Thanks to the internet, the wellness trend has witnessed a massive increase in popularity over the past few years.

You would think that with all the readily available information that we have today, nutrition and fitness misconceptions would be less common but, unfortunately, the renewed public interest in fitness and health has also opened the floodgates for false information, inaccuracies, and misconceptions to spread.

But do not worry, we are here to set the record straight on five (5) commonly believed health-related myths – so let us get right to it.

1. When you Eat Fat, You Gain Fat

For many years, cutting fat out of our diets has been the standard way of losing weight, however, current research suggests that a low-fat diet will produce similar weight loss results to that of a low carbohydrate one if both nutrition plans have the same calorie count and protein intake.

In fact, the fitness enthusiasts at Weightloss Media explain that choosing good fats over carbs can even increase your body’s metabolism.

Moreover, incorporating small amounts of healthy fats in your diet, such as avocados, whole eggs, olives, and nuts will give you the necessary amounts of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids that provide important benefits for your heart and brain.

2. Lifting Weights will Bulk You Up

For a long time, weight lifting has been almost exclusively practiced by bodybuilders and professional athletes.

As a result, this created the grave misconception that lifting heavy weights over increased intervals will cause you to get ‘accidentally’ too bulky when, in reality, this is far from the truth.

Regular strength/resistance training should be an integral part of any fitness routine because weight lifting is shown to improve your heart rate, boost your metabolism, enhance your posture, regulate your hormones, and reduce your risk of injury.

It will not drastically increase your muscle mass or give you unwanted ‘bulkiness’ unless you are specifically training for that.

3. Running on a Treadmill is Easier on your Knees

It is easy to see where this perspective comes from; after all, a treadmill is a machine and therefore, it is supposedly built for seamless running with more give than the solid, unyielding pavement, right?

While this may be true, the automated nature of the softer revolving belt of a treadmill has also been shown to add more stress on the lower leg muscles, ligaments, and tendons.

These strains may be too small to notice at first but with consistent practice, the constant friction will wear out your knees in the long term.

4. You have to Stretch before every Workout

Some commentators state that pre-workout stretching improves performance and helps prevent injury, however, research is still a little undecided on these claimed benefits.

While the proven advantages of stretching can be quite conflicting, studies confirm that the biggest benefit of stretching is maintaining or increasing the flexibility of your joints. Other research, on the other hand, suggests that stretching before a workout can weaken your muscles by up to 30% which, in turn, can increase your risk of injury.

This does not mean that you should just straight into your workout; save the stretching for after the workout and instead, do a 5-15 minute warm-up routine by running, doing cardio, or doing light weight lifting to get your blood flowing and include a sequence of dynamic exercises to prepare your joints and muscles for the range of motions you will need in your main workout.

5. You Should not eat the Egg Yolks

Egg yolks have long been associated with high cholesterol levels and cardiovascular disease, but this relation is severely overblown.

In fact, studies show that egg yolks can help reduce LDL levels, otherwise known as bad cholesterol. Plus, an egg yolk contains most of the vitamins and minerals as well as half the protein in the egg – so by eating only the egg whites, you will be reducing your meal’s nutrition value significantly.

Further, if you consume an egg-white only breakfast without any sources of good fat, you will likely experience a significant insulin spike and you will probably also struggle with cravings and fluctuating energy levels later in the day.

Summary

As you can see, when it comes to diet and exercise, there is so much false information floating around nowadays and what many of the things that you unknowingly misconceive about fitness and nutrition can impact your physical health.

So do not let your gullibility bring you down; before you follow a new diet or exercise routine, look for evidence-based facts that support these health practices before you mindlessly follow them.

You should also take a closer look at your current fitness routine and make sure that the aforementioned myths and misconceptions are not interfering with your fitness goals.