4 Fat Loss Myths

Forget About These 4 Fat Loss Myths!

99 times out of 100 people go to the gym or seek a personal trainer like myself to “Lose some stubborn body fat”. Which is a perfectly acceptable goal, “why would you want to shift that unwanted body fat?”. BUT What isn’t acceptable are some of the myths out there as to what people believe will work in order to lose this fat.

Below are 4 myths you need to get out of your head.

1) Strength training isn’t beneficial for fat loss, cardio is.

“Heavy weights will bulk me up” …. WRONG!

While lifting weights will of course increase your chances of gaining muscle mass, you will certainly not become overly muscley or bulky overnight (It takes YEARS). Also, most people search for a “toned’ look when they talk about losing weight and having muscle behind the body fat is paramount for this goal.

By skipping all heavy lifting when training for fat loss, you actually risk losing muscle mass and slowing down your overall metabolic rate.

In fact, one of the best measures to track when dieting is strength. If strength is maintaining or increasing and bodyweight/bodyfat is coming down, we know the diet set up is working, and muscle mass isn’t being lost.

2) Fasted cardio is the answer.

This is a topic I have touched on before in a previous blog post and NO, fasted cardio is not the magic formula to fat loss!

Science is on my side and has also confirmed this, showing that no metabolic magic occurs when you do your cardio in a fasted state (Schoenfeld B.J, 2014).

3) More is better.

More sets, more reps, more cardio, more sessions, and so on.

Again, a largely debated topic/myth. Absolutely not! More is not always better for you and your body.

In the hopes of accelerating results, you may get the urge and fall into the trap of working yourself into the ground to get the body you desire. However, what often happens is your body will not be able to manage the training volume and your reduced calorie intake, leaving your body only one choice which is to fight back. Our body will eventually break down and cause illness, injury or constant fatigue. So remember to always listen to your body.

4) Sit-Ups will get me Abs.

Sorry if I’ve spoilt the party but doing 1,000 sit-ups a day will definitely not sculpt a perfect set of abs.

1. Diet is key. You can’t out-train a bad diet, especially if your only training is some midsection work.

2. Spot reduction doesn’t work. You cannot burn body fat on certain parts of your body unfortunately, so doing all those sit-ups will not carve you the perfect 6 pack while the rest of your body is out of shape.

If you want to improve your chances of getting abs, base the majority of your training around compound exercises, get stronger and focusing on your nutrition.