Every fitness myth you’ve heard debunked

Motivating yourself to exercise is never easy, so we tend to rely on popular culture to find out how to make the most of our workouts. However, there are many myths mistaken as fitness tips that can hurt our bodies. Whether you like to run, practice yoga, or play team sports, keep in mind the following truths next time you break a sweat. 

 Don’t eat before your workout to burn more fat

According to fitness mogul Jillian Michaels, eating beforehand provides the necessary energy for your best workout. She shares, “When [your] blood sugar is not there, your body will convert your own muscle tissue into energy.” Her article cites a study that divided athletes into pre-workout eating and fasting groups. Both groups burned the same amount of calories, but for the fasting group that included losing some of their own muscle mass, which defeats the purpose of burning fat and building muscle. Shape Magazine advises eating a meal two to three hours before you exercise, or a snack thirty to sixty minutes before.

Eat within an hour of exercise when your metabolism is faster

Your body’s metabolic rates may be elevated after a workout, but that doesn’t apply specifically to digestion. In fact, exercise delays stomach emptying because all of your body’s nutritional resources are being allocated to your tired muscles. If you ate before your workout and aren’t feeling hungry afterwards, don’t feel the need to eat just to “refuel”. If you are hungry, that’s fine too, just opt for something healthy. Exercising does not balance out binging.

Static stretch before you workout 

Static stretching is something you’ve done many times before, from middle school gym class to before a run. A static stretch is when your muscle is slowly put into a position of controlled maximum stretch and held there for fifteen to sixty seconds (think bending down to touch your toes and holding it until it’s painful). In recent years the American College of Sports Medicine has advised against this, and in a New York Times article they endorsed static stretching was said to “cause the nervous system to react and tighten, not loosen, the stretched muscle”. Many studies have supported that static stretching slows down the nervous system, and thus your reaction time.

Drink green tea before your workout to burn fat faster

Green tea may speed up your metabolism, but it will do so no matter what time of day it’s consumed. LIVESTRONG reports, “The combination of green tea and regular exercise may still lead to enhanced fat-burning and significant weight loss — more than exercise alone.” While decaffeinated green tea still contains the weight loss compound, caffeine itself has additional metabolism-speeding properties that make the caffeinated version your best option.

Eat more protein after your workout

High protein might be necessary for marathon runners and body builders, but not the average exerciser. While a post-workout meal should contain some carbohydrates and protein to refuel and repair, it’s not something that you have to think too much about. With the average American consuming 90-100 grams of protein/day (versus the recommended 50 grams), you likely have enough protein in your diet to compensate for workouts and then some. The calories from unnecessary protein will be turned into fat, so steer clear of attractive protein bars and shakes.

If your workout makes you sweat, you need to replace lost electrolytes.

Drinks like Gatorade, Propel, and Vitamin Water are commonly marketed as workout necessities with their abundance of electrolytes. Regular exercise does cause the loss of some electrolytes in sweat, but the actual amount lost is too small to be harmful. Sweat is mostly salt and water, so although sodium is an electrolyte, it’s already over-consumed as salt. The average American actually consumes enough sodium to run a marathon without replenishment! After your next workout, worry less about electrolytes and make sure to drink enough water.

Carboload before a big workout

Carboloading is only necessary for marathon runners before a major event to ensure that their body has enough energy stores. Even when recommended, carboloading should be restricted to healthier carbohydrates like whole grains. Remember that carboloading means what it says- loading up on carbohydrates. Many athletes make the mistake of interpreting carboloading as an all-you-can-eat binge and consume oily and high-fat foods that hurt them before their big race.

You have to workout for 20 minutes to start burning fat

Perhaps this myth began with people thinking that the beginning of their workout was burning off food they just ate, but by no means is it true. You know that calorie count that begins rising as soon as you hit start on the treadmill? That’s real! While you should workout for at least thirty minutes each time you hit the gym, you’ll be burning fat all the while.

Have a beer after you run

Beer might be an attractive reward because of its high carbohydrate content, electrolytic compounds, and resulting buzz, but it’s actually a harmful choice. Men’s Fitness revealed that the alcoholic beverage will “hinder your muscle recovery after exercise” because it dehydrates your body when it needs the exact opposite. Some runners have applied this myth’s logic to drinking a beer before a marathon, but alcohol’s dehydrating properties will both slow your muscles and lead to more frequent urination, disrupting your workout.

One glass of red wine equals one hour at the gym

You’ve definitely seen this viral Huffington Post article in your Facebook feed. The piece uses a study by the University of Alberta to assert that red wine’s resveratrol (a natural chemical) can “improve physical performance, heart function and muscle strength in the same way as they’re improved after a gym session.” While the article’s references to the lead researcher Jason Dyck make it seem reassuring, it’s completely false. For starters, the study was done on rats. When interviewed by CBC News, Dyck said no red wine was used in the study (just the chemical) and the benefits of the drink do not replace going to the gym. So what did his research actually prove? “The study did conclude that resveratrol could help maximize exercise benefits for people with restricted exercise capacity, like heart failure patients.”

Eat bananas to prevent muscle cramps

A study at North Dakota State University set out to test if bananas and their potassium prevent cramps. A group of men either ate one or two servings of bananas or none at all after an hour of semi-intense exercise. The research concluded that bananas don’t help because the relatively small amount of potassium they provide acts in the body too slowly to stop muscle cramps. If you do suffer from exercise cramps, make sure not to eat a large meal beforehand. Your body can’t supply both your muscles and your digestive system with enough blood once you start working out, so your muscles will win out and your food will painfully sit in your stomach undigested.

Running on a treadmill is better for you than running outside

Running on a treadmill has a smaller impact on your knees than pavement, but the repetitive nature of a treadmill actually increases injury risk. Running outside makes people tend to run faster and burn more calories. BBC News writes, “When we run outside we unconsciously work harder…this constant challenge not only strengthens the ligaments and activates a greater variety of muscles, but also improves your sense of balance.” Can’t run outside but want the benefits? Try different inclines on the treadmill and up the speed when you can.

Hot yoga is a quick way to lose weight

Hot yoga is a great way to build muscle tone, improve balance, and find some inner peace…but those pounds you drop right after aren’t what they seem. The workout’s hot temperature causes exercisers to sweat heavily and shed water weight. If you keep at the practice you’ll burn fat and gain muscle between the temperature and the postures, but don’t be surprised if your weight drops after class and goes back up the next morning.

SoulCycle is the holy grail of workouts

In a LA Times op-ed, James Fell revealed that neither of the company’s founders has an education or certification in exercise physiology, fitness, or cycling. Fell spoke with the founders, who “made a point of hiring dancers and actors to teach the cycling classes after attending an unaccredited nine-week SoulCycle training program.” The mixed cycling and upper body strength dynamic of the class likely result in fewer calories burned because “your power output is going to drop” with the two distinct demands of the workout. Verywell health site also fears that SoulCycle provides an unbalanced workout with strength training too mild to really build muscle. The bike’s build doesn’t help: “A weighted flywheel creates momentum…the momentum is driving the ride, not power generated by his/her legs. In order to really create strength, your muscles need to control the ride.”

No pain, no gain

While it’s important for your workout to progress, you cannot ignore signs of fatigue and injury. Exercise puts strains on your cardiovascular, digestive, exocrine, musculoskeletal, and respiratory systems. To avoid injury, pay attention to your body and do not over exercise both in one bout and throughout the week. People who workout six or seven days a week have a large increase in their number of injuries. Not leaving enough time for recovery between your workouts can result in overtraining syndrome, where performance consistently worsens and does not improve for weeks to years, depending on severity.