Fitness Advice You Should Avoid

Appetizer
Be wary of the advice you hear on the internet.

Main Course
Bad fitness advice abounds, especially on the internet. While this is not the only advice you should ignore, these things are particularly frustrating for me to hear coming from fitness “experts.”

Cardio Before Breakfast – The idea behind “fasted cardio,” or doing your cardio first thing in the morning before you’ve had anything to eat, is that the exercise will work directly towards burning fat, rather than burning the calories in the meal you just ate. There are a couple problems with this. Firstly, most people don’t have much energy to exercise before eating anything, so it might make the exercise difficult or even painful. Second, doing this might cause you to metabolize muscle, which will slow down your metabolism.

Take This Supplement – Not all supplements are bad. But for every nutritional supplement that might actually be useful, there are a thousand that are total garbage. Besides, who has the money to spend on all those pills and powders? Despite what ads on the internet or television might have you believe, they have yet to invent anything that will help you lose weight and get lean as quickly, safely, and effectively as a smart diet and exercise plan.

Drink A Gallon of Water a Day - Most people need to drink more water, but the actual amount you should be drinking for optimal hydration depends upon your body weight, the amount of physical activity you get, your altitude, and a few other factors. While it’s very difficult to drink too much water, you shouldn’t really be drinking so much that you feel the need to go to the bathroom every fifteen minutes. A good hydration measurement is the color of your urine: if it’s clear, you are drinking enough.

Dessert
If you ever hear fitness advice that sounds a bit off or just too good to be true, try to seek out a second opinion. There is nothing worse than spending months or years trying something to lose weight, only to discover it is totally ineffective. I certainly don’t like to waste my time like that, and I know my clients don’t either, so I always double check the sources and data on every piece of fitness or diet advice I hear.