Don't Buy Into Strength Training Myths!
If you're looking to optimize your workout, don't let strength training myths get you down.
These days, it seems like strength training myths are everywhere! With the weight loss industry dominating the market, everyone has advice to give, and it's hard to know who to listen to. Never fear, though: here are the top strength training myths exposed for the lies they are!
Myth 1: You don't need to strength train unless you want to be a bodybuilder: cardiovascular exercise is much more important.
Cardiovascular exercise is important, because it works your heart. Strength training, though, works all your other muscles. Building muscle is one of the most important things you can do, whether your workout goal is to lose weight, gain strength, or improve your health. Muscle will give you a leaner, tighter appearance, increase your metabolism, and make daily activities easier. What do you have to lose?
Myth 2: If you want to lose weight in a specific area, you should spot-train.
This is one of the more common strength training myths because it sounds so plausible. If you want to lose belly fat, you do a lot of sit-ups, right? Wrong! Sit-ups will definitely improve your stomach muscles and their strength, but they won't get rid of the fat covering your muscles! You have to do that on your own. Of course, strength training will help because muscle requires more calories than fat, and as you build muscle, you'll burn more calories sitting around than you ever did before. But you can't expect a hundred sit-ups a day to result in a sleek, flat belly.
Myth 3: You shouldn't do strength training if you have muscle injuries.
Actually, strength training becomes doubly important if you have an injury. Think about physiotherapy: basically, it's muscle exercises. When you hurt a muscle, you have to strengthen the surrounding muscles to compensate. Of course, if you have a serious injury, you should always consult a doctor before beginning any kind of exercise program: the last thing you want to do is make your injury worse. In most cases, though, doctors will encourage strength training as a way of dealing with pain from an injury.
Myth 4: Strength training means lifting weights.
These strength training myths would have you believe you have to bench press 200 lbs before you can call it strength training! In fact, any kind of resistance is strength training. It doesn't matter if you're using your own body weight, a stretch band, or a can of soup: if you're supporting a weight, you're building muscle.
Strength training is an essential part of any workout or weight loss program. Don't buy into strength training myths and sabotage your efforts!
