build the foundations for your health, strength and overall fitness. In fact, it’s a very easy way to boost your health and fitness if you follow a plan!
But what you do outside of the gym counts too!
Movement is an important part of exercise, and this is something that you do every day, so make sure you are moving more when you can – park your car further away, take the stairs when the option is there, walk places when you can.
All these additional steps are going to help you reach your goals quicker, keep you healthier and make that all important goal of consistency more achievable.
It’s the combination of workouts (aka designed to build strength & muscle) and additional movement throughout the day (aka burning extra calories for fat loss) outside of the gym that really accelerates your results!
When you are working out in the gym, a planned workout is best as it stops you spending hours in the gym and only completing a few exercises as it takes out the “thinking” time. You need to be doing some resistance training and a little cardio too.
Personally, I love our planned 30-minute circuits and classes at W Fitness so much as they’re easy to access and mentally not draining (you don’t need to think about which machine to go on next as we’ve planned it all for you!)
When you are not in the gym, simply move more! From getting in extra steps by walking and taking the stairs where possible to playing with your kids/grand-kids more – it all counts!
- Exercise can make you gain weight
This myth can be true but for a good reason so don’t panic!
If you’re looking to ‘tone’ or lose a little fat, you need to start doing resistance or strength training which will start to build muscle.
You may have heard that muscle weighs more than fat, but what is meant by this is that muscle is denser than fat, so 1lb of fat would be a lot larger than 1lb of muscle.
This means that as you progress through your workout programme, you will drop inches and body fat, yet your scale weight may not move as much as you’d like (remember we want to be building muscle!)
SO as long as your body fat & blood pressure are in a healthy range, there’s absolutely no need to worry about the scale weight.
- You need lots of time for a good workout
WRONG! So many people think that they don’t have time to work out, and honestly some days you may not, but your health must be prioritised.
Now, you’re probably thinking that’s easy for me to say, and you’d be right, as a fitness professional it’s much easier for me to get my workout in as I work in a gym so there’s no travel time, I’m pretty active all day and I have a mindset where I’m motivated (most days hah!) to work out, and even when I’m not I’m pretty good at still being consistent with my workouts.
BUT for most people, one of the biggest barriers to working out is TIME, so here are a few of our best tips to help you if you’re short on time:
- Find a gym that’s close to home or one that you pass regularly. This sounds simple, but so many people choose a gym that’s just a little out of the way thinking they’ll make the effort to go and just don’t. Make sure the gym you choose is close to home or on a route you go regularly such as on your way to/from work, this will mean you are more likely to go as it’s not out of your way, and you don’t have to factor in extra travel time.
- Plan your workout! After a day at work your brain is probably fatigued, and to start thinking up an effective workout plan may seem too much, meaning that you’ll probably skip the gym altogether or just end up pottering round the gym. Planning your workout makes it less mentally fatiguing (and more time efficient!) for you to do your workout! If the planned equipment is taken in busier gyms, simply move onto the next exercise and come back to it! At W Fitness, one of the benefits of our circuit is that you can book a time to suit you, and, because of the timer, everyone changes machines at the same time meaning that the equipment is always free for you. We also plan your workout for you – perfect if you’re time restricted!
- Workouts don’t need to be longer than 30 minutes to be effective – in fact, you can have effective 10-minute workouts as long as you’re consistent and doing the right type of workout! Think about it – if you’re not managing to workout at the minute, 10 minutes every day would be better than nothing! So, start small and build up, making sure you stay consistent and workout at a time that fits in with you – whether that’s waking up 10 minutes earlier (like I do – I like to do 10 minutes exercise a day regardless of what I’m doing later just so that I know I have done something!) or squeezing a workout in on your lunch break! Remember my favourite word is consistency!
For more tips you can see our blog here: https://www.wfitness.co.uk/5-tips-for-fitting-in-your…/
- You need to go hard or go home
When it comes to workouts, there’s a reputation that you’ve got to work hard or you might as well be at home, but is there any truth to this?
Nope.
Funnily enough, the saying originates from skiers taunting each other to try more spectacular ski runs – it has nothing to do with working out in a gym!
In all honesty ANY movement is good for your body, so you’re certainly better off doing something rather than nothing.
Plus, take a Yoga Class for example, this is one of the most beneficial classes you can do in terms of looking after your mental wellbeing, as well as, improving your mobility and flexibility, yet it’s probably also one of the lowest impact classes you can do.
So don’t ever feel pressured to ‘Go Hard or Go Home’ – workout for yourself and do what your body needs.
How can W Fitness help?
We create your workout plan for you during your induction and set 1:2:1 reviews every 4 weeks to ensure we keep on top of your programme and progress! Don’t worry though, we don’t change every exercise at every review – it’s just about keeping on top of your plan, keeping you accountable and making sure that you are still performing the exercises correctly (sometimes this in itself gives a better workout as it’s easy to become complacent if nobody is checking your technique) so we can really maximise results.
Check us out at www.wfitness.co.uk to see if we’re the right destination for you and look out for more myth busting later in the year! 😊
Much Love
Caroline & Hannah xx