Myth Busters… my final words!

Hey, Fitness Friends!

Well, the time has come for me to give you my last words of fitness advice. These 3 weeks have gone by so quickly! But I hope you all have learned a lot from all 6 of us New Balance Fitness Bloggers – hopefully you’ve been following along with at least some of our tips! If not, don’t worry, you can start now! But before I leave you, I have a few last things to share with you.

For my last post, I wanted to reach out to YOU, the fabulous readers of my blog, to let you contribute a little bit! So I asked around to see what fitness myths people have learned the truth about, whether you learned it today, last week, or years ago!

So, without further adieu, here’s what you guys said!

1. From Rachel, in Seattle
“My personal favorite myth (that needs serious busting): work through your injury. Taking too much time off to heal will set you back.”
I like this one, because it is a definite myth, in my opinion! It is always good to take time off if you are injured. Don’t make yourself get hurt any more, ladies!

2. Naila, in Ontario
“The eating 30 minutes before you swim thing. It’s only bad if you feel like puking.””
Honestly, I’m a lifeguard. So I definitely like promoting safe swimming habits. But I know that it is not actually necessary to wait 30 minutes after eating before you go swimming. Unless you eat a huge meal and actually can’t swim safely because of it! But as long as your eating normal proportions, you should be fine to swim.

3. Nick, in Boston
“Lifting weights is bad for girls, because it will make you bulk up and gain weight.”
I learned this one when I went to my first personal training session last week – lifting weights will give you muscles, but it won’t make you too bulky, girls! And yes, technically, muscle does weigh more than fat, but you’ll look more fit and toned, so the number on the scale doesn’t really matter!

4. Lindsey, in Bellingham
“If I’m not sore, then I didn’t have a good workout… MYTH.”
This one is so true! Sometimes after a workout you will be really sore, but sometimes you won’t, and that’s nothing to worry about! Last week I was really sore after my personal training session, because I used muscles I had not used in a long time. But after my last few runs, I haven’t been sore at all, because I’ve been working those muscles more often, so they’re getting used to it! But I’m still getting just as good of a workout!

5. Sammi, in Chicago
“Just because you don’t work up a sweat, doesn’t mean you’re not working hard enough.”
This one’s a lot like what Lindsey (above) said. You don’t have to be working painfully hard to get a good workout! You can burn a lot of calories without breaking a sweat, like going on a nice walk or doing light aerobics.

6. Rachel, in Seattle (the same Rachel as #1)
“Yoga is completely gentle and safe.”
I like to think that yoga is very gentle, and safe for everyone. But the reality is – not all yoga poses are for everyone! If you are not super flexible yet, don’t try to push yourself and do a super crazy pose, because you’ll end up pulling a muscle (or maybe even worse)! Work up to the intense poses. That’s why most gyms have beginner, intermediate, and advanced yoga classes. But don’t let this truth scare you, because there is definitely a yoga out there for everyone!

7. Nicole, in Boston
“You need to weigh yourself in order to look and feel good.”
This one relates to what Nick said above – who cares about what the scale says! I know if I gain weight, lose weight, tone up, get flabby – I don’t need to weigh myself in order to know. If my clothes start fitting differently, I know my body has changed. I usually only ever weigh myself when I go to the doctor for a check-up!

8. Todd, in Ontario
“If you’re sore, don’t work out… MYTH… As long as you’re working different muscle groups (and not the same ones back-to-back days), you’re fine.”
We already learned above that you don’t have to be sore to have had a good workout. But if you are sore, you don’t have to take a day off from working out (though you are definitely allowed to!). Just make sure to switch it up and work a different part of the body each day. So if your legs are really sore from doing squats one day, then the next day do some push-ups instead! 

9. Mindy, in Boston
“If I can’t workout very often, I just shouldn’t workout at all.”
This one is very very false! Any working out is good working out! Although my fitness tips from fitness expert Holly Perkins suggested I workout 4-5 days a week, whatever you can do is great! If you can only workout 1 day a week – fine. 2 days? Fine. Just do as much as you can, and try to work up to more days! And there are easy ways to incorporate fitness into your regular daily routine, like taking the stairs instead of the elevator, so that you can be fit without taking a lot of time out of your day!

10. Everyone!
“Cassidy’s fitness plan is over, so that means I can stop working out!”
This is such a myth! I hope that I have inspired you to start a fitness plan, and hopefully you will continue it even after all us fitness bloggers stop blogging! Take our tips and keep using them! Now that you have a foundation, with tips from 6 different girls (so many tips!), you can blend them all together to create your own fitness plan.

So I release you, Fitness Followers! I am leaving this last post, knowing that you will continue to be fit, and continue to keep working out and being healthy, even without me telling you what to do all the time!

I have had such an amazing time making my fitness plan with all of you! I hope you had fun following me on this challenge! Thank you, New Balance, and Holly Perkins, for inspiring me to get back to a fitness routine!

Have a great rest of your week, girls! Stay fit, and stay fabulous!

xoxo Cassidy

P.S. I know this post doesn’t include my drawn out schedule for the week… I’m sorry! Today was Maniac Monday, and I had so much to do (I’m still doing homework… may not sleep tonight!), so I didn’t even have time to do my schedule! So tragic… However, I did  buy some new Sharpies this week! So I am super excited to start scheduling my life now!

• paid