Training Myths

Training Myths

There is a lot of information on the Internet on what’s “good for you or bad for you”. A quick answer to everything is that it always depends. It depends on your goals, your training history, injury, lifestyle, and many other things that are different for everybody.

But, there are a few myths that are just not true and the thought around them needs to change. A quick one here: eating carbs at night makes you gain fat… NOT TRUE!

These are the two most common misconceptions I run into when talking to people starting out in the gym.  Let’s clear this out:

Resistance training myths:

1.              Resistance training will make you bulky.

  • A lot of people are very concerned about this, women in particular. The truth is, IT won't HAPPEN! It takes A LOT of work to gain all that muscle, is not going to happen because you lift weights for a month, a year, or 20 years unless you are purposely trying to. Ask any guy who’s trying to put on pounds of muscle. Is not happening overnight and they are likely putting a lot of effort into maintaining the nutrition and training necessary to get there. He’ll take it from me, I went from 185 lbs in my late teens/early 20s to 225 lbs while staying lean (I’m 6’5). It didn’t happen by accident, it takes work.

2.              Resistance training won’t help you lose fat

  • Quite the opposite, resistance training is huge for fat loss. To begin with, strength training doesn’t only burn calories during the training session, it also helps you lose calories hours after you are done with your workout (through a process called EPOC). Resistance training will also help you build muscle, which is more metabolically active than fat. That basically means that it burns more calories even when at rest.

Bonus:

3.              Eating carbs at night will make you gain fat.

  • Eating more calories than you burn will make you gain fat. It doesn’t matter when you eat. Some people will react differently in terms of sensation and maybe other factors when eating certain foods before bed. BUT, the time when you et is never the cause of you gaining fat. Again, it is he fact that you consume more calories than you burn that causes fat gain.

Laura Hobson