Fitness “rules” You Can Break
I have learned a lot in my many years in the gym and as a beginner I would be shocked and overwhelmed by what I do during my workouts. Thanks to experience, I now do exercises that I thought should never be done , and besides, I broke almost every other rule.
We have covered a lot of things that you can stop worrying about as a beginner , but I would like to expand this list by adding a few more rules that even intermediate athletes can safely refuse without consequences.
Myth: You have to go to failure in every set.
If you can theoretically do 13 biceps curls with a certain weight, how many do you really need to do? One common misconception is that if you don’t make all 13, you will lose profits.
The rule makes sense if you really have no idea where to start; if you go until you can’t do any more reps, then at least you know you’re not relaxing.
But the disadvantage is that before failure in each set of each movement, you will simply get tired . There may not be much in the biceps curl, but once you squat with a fairly heavy weight, you will feel pretty exhausted if you do every set to failure, and this fatigue will prevent you from consistently doing a good workout. . What’s best is to follow a program that tells you when to hold back and when it’s time to really push yourself beyond your limits. You will find that most of the time you stop a set at least 2-3 reps before failure, sometimes more.
Myth: Muscles need at least a day’s rest before repeated strength training.
Rest days are a convenient way to make sure you don’t overwork, but nothing more. Organizations like the American College of Sports Medicine recommend leaving 48 hours between intense strength training sessions for a particular muscle , but if you look at where they get that number from, it’s a general recommendation for beginners and for people who train just to stay healthy. When you talk about athletes or enthusiasts, they admit that exercising most days of the week is good if your program is effective in dealing with fatigue (which often means harder and lighter days rather than complete rest).
Myth: Don’t increase your mileage by more than 10% every week.
The 10% Rule is a good guideline for figuring out how to quickly increase your training volume. But, like many of these other myths, this is a suggestion, not a commandment to be strictly followed.
As running coach Jason Fitzgerald told us , “While the adage is to increase your weekly mileage by only 10%, that can either be too conservative or even too aggressive depending on where you start.” When you return after a short break, you will probably be able to increase your mileage much faster. The same thing happens if you are a beginner and your mileage is generally very low; if we took the rule seriously, you wouldn’t be able to increase from zero to any other number.
Meanwhile, serious running programs—again, a program is a wonderful thing—can give you bigger gains for weeks on end, then cut and temporarily decrease your mileage before building it up again. Or they may keep you on the same mileage for weeks before deciding to go for a bigger increase. If you followed the 10% rule, you would be missing out on the benefits of programs that work this way.
Myth: You should do strength training before cardio.
There are pros and cons to lifting before cardio and doing cardio before lifting. It’s more of a “it depends” than a rule. So here are a few ways to decide what makes sense.
Lift before cardio if:
- Getting up is your top priority
- Your movements tend to suffer when you are tired and it is important for you to keep them fresh.
- You just prefer this order
Do cardio before lifting if:
- Cardio is your top priority and you want to have more energy for it.
- Your lifts are something that can be done even when you are tired.
- You just prefer this order
- Or are you going to do some cardio before lifting.
So a cyclist might choose to strength train after jumping off the bike, and a powerlifter would probably prefer to do some conditioning after completing the squats for the day. Either fine if you don’t care or if you prefer to mix it up.
Myth: You need supplements
There are several supplements that can help you on your fitness journey, but none of them are essential.
Creatine is one of the most famous muscle building supplements. It’s supposed to be effective, but here’s the thing: Just because it does something for most people doesn’t mean it does a lot . If you decide it’s too expensive, or you just don’t want to think about something else every day, you won’t be missing out on a significant profit.
Similarly, protein powder is a healthy way to get more protein in your diet , but you don’t need to use a nutritional supplement; you can just eat more protein-containing foods.
And finally, pre-workout drinks can give you more energy in the gym (mostly caffeine), but the idea that you need them is only a recent one. Even ten years ago it was not so important. People came to the gym with coffee, Coke, or no caffeine in their stomachs, and they did great.
Myth: Nothing matters if you don’t track it.
Another thing that didn’t exist until the 2000s: Tracking every minute, every step, or every mile of your workout. You’re still a runner even if you don’t have an app that knows how many miles you’ve run . You don’t even have to keep track of your sets and reps in your lift log if you don’t want to. Your body is what knows how much work you’ve done, even if your phone gets wiped overnight.