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Internet Fitness Myths

February 23, 2018 by Taylor Leave a Comment

Internet Fitness Myths - Espresso and Ambition

Since I started getting serious about fitness stuff, I’ve been getting a ton of inspiration and ideas from the Internet. YouTube videos, blog posts, academic research studies, you name it. The Internet is a fantastic resource for finding everything from workouts to recipes to general wellness advice. However, there’s always misinformation spreading around online, and some of that false info is particularly pervasive. In today’s post, I’m sharing some of my biggest pet peeves when it comes to the fitness myths I find online.

“How to Lose Fat From Your *Insert Body Part Here*”

I’d love if you could somehow target where you lose your fat from, the way that so many Pinterest graphic workouts say you can. I’d lose it all from my stomach and not at all from my boobs, thank you very much. Unfortunately, fat loss doesn’t work like that. Fat loss occurs all over your body – genetics largely determine where you lose fat from the fastest – and you lose fat from a caloric deficit and cardiovascular exercise. Lunges alone won’t give you a thigh gap.

1,200-calorie a day diets

Your body needs fuel to do its best, and 1,200 calories more than likely isn’t enough fuel for someone who is exercising regularly and living an otherwise healthy lifestyle. Diets like this aren’t sustainable and cause your body to go into survival mode, which actually makes it harder to lose fat. Figure out what your basal metabolic rate (BMR) is, factor in the calories you burn from exercise, and subtract around 500 calories from there (that’ll put you on track to lose about 1 pound per week). For me, that number is close to 1,800 calories, which is totally off from that 1,200 number I was once aiming for. Give your body the fuel it needs.

High emphasis on cardio 

Cardiovascular exercise is great. There are all sorts of health benefits associated with regular cardiovascular exercise, like a reduced risk of heart disease and Type 2 diabetes. It’s also important if you want to lose weight, because it’ll help burn off calories and put your body in a slight caloric deficit (notice I said slight, see previous section for why anything more extreme probably isn’t a great idea). However, a truly balanced exercise routine should also include some sort of strength training. Building muscle will help raise your metabolism, which will, in turn, help you lose fat faster. Whether you like lifting weights or going to a strength-based class like Pure Barre, adding some sort of strength training to your workout routine will help you achieve your fitness goals much more effectively than cardio alone.

Lifting weights = making you bulky

This myth isn’t as common as it used to be, but it still gets perpetrated nonetheless. The way that you put on a significant amount of muscle is by “bulking” – aka workout out and eating in a caloric surplus. If you’re not eating in that surplus, your body won’t be producing some massive amount of muscle that’ll turn you into a female bodybuilder. (If you want to turn into a female bodybuilder though, by all means, go for it. Those women are impressive.) You can lift weights and still stay relatively lean.

The only way to lift is to lift heavy

Yes, if you’re trying to put on muscle, lifting heavy is the fastest way to do that. That doesn’t mean that lifting lighter weights or doing bodyweight workouts won’t get you results. If you don’t want to lift heavy, whether it be due to risk of injury or just a dislike of heavy lifting, you don’t have to. You’ll still see results doing high-rep, low-weight workouts if that’s what you’d prefer to do.

Any other fitness myths you’ve spotted on the Internet that get on your nerves?

xo, Taylor

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Meet Taylor

A real-life combination of Elle Woods and Hermione Granger. Recent graduate of the University of Georgia, currently living and working in DC. New blog posts every Monday, new YouTube videos every Thursday. Subscribe by clicking the link below for post updates and exclusive content!

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tayy_kay

📍 dc
🔥 nasm certified personal trainer
✨ self-love + balance
🎥 2 new workouts per week!

