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Do you bend over and touch your toes(holding for 20-30 sec) before your workout or run?

Do you log hours and hours each week doing long, slow cardio?

Does your pre and post workout meals include Advil(ibuprofen) and/or other over-the-counter NSAIDs?

If you said yes to any of these questions, you may be arrested for breaking a few “laws” of fitness.  : )

I’m sure some of you have got some misleading training/workout/fitness advice over the years. So, it’s time to put them to rest.

Here are 3 fitness myths that might be HOLDING you back in reaching your fitness goals…

Myth #1: Warm-up with Static Stretching

Unless you need to increase your “flexibility” to boredom, most stretching before a workout is a waste of time.

Studies published in both the British Medical Journal(1999) and the Clinical Journal of Sports Medicine(2002) have found that static stretching(bending over and touching your toes for time) has NO statistically significant effect on reducing muscle soreness or injuries.

A 2008 study of over 1,000 soldiers had half stretch and half not stretch found no difference in the frequency of injuries.

First things first, you need to forget everything your high school gym teacher or your weekend warrior buddy has told you about stretching.

According to Malachy McHugh, director of research for the Nicolas Institute of Sports Medicine and Athletic Trauma at Lennox Hill Hospital in New York City, an expert on flexibility, when you elongate muscle fibers you cause an “inhibitory response.” This protective response to static stretching actually tightens the muscle to prevent over stretching and renders yourself less powerful.

Experiments have shown that static stretching temporarily decreases the strength in the stretched muscle(as much as 30%), which can last up to 30 minutes.

What to do then?

Incorporate dynamic/active stretching into your pre-workout routine.

Dynamic/active stretching is the exact opposite of static stretching. You move a muscle group in and out of a stretched position(Think forward bodyweight lunge).

Here’s why the difference matters: “Improvements in flexibility are specific to your body position and speed of movement. So if you only static stretch you’ll primarily boost your flexibility in that EXACT position moving at slow speed.

While certainly effective if you are a contortionist, it has limited carry over to the flexibility you need in training. Dynamic stretching improves your active flexibility, the kind you need in every type of athletic endeavor” , according to Bill Hartman, PT, CSCS.

So scrap the bending over & touching your toes and start preparing for the nature of the activity to come with ACTUAL movements involved in the workout.

Check out this dynamic warm-up:

Myth #2: Long, Slow Cardio For Fat Loss

Are you still treading away for hours and hours each week on the treadmill, or going nowhere on a stationary bike or elliptical for fat loss?

If you said yes, why?

Long, slow, steady state cardio for fat loss is ancient thinking. Research has shown that short bursts of high intensity exercise burns more calories per minute than long, slow sessions.

That makes tons of sense, right?

Higher intensity equals more calories spent.

But what’s more important than the calories spent during exercise, is what happens when you are done, since most of the time we essentially spend most of our time at rest.

It has been shown that high intensity training has an effect on the body known as EPOC…

Excess
Post(exercise)
Oxygen
Consumption

This phenomenon causes an increased rate of oxygen intake, an elevated consumption of fuel(fat) and can increase your resting(and that’s the key word) metabolic rate. And in some studies, the resting metabolism was increased up to 48 HOURS AFTER exercise.

So what does that mean to you…

NO more spending hours & hours each week on steady state cardio. With high intensity training you will not only burn more calories while you workout, but up to 2 days AFTER.

Burning more calories while you rest equals a lean, toned body!

Checkout these two fast, effective, fat burning, high intensity workouts…

= > http://traininglikeanathlete.com/metabolic-resistance-training-workout/

= > http://traininglikeanathlete.com/metabolic-conditioning-workout/

Myth #3: Taking Over-the-Counter NSAIDs(Ibuprofen, Acetaminophen) Before & After Workouts Prevents Muscle Soreness and Injury

Check this out from Outside Magazine’s Gretchen Reynolds(Jan 2012 issue) regarding this very subject…

“At the Western States 100, an ultra-marathon in California, seven of ten racers polled said they had swallowed ibuprofen before & during the race, while almost 60% of racers polled at the 2008 Brazil Ironman said they popped painkillers. ‘It’s part of their ritual of getting ready’, says Stuart Warden, director for the Center for Translational Musculoskeletal Research at Indiana University and expert on rehabilitation of sports-related injuries.

After the Western States race, however, competitors who’s used ibuprofen were just as sore as those who hadn’t. Surprisingly they also displayed more blood markers of inflammation than other competitors, even though ibuprofen is an ANTI-inflammatory.

Recent work from others has suggested that frequent use of painkillers can blunt the ability of muscles to adapt to exercise.

In a 2010 study of distance running mice, researchers determined that ibuprofen administration durning endurance training cancels running-distance-dependent adaptations in skeletal muscle.

In other words, the rodents’ muscles stopped building strength in response to the training.

In an editorial in the British Journal of Sports Medicine in 2009, Warden went so far as to say that ‘ritual use of ibuprofen represents misuse’…”

So, don’t pop over-the-counter anti-inflammatories unless you have a real, legitimate injury. Muscle soreness IS part of the body’s natural response to training and NOTHING has been proven to prevent it.

…That’s it.

Put these 3 fitness myths to rest and I can almost guarantee you that you’ll workouts and body will thank you for it.

Happy Holidays to all!

Ryan Miller
Wellness Coach
Licensed Trainer
WorkoutofTheMonthClub.com

P.S. Feel free to pass these fitness myths on to anyone you think might benefit. I know they will definitely appreciate it.

If you have a question regarding any of the 3 myths above, just drop by Training Like an Athlete Facebook page to ask it:

= > http://FacebookTrainLikeanAthlete.com

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