Gender Stereotypes In Fitness
There are a lot of false statements that you hear getting thrown out by lots of people in the fitness space
And it may be a surprise to you that many of them are false
Here are some of the most common fitness stereotype myths I hear:
Men-
#1. Cardio will kill my gains
Cardio is great for everyone. You don't need to walk for an hour on the treadmill or do sprints but you should be doing some type of cardio. It has many benefits for your heart health, increasing blood flow & nutrient delivery to your muscles, and increases your cardiovascular endurance. If you do no cardio because you fear it will hurt your gains, you should be doing some and it can actually help you more than hurt you.
#2. I have to lift heavy
You do not have to lift heavy even though many people do. You definitely don't need to be going for 1 rep max's if that training style is not aligned with your training style or goals. Resistance training has endless benefits and how you train will mirror the results you get. If you lift light weights for more volume you should not fear ending up looking like a bodybuilder
#3. I'll skit today and train extra hard tomorrow
Consistency > intensity. The person who worksout consistently on a daily basis will ALWAYS outperform the person who only trains when they want to. Going extra hard on one workout will NOT make up for the days you skip.
#4. No pain, no gain
There is a very big difference between pain and being sore of an exercise being uncomfortable. All the time in my training sessions clients will say "it hurts" in the middle of a set. I always ask is it pain or is it discomfort? Majority of the time it is just fatigue and that does not feel good. This is an example where you should keep pushing. This is where real results are earned. If it is a sharp shooting pain, or feels like an injury you should stop immediately and find an alternative exercise or modification.
Pushing past an injury will 99% of the time lead to your pain becoming worse in the long run.
Women
#1. Weights will make me bulky
Resistance training alone will NOT make you bulky by any means. There are many people who try very hard to gain size and it is very difficult. What makes you think by doing a fraction of what those people do will lead you to looking big or bulky? Training with lighter weight has so many benefits that will likely help you reach your goals without looking bigger than you want to.
#2. I should only do cardio
If your goal is to lose weight, you should be weight training. If your goal is to build muscle, you should be weight training. If your goal is to get tone, you should be weight training. If your goal is to increase strength, you should be weight training. Weight training holds the crown for the majority of peoples fitness goals and has so many benefits.
#3. Only training legs
If you overtrain any muscle group you are setting yourself up for failure. When you only train one muscle group such as legs, your body's strength will become unproportional. If your upper body is weaker you will be more likely to get a back or shoulder injury. If you are constantly training lower body, you are setting yourself up for a low back, hip, knee or ankle injury coming from overuse. If you weight train you should be sure to train your entire body equally. This same concept applies to men who typically overtrain upper body and neglect their legs
#4. More sweat = good workout
How much you sweat does not tell a good trainer very much about the effectiveness of a workout. You might be sweating a lot, but did you use good form? Did you only do steady state cardio, HIIT, weight training or some combination of those? Did you target specific muscle groups. Are you training consistently or trying to make your workouts extremely hard to make up for inconsistency? There are so many other factors to consider besides how much you sweat.
The top things I hear from both men and women
I want to lose belly fat
There is no such thing as target spotting. We do not get to pick where we lose fat and in what order. Whether you want to lose belly fat, fat in your face, hips, or anywhere else the process is the exact same. You must be in a caloric deficit. You need to be burning more calories through exercise than you consume through food. I often tell clients too depending on genetics our bodies tend to try and hold onto belly fat before other areas because it wants to protect our vital organs. This isn't always the case for everyone, but it prevents people from getting false hopes.
Crunches and sit-ups to get abs
Most people perform core strengthening and it is rare to see people training core stability. It is important you incorporate both if you have a goal of seeing abs. In the simplest terms, strengthening exercises are where you create movement like a sit-up, crunch, or leg raise. Stability exercises are where you resist and avoid movement like a dead bug, pallof press, or plank. A huge part of ab work also comes through compound lifts where your core is forced to engage such as, squats, deadlifts, rows, pull-ups, and military presses. If you're only doing sit-ups for your abs try incorporating these other movement as well.
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