Okay, so your friend with the sick body (we all have one) gives you fitness advice. She attributes her flat stomach to 50 crunches a day, and her toned arms to curling 5 pound dumbbells – two sets of 10 reps.
Hooray! You have the secret to success!
….Right?
Wrong.
Don’t listen to what someone says about fitness or health simply because they look the part. There are tons of myths out there that girls with naturally trim physiques believe because they think it works for them…when in fact, their genetics are doing all of the work. If you’re like me and you need to work super hard for the body you have, it’s especially important to know the real deal when it comes to common fitness mistakes.
Myth #1: Crunches will give me a six-pack.
No….no, they won’t. Crunches are not challenging, and only work one section of your abs. Personally, all that crunches do for me is strain the back of my neck and piss me off. If you want to flatten out your midsection, cardio and keeping a healthy diet is the way to go. Stocking up on foods rich in protein and healthy fat, like salmon, is a perfect place to start. A great way to target your abs in the gym is to tighten them during any and every exercise. Keeping your stomach tight while working other parts of your body challenges the abdominals, and best of all, lets you work multiple muscle groups at once. Take it from me, it’s about that time to get up off the mat and give your abs what they deserve.
Myth #2: I need to work out every day to see results.
Actually, working out every day will give you everything except results. If you do so, you can expect strained muscles, fractured bones, and overall fatigue. I’m a first hand expert on this topic: I’ve suffered many injuries from overworking my body, especially if I see results begin to surface and am afraid of them disappearing! Yeah well, instead, this happens: you get hurt and need to abandon your workout schedule for prolonged amounts of time, which is way worse than taking one or two days off per week. SO not worth it! Make sure you give your body the time that it needs to recover. If you went particularly hard in the gym on Monday, take Tuesday to relax and hit up a yoga class – or at the very most, go hard on a completely different muscle group. Going H.A.M in the gym every day isn’t impressi
Myth #3: I’m a girl, so I don’t need to focus on upper body workouts.
You won’t suffer if you don’t work your upper body…but if you’re looking for overall toning or weight loss, it’s a damn good idea. And I’m not talking “let’s go in the corner and curl 5 pound dumbbells so the boys don’t see us” upper body workouts… I’m talking “let’s spot each other and lift as much as we can” upper body workouts. Of course, it’s a horrible idea to randomly decide that you want to curl 30 pounds in each arm, so starting at 5 could be great for someone who hasn’t worked their upper body before. Work your way up from there, and remember not to leave out any muscle group – don’t forget about your back and chest! This can also be a safety issue: having equally distributed strength in all muscles involved in an exercise, whether primary or secondary, is essential. Bonus: Upper body exercises, specifically for the chest, can lift our boobs and help define our collarbone – both of which are male favorites. Convinced yet?
Myth #4: I shouldn’t stop and walk during my run, because it will inhibit my results.
Being a good runner is awesome and super beneficial for overall health, but it’s very different than running for weight loss or toning. If you can run a mile straight, but have been at the same pace for weeks, you’ve essentially hit a plateau. Instead, challenge yourself and pick up the pace, even if it means taking breaks to walk every so often. In fact, walking or taking it down to a slow jog between running and sprinting brings your heart rate all over the place, which is really good for burning fat and calories. Instead of worrying about running the entire distance, mix up your speeds and pay attention to your heart rate. I’m sure you’ll be sweating a ton more than you did before.
And now, here’s my shout out to all the girls out there who need to bust through common fitness myths to get the results they want – it’s not easy, but it’s worth it! Now do me a favor, go get those results and rub it in your genetically enhanced friend’s face