Busted! Top Five Fitness Myths

MYTH 1 - THE SEVEN MINUTE PROTOCOL

Were you as taken with the idea of the Seven Minute Protocol as I was?

I mean, what could be better?  You workout at a furious pace for seven miserable minutes, do it once a day and the results?  Nothing short of amazing.  Plus you work all your major muscle groups, while challenging your aerobic capacity.

Except, it doesn't quite work that way.  The original article appeared in the May/June 2013, American College of Sports Medicine's Health and Fitness Journal. In it, the authors suggest that this approach to exercise works if you repeat the protocol two or three times to see measurable changes in your fitness level.  

Somehow, the 21-Minute Protocol sounds less alluring.

Pain is not fear leaving the body.  

When you experience real pain - wether sudden onset or prolonged, it's your body's way of telling you to stop what you're doing.  When we ask our bodies to do something new or different we may feel discomfort.  Muscle fatigue during exercise, or mild to moderate soreness a day or two after a workout that's more challenging than you're used to is totally normal. It's your body's way of giving you feedback that you can - and should - include in subsequent workouts.

Sharp, shooting pain, dull aches that don't resolve, or that get worse, mean it's time for rest and a consult with your doctor or other healthcare provider.

Crunch away, and watch unwanted belly fat disappear, right?

Not quite.  The basic challenge, and fallacy, with any form of spot-training is that our bodies aren't a series of distinct parts that can be tuned.  Our bodies are organized systems. So, if you want to change specific parts of your shape, you have to address your entire shape.  The only way to reduce belly fat is to reduce your overall body fat.  That comes with a logical approach to diet and exercise that may include ab crunches, but not the exclusion of other exercise.

Try it and see.  The quickest way to help this process?  Eliminate sources of refined sugar from your diet.  

Not too long ago, this wasn't a myth.  

You were advised to stretch before a workout. Granted, there were differences of opinion between the kind of stretching you should do - ballistic/dynamic stretching (where you add a bouncing motion to your work) or static stretching (where you don't).  And, experts had different opinions of which option to do when (warm-up or cool-down).

Research suggests that a warm up before a workout makes sense.  But whatever you chose should gradually put your body into motion.  So, a short jog or a brisk walk might be all you need.

Remember when it used to be called 'drinking water'?  Me too.

Of all the health and fitness myths out there, this is one that has persisted the most.  In research conducted by Dr. Stanley Goldfarb at the University of Pennsylvania, doctors found that the skin-enhancing, toxin-flushing effects of water were not fully based in fact.  They found that a healthy adult loses the equivalent of 4-6 8 ounce glasses of water per day but recoups that - and more -  through food, and buy drinking when thirsty.  Read more about the fascinating history of this particular myth.

P.S.  Just to bust a minor myth related to this one, coffee and tea won't dehydrate you.  And both can be counted as part of your overall water intake.