Weight Lifting Myths And Facts

Myth: Always use a belt when lifting weights.

Fact: If you’re an athlete who trains with a weight belt, you are not developing your own stabilizing core to function with all of the other muscles. This is a problem, because when you go onto the field, the strength developed in the weight room cannot be transferred completely because you don’t have a weight belt with you. You actually limit your performance by using a weight belt.

Myth: Leg lifts are great for the lower abs.

Fact: When most people lift their legs while on their back, they actually inhibit their lower abdominals and strengthen their hip flexors. In order to train your lower abdominals correctly, you should slowly lift your hips 1 to 2 inches off the floor, which will raise your legs and feet a few inches higher.

Myth: Behind-the-neck Lat Pull-downs are a great exercise for your lats.

Fact: This exercise puts you in a position where your shoulder ligaments stretch out – destabilizing your shoulder. This, in turn, can lead to compressed nerves at the neck. Aside from that exercise, there is no time in your entire life where you will be required to pull anything behind your head like that. By doing a lat pull-down in front, you will still develop size and strength in your lats.

Myth: The best way to burn f at is aerobic exercise and dieting.

Fact: The best way to burn f at is anaerobic exercise and eating regularly. Most strength training consists of anaerobic exercise. The anaerobic lactic acid energy system inside the muscle cells is where the muscle gets the energy to lift w eights. The anaerobic energy system is far less efficient than the aerobic system, so that much more fuel is burned by anaerobic activity than is burned by doing the same amount of work aerobically. Metabolic rates can stay elevated hours after an anaerobic workout, while the metabolic rate drops along with the heart rate after an aerobic workout. More f at is burned for a longer period of time by working out anaerobically. Dieting does not work well because when you restrict the amount of calories consumed a day, your body reacts by lowering your metabolic rate so that less calories are needed, instead of burning more f at to make up for the lost calories. The best way to change your diet is to decrease the caloric intake in a wave-like pattern, so that your body does not adapt and more f at is burned. Another important thing to do is to eat six small meals a day instead of 3 larger ones. The reason behind this is that if you eat 3 meals a day, you get hungry and your body starts to lower your metabolic rate, which means that less f at is burned. If you eat 6 smaller meals, you don’t get as hungry, and your body maintains a higher metabolic rate, meaning that you burn more f at.

Myth: W eight lifting causes big muscles.

Fact: You can create a program which increases strength without any increase in muscle size. Muscle size is only one component in strength. Another important one is the nervous system. The nervous system can almost exclusively be trained so that it can activate muscles harder and longer, which increases the strength in those muscles, without allowing the muscles themselves much if any increase in size. This is great news for women who don’t want to bulk up, but still want to get stronger.