tayy_kay
without heavy weights, it’s sometimes a little c without heavy weights, it’s sometimes a little challenging to really feel like i’m working at my full potential on leg days 😶 enter: single-leg movements. since all the weight is in one leg, you’re putting way more emphasis on it than you do during two-leg movements - and you’ll definitely feel that 🔥 you also get some added bonuses in the form of ensuring you’re working each side of your body equally AND a balance challenge!!
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you can add in weights or bands to up the challenge level, or do it all bodyweight like i am here!
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1️⃣ 15 single-leg box squats per leg (use other leg as a kickstand for an easier modification!)
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2️⃣ 15 bulgarian split squats per leg
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3️⃣ 15 single-leg hip thrusts per leg
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4️⃣ 15 single-leg deadlifts per leg
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throw on at the end of a longer leg day workout or do it 3-4 times as a workout all on its own!!
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👚 @girlfriend 🎧 numb - neffex
🖤 go easy on yourself 🖤 this is a weird time 🖤 go easy on yourself 🖤 this is a weird time to be alive, and it’s more important now than ever to listen to your body and stop being so hard on yourself. motivation is a fickle thing and working out when you don’t have all the equipment you love is weird. give yourself permission to take a break when you need it. don’t beat yourself up for missing workouts - exercise should be something you do because it makes you happy, not because you feel like you have to punish yourself. if it doesn’t make you happy that day, that’s okay. give yourself a break, come back and try again tomorrow. 💪🏼
circuit-style upper body workout 🖤 honestly not circuit-style upper body workout 🖤 honestly not kidding about how much i love this long resistance band, it’s so versatile! definitely worth getting your hands on one for home workouts 😊 (although almost all of these can be completely with dumbbells or heavy objects if that’s what you’ve got in hand)
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also please watch to the very end of the fourth video for quality footage of greg 😂
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1️⃣ 12 long band shoulder presses to standing chest presses
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2️⃣ 12 upright rows to bicep curls
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3️⃣ 12 overhead triceps extensions per arm (the one leg stance is some bonus balance work!)
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4️⃣ 12 rear flies, featuring greg trying to fight my shadow
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5️⃣ 12 commandos
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6️⃣ 12 side-to-side pushups
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repeat 4x total!!
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👚 @underarmourwomen
🎧 best of me - neffex
giveaway 🔥 we’re all handling this weird, cra giveaway 🔥 we’re all handling this weird, crazy time in the world a little differently, and for me, it’s looked like a lot of establishing to and sticking to routines (seriously, sometimes it feels like my skincare routine and workout split are the only thing still giving meaning to days of the week, lol). my morning smoothies have been another important one - there’s a recipe in my story highlights and surprise surprise it uses this protein powder 😛
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anyways, onto the real reason you’re here! i’m giving away 25 $20 giftcards for @310nutrition with NO STRINGS ATTACHED 🤯 you hear that? you ain’t gotta do a thing to win - the first 25 people to use the code KAYGC20 on their order automatically win. get your hands on some fire plant-based protein powder, courtesy of me and 310 😋 (p.s. if you’re still seeing this caption, there are still giftcards available!!)
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#310gc20 #310shake
sometimes you just gotta get hella dressed up and sometimes you just gotta get hella dressed up and hold a fake photo shoot just to prove to yourself that you’re still a real human
posted a new youtube video. this picture is tangen posted a new youtube video. this picture is tangentially topical. link in bio.
upper body circuit ‼️ i’ve been gravitating upper body circuit ‼️ i’ve been gravitating towards circuit-style workouts lately, because they really work up a sweat and home workouts just don’t feel as legit to me unless i’m hardcore sweating 🤷🏼‍♀️ i don’t mind not breaking much of a sweat at the gym, but it feels weird not to when i’m working out at home - anyone else feel this or am i just weird?? 😅
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do all exercises back to back with no rest in between!
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1️⃣ 10 push-ups to renegade rows
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2️⃣ 12 alternating bicep curls
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3️⃣ 12 diamond front raises
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4️⃣ 8 sets of 3 tricep pulses to this lil cross-body weight move that doesn’t have a name {keep your core tight to feel it on your obliques!}
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5️⃣ 15 bent-over rear delt rows
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6️⃣ finisher!! 🥵 10 burpees with 2 shoulder taps and 2 toe taps in the middle of each rep
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repeat 🔁 for a total of 3 rounds!!
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👚 top from @gymsharkwomen, shorts from @nike 🎧 dangerous - neffex
would be nice if both sides of my head could agree would be nice if both sides of my head could agree on whether my hair is wavy or straight, but apparently that’s a little too much to ask of it 😂
got a circuit-style leg workout for you today! 🥳 there are 3 sets of 3 exercises that you’ll complete back-to-back - once you’ve done those three moves, rest for 30 seconds before repeating them all over again 2 more times! rest for 1-2 minutes in between each circuit - keeping your heart rate up is the goal here, i was driiiiiiipping sweat by the end of this one 🥵
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circuit 1️⃣: 10 step-ups to reverse lunges per leg
10 reverse lunges to curtsy lunges per leg
20 lateral lunges
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circuit 2️⃣:
10 squats to surrenders (stop in a squat position before standing up at the end to really feel this one)
10 stagger-stance rdls
20 criss-cross squat jumps
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circuit 3️⃣:
15 leg lifts per side
10 single-leg glute bridges per side
15 frog pumps
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👚 top from @fabletics, joggers from @gymsharkwomen
🎧 watch me - neffex
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