Top 10 Most Common Fitness Misconceptions Are Revealed

If you asked someone what it takes to achieve their fitness goals, you’d get a lot of different answers. Some may say that all it takes is willpower, some might tell you that you should just diet, and others might suggest working out and eating as you please.

Everyone is different, there isn’t an ideal plan for everybody. What works for you might not work for others and vice versa.

So we here at ILKB have decided to debunk the biggest myths about health and fitness that we’ve been hearing:

 

1. Find your ideal exercise & keep at it.

Although you may be aiming to add muscle bulk in certain areas, it’s important to switch up your routine every now and then. No one likes a guy who skips leg day too often, but that’s beside the point.

Constantly working out the same muscles, day in and day out, will very often lead to injury. Each of your workout routines should include resistance training, cardio as well as flexibility.

 

2. Getting fit is about sacrifice and putting the time in.

Although it takes consistency and an extra hour or so of your time when you do decide to workout, many people believe working out will leave you exhausted and without focus.

You may think you’ll have a hard time focusing at work if you’ve hit the gym that morning. That’s not the case at all, it’s actually the complete opposite. Thanks to endorphins and some other variables, working out will leave you m

ore alert, focused and energetic.

 

3. You should be losing weight.

Instead of trying to lose weight, you should be trying to make yourself stronger. Doing a ton of cardio to burn fat, especially if it’s consistent, low-intensity cardio, can actually be counter-productive.

What you really should be looking to achieve is a good ratio of muscle to fat. Your body composition is what matters most, not the numbers that show up on the scale.

 

4. You should be getting results quickly.

Those “get rich quick” schemes you see advertised all the time are almost always a fraud. The same can be said for the “lose X lbs in X days” advertisements.

If you want to become physically fit, it’s going to require a lifestyle change. You will have to rely on your will power and determination. Take it easy at first, don’t beat yourself up if you’ve strayed from the path. Get back on it and keep at it.

 

5. Extreme dieting is beneficial.

All those diets that claim you’ll “lose X lbs in X weeks” or “drop a dress size in a week” are almost always lying. The odds of that happening are slim.

It’s not impossible, but even if you were to drop a dr

ess size in a week, it’s not going to last. When you get off the diet, you’ll put that weight back on and then some, most likely.

 

 

6. Physical results are all that matters.

To begin noticing any physical change in your body, you’ll need to wait a pretty significant amount of time. Anything worth having is worth waiting for.

However, a lot of people seem to forget all of the other benefits working out can give you. Virtually immediately, you’ll find yourself able to sleep better, feeling more energetic and in a better mood overall. It’s those endorphins at work again…

 

7. Rest, while important, doesn’t help you gain any muscle.

It’s important to get into the gym fairly often. It’s also important to give your body time to recover from the rigors of intense training.

If you’re physically demanding your body to train more than you’re allowing it to rest, it may very well result in injury. You may also find yourself plateauing, being unable to add weight to your sets. Believe it or not, you could actually end up losing strength.

 

8. As long as I’m working out, I can eat however I’d like.

Unfortunately, we’re not all born with the same metabolism as say Michael Phelps. He can consume 3,000 calories a day and ultimately end up still looking like the same Olympic athlete.

Many people who’ve gone through a physical transformation can attest to this – becoming fit is 30% working out and 70% your diet. Change your diet and stick to your fitness routine and you’ll see the pounds shed more efficiently.

 

9. Ab work will strengthen my core.

Your “core” isn’t just your abs. Your core actually extends from your neck all the way down to your hip flexors. So working out your core goes much further than planks and crunches. It’s just as important to train your back as it is your abs.

If you don’t balance training to attack both the front and back sides of your core, you’ll ultimately leave yourself much more susceptible to injury.

 

10. No carbs = faster results.

Carbs are your source for fuel. How can you expect to work out if you don’t have any energy?

Pasta parties on the night before games for sports teams aren’t going to waste. Things like pasta and other grains are naturally high in carbs and give you the energy to perform. By removing carbs from your diet, you’re essentially limiting yourself in your workout.

 

 

Can you think of any other misconceptions that need to be put to rest? Leave a comment and tell us!

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Why Your Push-Up’s Aren’t Making You Stronger

The push-up is perhaps one of the most convenient and effective exercises you can do. It’s an upper body exercise that can be performed just about anywhere. With that said, it can be difficult to perfect and often times, people will often require modifications to help them at first.

For those of you who need to make a push up a little easier in the beginning, do yourself a favor…

Take your knees off the floor.

Plain and simple, these will not help you perform an actual push-up.

By using this modification to make push-ups easier to perform, you’re only making it easier to continue doing push-ups with your knees on the floor. Wondering why? Well, that’s because you aren’t using that many of the muscles that typically are engaged when performing a proper push-up.

“What’s a proper push-up?” you ask.

The proper push-up should look something like this:

Your feet must be together, your glutes should be squeezing and your back should remain flat, no dips or bends. Your entire body will essentially be working in unison.

Your body should be moving in a straight line, your elbows should be at an approximate 45-degree angle. To engage your chest, your elbows are going to bend outwards and you’ll bring your chest down towards the floor.

Essentially, a push up is a moving plank of sorts. When done correctly you’ll be using, and subsequently training/strengthening your chest, arms, back and core. As you can see above, the entire body is incorporated in the movement, everything is moving.

Using your knees to do a push-up.

If you’re using your knees to assist in your push-up, you’re basically completely removing your legs from the equation entirely. It’s harder to squeeze your glutes and you don’t get your back into it at all. Furthermore, when you’re doing a push-up from your knees, you’re also putting unnecessary stress on your wrist, elbows and shoulders. This could potentially lead to injury.

What’s actually preventing you from doing a push-up?

A lot of people have difficulty performing a proper push-up, but that doesn’t always mean that they lack the upper body strength. That obviously plays a part, however, what’s normally lacking and ultimately limiting you from doing it the right way is the necessary core strength. Another big factor is improper movement.

Constantly executing push-ups with your knees on the ground can and will do more harm than good.

So what do you do if you really can’t do a full push-up?

Instead of modifying the push-up to the point where you could be potentially causing injury, modify it so that your entire body is stabilized and working together.

So if you can’t do a push-up and you shouldn’t use your knees for support, what can you do? You can do an incline push-up. You could use a bench or even your couch. If you’re using the bar on the smith machine, you can lower it as you see fit, until the point where you’re confident enough that you can do an actual push-up from the floor. Unlike the knee push-ups, an incline push-up with allow you to engage your core and maintain a neutral back.

Like a pillar in a building, your core is the primary source of your strength. Without a pillar holding the weight of the ceiling, you should expect the ceiling to come tumbling down. Without the necessary core strength to do a push-up, you can’t expect to be able to maintain a proper push-up position.

 

Training and strengthening your muscles to perform a proper push-up can take time. There aren’t any shortcuts, you have to incorporate every muscle a push-up would normally incorporate. Do yourself a favor and remove the “knee push-up” from your routine.

 

 

If you had trouble performing a proper push-up, comment below tell us how you overcame it!

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