Lean and Hard

No one likes to be wrong. That's why it's so difficult even to consider the possibility of it. There's the old joke about the guy who says, "I made a mistake once. I thought I made a mistake, but I was wrong." For some of us it's not only difficult to admit error, it's downright torture. There are a few people I know who, as far as anyone can remember, have never, ever admitted to a mistake.

Where's this leading? We are continually assailed with advice about fitness. One of my earliest memories is of my mom telling me that the men at the service station used Coke (the soft drink, not the controlled substance) to de-grease nuts and bolts, so think about what it would do to my teeth. Yikes. She was wrong about the nuts and bolts, right about the sugar being bad for my teeth. What other fitness "truths" have we picked up along the way that are really and truly flat out wrong?



There isn't any harm in being wrong about a lot of things, but health and fitness mistakes can be costly and frustrating. For example, the idea that you can get toned through exercise alone is one that leads to failure and disillusionment every day. Good strength training and cardiovascular exercise  can build muscle and burn calories, but this is not enough. Diet is a far more powerful way to trim excess fat and, in conjunction with the right exercise, give you a lean and hard body.

Another old but oh-so-wrong bit of classic fitness dreck is the one that says you get lean and toned by doing light weights and lots of reps, and a bulky, ape-like look using heavy weights and few reps. Doesn't work that way. Building strength and muscle mass is difficult to accomplish and requires working muscles to the point of almost-failure and eating a good, healthy diet.

So, rather than cling to those old, tried-and-proven-false fitness myths, do some research and get the facts. It's the age of information, so let's take advantage of that and update our database of knowledge.

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