Top 11 Gym Myths — If you’ve ever stepped into a gym, you’ve probably heard these myths being repeated like facts. You might have seen people exercising with poor form or following routines that waste time and deliver minimal results. Most of these habits come from wrong guidance and misinformation, making them hard to break once formed. In this blog, I’ll bust these myths so you can train smarter, avoid unnecessary mistakes, and get the most out of every workout.
OVER EXERCISING (GYM MYTHS)
People think that the more we exercise, the faster our muscles will grow, but this is a complete myth. Modern research shows that whenever we train a muscle, we need at least 48 hours to recover. It’s simple: when you break something, it takes time to repair it.If you keep training a muscle more than necessary and don’t give it time to recover, you are more likely to lose muscle than gain it.
If you are a beginner or intermediate bodybuilder, you should not do more than four to five exercises for the same muscle in a day. If you are a beginner or intermediate bodybuilder and train your muscles to near failure, then 10 to 20 sets per week for one muscle group is plenty for you.
SWEATING CAUSES FAT LOSS
Another very common myth is that the more sweat you make, the more fat you will lose. People who do cardio think that cardio will help us lose fat. Sweating is just a bodily mechanism that helps control your body temperature. It’s foolish to call it a cause of fat loss. During my fat loss journey, it often happened that I sweated very little or not at all in the gym, but it didn’t make any difference to my fat loss.So doing a lot of cardio at the gym just to sweat is completely pointless.
GAINING MUSCLE BY LIFTING WEIGHTS
A beginner or someone who starts muscle building without doing any research thinks that I will lift weights and gain muscle, but it doesn’t work that way. Rather, if you want to gain muscle, you have to follow a good diet along with resistance training and at the same time, you also have to pay attention to recovery.Otherwise, you may suffer from various problems due to vacant assistant training, such as weakness, joint pain, and muscle loss.
SPOT REDUCTION
Spot reduction refers to reducing fat from a specific part of the body. In the 90s, it was believed that we can reduce fat from any part of our body at will. For example, you must have seen someone in the gym who has a lot of fat on his belly, he will do more abdominal exercises so that his belly fat will decrease. But this is not possible at all.
Now is the era of modern science. And science says that spot reduction is impossible.If you are in a proper caloric deficit, your body will use fat as energy. Now it depends on your body where it will use the fat first.
HIGH VOLUME WORKOUTS
High volume workouts will not help you build bulk. Working out for two or three hours and thinking that this will make your muscles grow very quickly is a myth. You should focus on quality over quantity in your workouts.
For an intermediate level bodybuilder, a workout of more than 35 minutes and less than an hour and a half should be followed. And working out three to five days a week is enough.
LOW CARB DIET IS NECESSARY FOR FAT LOSS
It is also believed that unless we go on a carbs-free diet, we will not be able to lose fat. This is also a very common myth.Carbs are one of the macro nutrients that is essential for recovery. You need to be in a calorie deficit to lose weight, but carbs have nothing to do with it. After resistance training, you should consume a meal that is rich in carbs and protein.
WITHOUT WORRYING OUT, MUSCLES WILL TURN INTO FAT
Some people also believe that if you don’t work out, your muscle will turn into fat, and that’s why they train 7 days a week. Muscle and fat are two different things. Yes, it’s possible that if you don’t work out, you’ll lose your muscle and gain fat, but it’s not possible that your muscle will turn into fat.
SUPPLEMENTS ARE NECESSARY FOR MUSCLE GAIN
Some people are also seen who do not go to the gym just because they cannot afford supplements because they believe that muscle gain cannot be achieved without supplements. This is a myth. Supplements can help you in your diet. It is completely wrong to say that you cannot gain muscle without supplements.
A balanced diet can provide you with all the nutrients you need. If you follow a balanced diet well, you don’t need any supplements.
WOMEN SHOULD AVOID HEAVY WEIGHTS
Some ordinary people as well as some trainers say that women should not use heavy weights because it makes them more muscular. This is completely wrong Because testosterone, a hormone in the human body, determines the ability to gain muscle, which is much less in women’s bodies than in men’s bodies. That is why using heavy weights does not make them as bulky as men.
CARDIO BURNS FAT
70 out of 100 people think that the more cardio we do, the more fat we will lose. But cardio is not a direct source of fat loss. Cardio can definitely help you lose fat, but saying that your fat loss is being done by cardio is completely wrong. Cardiovascular exercises are done for good health. And there are many other benefits. But fat loss is only possible through a caloric deficit.If you stay in a continuous caloric deficit, it doesn’t matter whether you do cardio or not, you are bound to lose fat.
PAIN IS NECESSARY FOR MUSCLE GAIN
People in the gym hurt themselves a lot by exercising or lifting weights because they think that unless we hurt, we won’t achieve anything. The purpose of going to the gym is to achieve a healthy lifestyle, not to hurt yourself. If you are a beginner, it is normal to feel a stretch or soreness in the muscles at first. But later you get used to the resistance training and it doesn’t hurt you.
Most of those who follow these myths are looking for shortcuts. If you really want to get the benefits of the gym, you have to be patient and trust the process. Tell yourself that I am working hard, there is no reason not to achieve anything.
Ali___
