3 (more) Fitness and Nutrition Myths, Debunked
This is the second post on misconceptions concerning fitness and nutrition. If you want to read post number one first, click here.
Being someone who has been immersed into the fitness and nutrition world for the past couple of years, researching and applying the fundamental concepts and beliefs, I've witnessed myself go through different phases and convictions surrounding health, fitness, and nutrition.
What's more, I've been noticing some common patterns regarding misconceptions and myths widespread among people who first get into nutrition and training.
This article addresses what I perceive to be the most common misconceptions about the fitness and wellness world in our society, and the way it addresses these fallacies is through a beginner's mind, attempting to dive deep into why they are wrong as far as we know right now (based on the current scientific evidence), and why they're widespread beliefs in the first place.
A big role in fostering the spread of these myths may be attributed to the way we are being exposed to information about anything concerning fitness (aggressive advertising especially on social media platforms, weight loss products promising quick fixes with no effort needed, some gurus seeking social approval through spreading false — as for current scientific evidence — but sensational information and theories about nutrition and training).
Furthermore, our lazy minds are constantly trying to find the easy way out, the shortcut that leads to the highest possible result with the minimum possible effort. In reality, what seems to work in training and nutrition is rather boring and requires consistency, dedication, and a long-term life commitment, all things which our procrastinating brains don't really want to hear nor think about.
So, in this post we're going to get into 3 more broad and common misconceptions about training and nutrition, dissecting them in the best way I can and figuring out why they're wrong based on the current scientific evidence.
Myth #4 — You can spot reduce fat
This myth has its foundation on the belief that we can target fat loss based on the area of the body we want to lose fat in (e.g. believing that by doing a lot of crunches we can reduce abdominal fat in the abdomen area and get the abs to show).
In order to understand why this assumption is not correct, we need to revolve back to how fat loss occurs: by eating at a calorie deficit (i.e. burning more calories than we assume) for a prolonged period of time. Doing some resistance training during the fat loss phase can be a great addition, as it increases the amount of calories burnt during the day (hence favouring the calorie deficit) and can prevent excessive lean tissue loss in the process of losing weight. So, the catalyst condition for fat loss is nutrition (i.e. calorie deficit in this case).
In addition to this, and due to the fact that a calorie deficit is required to lose fat, the weight loss manifests itself through reducing fat (and muscle) tissue holistically throughout the body, with some areas being more stubborn than others, however. This is the case especially for fat concentrated around the belly area for men and around the thighs for women. These parts of our body are, for the majority of people, the last to strip off fat. This condition is certainly more marked in individuals who start from a very high body fat percentage.
In conclusion, in order for the abs to be visible, we need to remove the fat covering the web of muscles located in the abdominal area. Doing abs exercises can certainly be helpful in making those muscles grow bigger and more defined, but they won't show unless the fat layer on them has gone.
P.S. The general consensus in the fitness community is that fat loss happens holistically and cannot be targeted to a specific area or muscle group (if you burn more calories across the day than you consume in your diet, your body will burn some of its own energy stores, like those in your fat tissue, to make up the difference). On the other hand, some recent studies have opened the possibility to the legitimacy of spot fat loss, although there is not sufficient evidence to draw conclusions from yet. This article by Menno Henselmans is a good read on the topic.
Myth #5 — Training Hard and for Long Sessions, All the Time
Deliberate practice certainly has a role in developing one's own capabilities in any sport or skill. Deliberate practice, however, is not mindless practice. It is mindful practice, well thought after.
Fitness and resistance training, like any other sport I can think of, need properly structured programs, progressions, and balance of training volume and intensity of effort (how hard you train). Training periodization is one of the tools used, through which key variables such as rest periods, training volume, and training intensity can be manipulated and tracked on a weekly, monthly, and yearly basis.
While displaying a great work ethic is definitely a positive and respectable trait to implement in order to succeed in any discipline, training mindlessly (i.e. without a proper structure and progression to your sessions) might not be the most optimal approach to maximize results.
As a matter of fact, strategic rest and nutrition are as important variables as those regulating exercise bouts, because not resting enough or eating poorly may be detrimental and have an impact on our training sessions, hence resulting in a snowball effect potentially jeopardizing the process of achieving whatever objective we have.
The most clear potential side effect of training excessively and not managing the training and rest and nutrition variables properly is overtraining. This is the condition that occurs when we exceed the body's ability to recover from strenuous exercise, and which can manifest through constant muscle soreness, plateau or even regression in lifts and persistent fatigue, among the numerous possible symptoms.
Myth #6 — The Anabolic Window
The anabolic window is a term which refers to the period of time immediately after a training bout (30 to 60 minutes after the workout), which is believed by some gym goers to be crucial for maximizing muscle gain and not losing the gains occurred in the session. In particular, consuming protein immediately following a workout is considered vital to inducing muscle growth and preventing protein breakdown to prevail over protein synthesis.
The importance of assuming protein-rich food after a training session is not to be overlooked, and the anabolic window myth is not a complete misconception, but rather an exaggeration of a partially sound argument.
To understand why, we first need to trace back the origin of the anabolic window: it was thought, probably as a logical reasoning, that due to the fact that muscle fibres incur micro tears during training (protein breakdown), you should repair that damage as quickly as possible (by ingesting protein —hence eliciting protein synthesis), or else you would completely waste the potential increase in muscle mass.
After a training bout, our body presents two different enhanced states at a muscular level: protein synthesis and protein breakdown. The former refers to the enhanced capability of our body to build muscle and be very receptive of protein, on account of the fact that we have just created the perfect conditions to do so (by breaking down muscle fibers). Protein breakdown, on the other hand, is exactly the opposite: because we have just created micro tears in muscle fibers, we have broken down muscle fibers, they need to be repaired by amino acids (contained in protein) or else a catabolic state will occur (protein breakdown > protein synthesis).
In order to maximize muscle growth, an anabolic state (protein synthesis > protein breakdown) must be in place. The way an anabolic state is created is through providing broken-down muscle fibers with amino acids that intervene to repair them.
Recent studies have shown that the anabolic state can be present even if we do not eat protein immediately after a training bout (as in anabolic window belief), provided that we had eaten a protein-rich meal before the session (up to 2 or 3 hours before workout).
On the other hand, ingesting a protein-packed meal shortly after a workout becomes very important when training in a fasted state. This is due to the fact that the body does not have any recently-ingested protein to use as a means of inducing an anabolic response, which makes it the perfect environment for the protein breakdown mechanism to take over protein synthesis (hence fostering a catabolic state) unless we consume a sufficient amount of protein post-workout. The time frame in which we need to absorb protein, however, is not as restricted as the anabolic window myth would infer.
In addition, a key concept to keep in mind regarding muscle protein synthesis and the anabolic window is that, at the end of the day, the total calorie and macronutrient intake is of utmost importance in order to optimize increases in muscle mass and live healthily. The more nuanced details start to matter more and more as we get to the advanced level of the athlete pyramid, but firstly we should probably focus on mastering the big-picture principles.
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