By Karma Schopp – Certified Personal Trainer

Karma’s Korner Fitness & Nutrition

Fitness Myth Busters

Oct 12, 2022 | 4:40 PM

“The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of Pattison Media and this site.”

When it comes to fitness, the internet can be a vast, overwhelming abyss of confusing and conflicting information. What’s true? What’s not? And, how do you tell the difference? I’m here to help you distinguish facts from fiction.

The following are some common statements that come up in the world of fitness and nutrition. Let’s go through them so we know what the real scoop is.

“Keto diet is the best.”” Being vegan is the best way to lose weight.” No particular diet is superior to another. Carbs aren’t your enemy. What you do have to hone in on is whether or not you’re in a caloric deficit (expending more calories than you’re consuming) for a consistent period of time. What can you stick to over the long term? What style of eating allows you to reach your goals while also providing you with all of vitamins, minerals and macro-nutrients (carbs, fat and protein) your body requires? When you can answer those questions for yourself, then you’ll know what direction to take with your nutrition.

“If you take this pill/ do this exercise, you’ll burn belly fat.” If a product or service tells you you’ll reduce certain areas by taking or using their thing, it’s a lie. You cannot spot reduce fat. It’s physically impossible. Your body will lose fat where it wants to. It depends on your genetic structure. Unfortunately, you have no control over where you lose fat – unless you go the route of paying for a cosmetic procedure.

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The good news is that you can build muscle and create shape where you would like to. Targeting specific muscle groups to build and sculpt is possible. And, it’s something you can control.

Please be careful of slick marketing promises! Is what you’re being told legitimate or is it deceptive wording to get you to buy something that doesn’t live up to its promises. If you’re unsure of the answer, ask a trusted, reliable source. It’s your health you have to protect! Why spend money on something that’s not going to have some sort of positive benefit for you?

“Lifting heavy will make you bulky.” This one’s for the ladies. Building muscle and size takes work – a lot of work. It’s something you have to put effort in over the long term. It’s not going to happen overnight. And, for females, putting a bunch of weight on the bar isn’t going to make you blow up in size. We simply don’t have the natural occurring testosterone levels needed to gain noticeable size in a short period of time.

If you feel like you’re getting big quick after you start lifting weights, take a look at your food intake. Quite often when we start a new fitness journey, our metabolism revs up which in turn can increase our appetite – causing us to eat more. It’s very possible your new found “gains” are coming from what you eat rather than from what and how much you’re lifting.

“I didn’t workout hard enough because I wasn’t sore the next day.” A lack of muscle soreness doesn’t necessarily mean your workout wasn’t hardcore. We can effectively fatigue our muscles without creating an excess build up of lactic acid. And in turn, we won’t feel the DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) that many associate with “killing it” in the gym.

Did you stretch and/or warm up before you got into your training? Did you cool down afterwards? Did you continue to move once you were done working out? All of these factors can help the recovery process as well as reduce the amount of soreness we may feel in the coming days.

“Fasted cardio is the best kind of cardio to do to lose fat.” This is different for everyone. Are you truly fasted? How much did you eat the evening before and how close was that meal to when you went to bed?

There really isn’t a one size fits all solution when it comes to fitness. For me personally, my body responds the same to fasted cardio as it does to cardio after I’ve eaten something. I know others that swear they get better results when their cardio is done first thing in the morning as soon as they jump out of bed.

You can test this out on yourself to see what is better for fat loss for you (if that’s your goal). Try doing fasted cardio for a couple or few weeks. Record your results and how you’re feeling. You may also want to take progress photos to have a visual of what the differences are. After trying fasted cardio, you can get it done any time of day that suits your schedule. Also document what the change in times and nutrition levels does on the end result. Compare your findings and go with what you think is most beneficial for you achieving your goals.

“The (insert name here) workout is the best way for you to get results.” There isn’t one absolute one “best” or most effective workout.

There are many factors at play that have a bearing on whether or not you achieve your health and fitness goals. Several of those elements are extremely dependent on the individual. Current fitness levels and health status, food/nutrition intake, any medications you may be on, restrictive conditions or injuries you may suffer from, hormone levels, the amount of sleep you get, stress management, personal insecurities, access to a gym/equipment – it all makes a difference as to what you can and cannot do.

Not everyone has the same goals. Not everyone can do or wants to do the same things. And, not everyone has the same lifestyle. So, to say that a specific method of training is the best would be an overly generalized statement that’s not easy to prove or can be legitimately proven.

No one wants to spend their time, energy and money on something that’s not what it promises to be or even worse – may have a negative impact on their health!

So, if you’re looking for answers, go to a trusted reliable source that’ll keep it real with you. It’s crucial the person, media or platform you seek guidance from has your health and best interests at heart.

Don’t be afraid to ask questions if something doesn’t make sense to you.

Trust your gut. If something seems too good to be true – it probably is!

Karma’s Korner Fitness & Nutrition

Karma’s Korner Fitness & Nutrition

Work hard. Have fun. Get results.

Karma Schopp – Certified Personal Trainer

Facebook: Karma L. Schopp

Instagram: @karmaschopp

Email: karmaskorner@yahoo.com