6 Workout Rules to Ignore
1. "No pain, no gain" or "Pain is weakness leaving the body."
The first phrase is from the dawn of the modern fitness era (thank
you, Jane Fonda). The second is from the U.S. Marines Corps. Unless you
want to take a bad trip down memory lane (watch the 1985 movie Perfect to see what gyms used to be like), or commit to the armed forces, both should be completely ignored. Effective exercise should NOT cause pain. Pain
is a warning signal from the body to the brain that something is not
right. Exercise is physical stress applied to the body, so for changes
to occur, some discomfort is to be expected. But discomfort is
completely different than pain. Discomfort means you're pushing your
body to do the right amount of work, but pain means STOP IMMEDIATELY!
2. Your knees should not go past your toes.
If you have good ankle or hip mobility, then your knees will definitely be able to move past your toes as you sink into a squat.
A squatting or bending movement should start from the hips, not the
knees. This cue comes from the group fitness world where an instructor
trying to provide a safe workout for a large group of people, but it is
not a workout rule. If you have the requisite flexibility in your hips
and ankles, then you can safely ignore this advice. Here is some great advice on how to progress your workouts so you can squat safely.
3. Train only one body part at a time.
This antiquated thought process comes from the bodybuilder era. The body is designed to move with all muscles
and joints working together simultaneously. If you're not planning on
walking around a stage in a bathing suit, then your workout program
should focus on training your entire body at the same time. Exercises
that include the primary movements of squatting (or bending), lunging,
pushing, pulling and rotating are all that is necessary for a total-body
workout. Doing a movement-based exercise program also uses more muscles
than training individual body parts, which means you’ll burn more
calories during your workout.
4. Doing crunches.
Want to know a little secret? If you want a six-pack, nutrition plays
a much greater role than doing a few sets of crunches. As #3 above
points out, all muscles are interconnected via fascia and elastic
connective tissue, so doing an exercise to isolate one band of muscle is
not an effective use of your workout time. For optimal performance, the
muscles of your core should be challenged to move in all directions
while you're standing, not simply shortening while you're lying flat on
the floor. Here are a number of options to help you develop core strength that don’t require crunches.
5. Weight loss requires only "cardio" exercise.
Are you breathing right now? Congratulations, you're technically doing cardio. Cardio-respiratory
simply means using oxygen to help create energy for muscles to burn.
All exercise requires muscles to use oxygen, along with either
carbohydrates or fats for activity. Think of excess weight as stored
energy to burn during exercise. It’s important to note that doing too
much aerobic exercise can actually cause the body to burn muscle protein
instead of fat, which is not a good thing. In addition to burning
calories doing a full-body circuit, weight training helps the body to
produce more lean muscle, which means you’ll be burning more energy even
when you’re not exercising. Kinda cool, huh?
6. Use light weights and high reps for “toning.”
This is statement is (almost) complete nonsense. The word “tone”
comes from the technical term “tonus,” which refers to a state of semi
contraction of a muscle. If the goal of weightlifting is to develop muscular definition,
the weights should stimulate type II muscle fibers. Using light weights
to “tone up” requires doing repetitions until you can no longer move
the weight—this is known as volitional fatigue and will ensure that type
II fibers have been used. The best way to stimulate type II fibers is
to use a heavier weight that will cause fatigue in a shorter period of
time. If time is an issue, which would you rather do? Use 5-pound
weights for 25 reps or 12-pounds for 8 reps?
There you have it, a list of some fitness advice that you can simply
ignore. If you've let life happen to you, have not made fitness a
priority and have added a few pounds, keep in mind that they didn't
appear overnight and won't disappear immediately. The two keys for a
successful exercise program are finding out what works for you and
consistency. Finding the right exercise program for your interests will
take a little time. Using an ACE-certified Personal Trainer or taking
classes with an ACE-certified Group Fitness Instructor are both
effective ways to receive the instruction you need to reach your goals.