Fitness Mantra: Common workout myths women need to stop believing

You know those women body-builders who look bulky? They eat, train, and take supplements specifically so they can look like that. They’ve probably been working towards that goal for years and years. Here’s the truth — when you pick up heavy things, your muscles get stronger (but not necessarily bigger). If you pump yourself full of testosterone and eat way more calories than you are burning every day, you will get bigger. If you pick up heavy things, and eat a caloric deficit (and eat the right kinds of food – actual healthy foods), your muscles will get stronger and denser; you will burn the fat on top of your muscle, and you will get that toned look that you’re after. 

Your body cannot spot reduce fat in specific locations. If you have flabby arms or a big stomach, doing thousands of bicep curls and crunches won’t help. Your body is genetically predisposed to storing fat in certain locations in a certain order. When you start to lose weight, your body will lose the fat you currently have in a certain order as well — it might come off your arms first, then your legs, then your belly, then your chest, and so on. Or in a different order, depending on your personal genetic makeup. No amount of targeted exercise will change how that fat disappears. Want to make it disappear faster? Eat better! Your diet will be responsible for 80-90 per cent of that fat loss. Strength train, not with targeted exercises, but with big compound movements that recruit lots of muscle (and thus force your body to rebuild lots of muscle, which requires extra calories burned, even after the workout is done). 

If you happen to enjoy running or zumba or step aerobics or jazzercise, that is awesome. More power to you. However, if you are only doing those things to lose weight and you’re not seeing results, stop. There’s a better way. Believe it or not, strength training will produce a more efficient weight loss effect than an equal amount of cardio. When you strength train, your muscles are broken down, and then rebuilt over the next 24 to 48 hours. While your body is rebuilding those muscles, it’s recruiting more calories and energy to make the process happen (generally referred to as the ‘after-burn’ effect). What this means is that your metabolism operates at a faster level even while you’re sitting on the couch after a workout.