Some Fitness ‘Rules’ you can do without

There are many fitness falsehoods which we start to believe. I have also believed some of them till recently. You can just ignore these. Theres enough study there to prove them wrong

1. You have to do HIIT to burn Fat – HIIT is hyped as burning maximum calories in minimum time. It is based on the theory that body processes more oxygen to recover in the days post HIIT. The theory is that Excess post exercise Oxygen consumption allows to burn fat faster for long time post HIIT. EPOC has little effect actually as a study found in 2006 showed and was published in Journal of Sports Science. And more so people new to training and prone to wrong forms and injury doing these fast paced exercises. Low Intensity Steady state cardio done over a longer period of 30-45 minutes in Zone 2 will burn more fat. Fatty acids and glucose are muscles two source of fuel. Aerobic exercises ( low intensity) predominantly burn fatty acids. Anaerobic exercise ( high intensity) burns glucose. Your Fat Max ie maximum fat burning happens at 65-75% of your MHR. This is where body’s aerobic energy is stressed to full. The X axis is HR. Ur cardio benefit to lose fat happens when u r at this zone. All athletes do almost 80% of their training at low intensity

2. You don’t have to lift heavy to build muscles. Lifting heavy is not the only way to build muscle. Scientific research has demonstrated that overall volume of weight is what builds muscle over time, not just how heavy the weight is. Light weight training allows to do the routine with less stress on joints and connecting tissues. In fact Isolation exercise works best with lighter weight says John Meadows, C.S.C.S., a competitive bodybuilder and physique coach (mountaindogdiet .com). Lighter training allows you more reps and sets.

3. Consuming Protein within an hour or certain time frame helps build muscles – The overall amount of food you eat has the greatest effect. As long as you hit the number of calories you need daily, along with the right combo of macros you’ll grow. In 2013 International Society of Sports Nutrition published a meta analysis of 23 studies which says that no study proves that having protein one hour before or after a workout significantly helps increase muscle gain. Timing of protein intake has nothing to do with muscle gain

4. I have been born and bought up by Mom saying that eat a heavy breakfast. Thats the main meal of the day. And till some time back I believed the same for my fitness routine also. The argument is breakfast helps stabilise sugar. Fact is your sugar is already stable when you wake up and that’s why the doctor asks you to do sugar test empty stomach. Eating food actually increases sugar. In fact a study in a journal in 2011 – Obesity says that people eating most of their cards in Dinner lost weight and abdominal fat. Its the number of calories you eat in the day that decides you lose or gain weight not the timing of your food. If your goal is weight loss – simply cut calories, do strength training, couple of sessions per week of steady state cardio and be active. Losing weight is the simple. Everything else is trash or some seller trying to sell something

If your aim is to lose fat – do 3 strength training sessions, 2 low intensity Cardio, eat calorie deficit, do 10 minutes mobility every day. In 8 weeks you notice a good change, in 12 weeks the world will see it. And you will be motivated for life. Action leads to result to motivation. Always train smart.