Dispelling The Myths By: Nathan Solia (Part 1 of 2)

Nathan Solia (Our instructor for Bikini Boot Camp)

Let's face it; we are in the information era where we are bombarded with all sorts of "new" and "great" consumer products, diets and information that will change as "our life as we know it." The health and fitness industry is definitely one field where one gets fed quite a remarkably high amount of fiction!


1. Bathroom Scales Are The Best Indicator
Bathroom scales can be the most deflating self-esteem tools. If you are exercising, you will not lose weight on the scales straight away as this is the safe way to slim. Remember, between 1/4lb to 1lb per week is very normal. Muscle also weighs more than fat so a pound of muscle is smaller than a pound of fat so everything feels and looks smaller, but your weight may not have changed in the scales at all. Use your clothes as a yard stick rather than the bathroom scales.

2. Weight Training Will Bulk Me Up Like Arnie
The big difference between men and women is testosterone. Testosterone is the hormone that allows men to build a muscle through weight training, it will take months, even years of hard core bodybuilding to get close to resembling Arnold Schwarzenegger.



3. Eating's Cheating
The truth is if you do starve yourself and then finally start to eat again, you will gain fat. Here is how it works: when we do not eat, our body goes into starvation mode and the metabolism slows down to retain the amount of body fat it already has. The body may also start to break down muscle as a fuel source. When you finally eat, the chances are you will gorge. Now imagine your body is a fuel tank and because you haven't eaten anything, your fuel tank has shrunk and you have put more food into the body than is necessary- this is called over eating.

4. I Only Need To Do Cardio
It is necessary to keep your heart rate up to burn fat through cardio, but you can also improve the effectiveness through incorporating resistance training. When you perform cardio you may also burn muscle as well as burning fat. By adding resistance training into your workout you will maintain the muscle mass you have which allows you to burn more fat easier.

5. I've Always Been This Size So I Will Always Stay This Size
The statement is a double edged sword. On the one hand people who are skinny may feel comfortable being the size they are but eventually and at some point we all have to endure the middle aged spread in some shape or form. If we do not use out body, bones become weak and muscles begin to shrink therefore we do not need too many calories to maintain our metabolism but due to our habitual eating habits we tend to eat the same amount of food so all the excess calories are then, of course, stored as body fat.
The other side of the sword is when we are already overweight. Can we lose this? The answer is YES. It is difficult, but it has been proven over and over gain that with proper nutrition and exercise you can achieve the ability to lose the fat.


Myths 6-10 will be posted tomorrow