Some Common Training Myths Exposed

With this article I’d like to address some training myths that somehow seem to always hang around and never die.  I get asked these questions on a very regular basis and I’d like to expose some of them here in this article.

Myth #1 – I can spot train an area with weights and lose fat.
Reality – You cannot spot train your butt, back of your thighs or abs with some sort of weight bearing or for that matter a non-weight bearing exercise and lose bodyfat.  The loss of bodyfat, pure and simple, comes from an individual consuming less calories the majority of the time on a day to day basis than what they use functioning on a day to day basis.  It’s that simple.  Fat loss takes time if it’s going to be done right and in a way that is healthy on the body.  There is no magic bullet for fat loss, no pill, no exercise, no machine, gizmo, or gadget that is going to drop bodyfat from your body.  It’s going to take time and discipline and intelligence with both the diet and the training one decides to pursue.  Weight training can alter the bodies metabolic rate over time as the body gains lean muscle tissue, this is true, and because of this fat loss may be easier and may come quicker than dieting alone, but from the standpoint of spot reducing an area or pocket of fat, this is simply not a physiological possibility.

Myth #2 – As a woman, if I lift weights I’m going to get huge, bulky muscles.
Reality – The number of factors under the control of an individual trying to add bulk to their bodies are impressively large and all need to be addressed for such a scenario to come to fruition.  If these factors are not all being addressed and manipulated for the benefit of gaining bulk, then it simply won’t happen.  The idea that simply by walking into a weight room and picking up a 20lb dumbbell and lifting a few times is going to make one huge and bulky overnight or within a very short period of time is absolutely ludicrous.  Another factor and one that needs to be realized and is not under direct control of an individual is the actual amount of muscle fiber that there is to potentially develop.  Women, on average, have 30% less muscle fiber to develop than a man does, which means her ability to get bulky, even if she wanted to, is much, much more hindered than that of a man.  Another thing a woman needs to realize is that any training effect can be reversed and “detrained” if that is something that is so desired.  No training effect is permanent, it needs to be regularly stimulated if it is to be retained or improved upon.
Lastly, a woman who sees a picture of another woman with a large amount of muscle mass, needs to understand that a minimum of 10 years of daily training and dieting went into that physique and unless that woman thinks she is going to make that same type of commitment to herself she has absolutely nothing to worry about in regards to looking like that.

Myth #3 – If I squat or deadlift it will spread my hips and make them wider.
Reality – Here’s the reality of this one.  When a woman is pregnant and about to give birth, the body for a very brief period of time allows the pelvis of a woman to open up or “spread” slightly to allow the passage of the baby down the birth canal.  After this event is done the hips close back up and return to normal proportions.  This is the only time anyone’s hips can spread.  Period.  No exercise will invoke this response in the body.  It simply isn’t physiologically possible for this to happen.  One needs to understand that a normal skeleton has the ability to withstand 1500lbs of compressive pressure before the bones will fracture and break.  I need to stress this is the skeleton I’m speaking of .  1500lbs of compressive force will not cause the ligaments deep in the hip structure to do anything, not to expand, not to tear, nothing.  If these ligaments can’t be induced to do anything with 1500lbs bearing down on them then how does one think that by having 65lbs or 165lbs on a bar and squatting with that weight is going to do anything??  For hips to “spread” from exercise the ligaments would have to be vulnerable to expansion from stress.  The mere fact that we are able to walk, run, jump and do all these type of endeavors should lead one to understand that the ligaments in the hip complex aren’t vulnerable to expansion from stress.  One could also look at a cadaver if the opportunity every arose and see just how thick these ligaments are in the hip complex, some close to 2” in width and 1/2” thick.  A few pounds on a bar for squatting isn’t going to expand those bad boys.