Fitness Myths That Need to Die | Episode 604

When People Try to Stop Your Progress

Before we even get into the actual fitness myths, there’s something that happens during almost every weight loss journey that people don’t talk about enough.

At some point, people will try to stop you.

I don’t understand the psychology behind it, but it absolutely happens. If you start losing weight and getting healthier, people will try to convince you that you’ve gone far enough. And interestingly, it’s almost never the people who are actually fit.

People who are in great shape never say things like “You should probably stop losing weight.” They don’t say “You’re getting too healthy.” That message almost always comes from people who are not healthy themselves.

Eventually weight loss stops being about the number on the scale. It becomes about body fat percentage and what you see in the mirror.

I’ve been on this journey for years. Back in my early twenties I realized I had gotten seriously fat. I was probably close to 300 pounds and knew I had to do something about it.

I went all in on Atkins back in the early 2000s, before keto was even a buzzword. I followed the book exactly and stuck with it for nearly a year. It worked great, but life happens and eventually I fell off track.

Later I tried CrossFit and paleo for about a year. That also worked and I got down to around 190 pounds, but I still never reached my original goal of 180.

After my daughter was born my wife and I went back to keto and again I landed around that same 190 mark.

Eventually I tried retatrutide and got down to about 160 pounds. Funny thing is, even at 160 I didn’t look as good as I expected. I was what people call “skinny fat.” My arms and face looked thin, but I still had fat around the midsection.

Now I’m sitting around 192 pounds but with more muscle and visible abs starting to show. The scale says I weigh more, but I actually look better.

That’s why chasing a scale number alone isn’t the real goal. Body composition matters a lot more.

My wife had a similar journey. She started around 180 pounds and set a few goals for herself. Her stretch goal was 120 pounds.

She hit it.

And immediately people started asking if she was going to stop now. As if she had reached some imaginary finish line. But belly fat is usually the last thing to go, so she still had a little progress she wanted to make.

If you’re improving yourself, don’t let other people talk you out of it.

The “Turn Fat Into Muscle” Myth

One of the dumbest things people constantly say is that you should “turn fat into muscle.”

That’s not how the human body works.

Fat cells are fat cells. Muscle cells are muscle cells. They are completely different types of tissue.

Fat stores energy. Muscle contracts and produces movement.

Fat sits on top of muscle. It doesn’t magically convert into muscle fibers. You can shrink fat cells by losing body fat, and you can build muscle through resistance training, but one does not transform into the other.

People say this all the time because it sounds catchy and motivational, but biologically it’s nonsense.

You can lose fat.

You can build muscle.

But you cannot convert one into the other.

The Truth About “Toning”

“Toning” is another word that gets thrown around constantly.

In reality, toning is mostly a marketing term.

What people actually mean when they say they want to “tone” is that they want to lose body fat and build enough muscle so that definition starts to show.

Muscle definition appears when body fat percentage drops low enough to reveal the muscle underneath.

That’s it.

If you lose weight gradually and build some muscle along the way, your skin will usually tighten up naturally over time as well. The body is surprisingly good at adapting when changes happen slowly.

Loose skin can happen if someone loses a massive amount of weight very quickly, but for most people gradual fat loss combined with strength training produces the “toned” look they’re after.

The Leg Press vs Squats Debate

Another myth I hear all the time is that the leg press machine is basically the same thing as squatting.

It’s not.

The leg press machine is a good exercise. It will give you a solid quadricep workout. But it isolates the legs and removes a lot of the stabilization and full-body engagement that squats require.

When you squat, you’re supporting the bar on your back. Your core has to stabilize the weight. Your hips, glutes, back, and even smaller stabilizing muscles all have to work together.

With the leg press, the machine does most of the stabilizing for you. You just push the weight.

Another factor is body weight. When you squat, you are also moving your own body mass through space. That adds load to the movement.

So when someone says they’re pressing 200 pounds on the leg press, that doesn’t translate directly to squatting 200 pounds.

That said, the leg press still has its place.

If your choices are leg press or doing nothing, go use the leg press. It’s still a good exercise. And if you don’t feel comfortable squatting heavy all the time, using the leg press as a primary movement with occasional squatting is still far better than skipping leg training entirely.

Stop Repeating Gym Myths

The fitness world is full of bad information that gets repeated endlessly. A lot of it comes from marketing, gym bro science, or people who simply don’t understand how the body works.

You can’t turn fat into muscle.

“Toning” isn’t some magical process.

And machines don’t always replace real compound movements.

The good news is that fitness doesn’t have to be complicated. Lose fat, build muscle, and stay consistent over time. Those basics will take you further than chasing every new trend or repeating every myth you hear in the gym.

This has been James from SurvivalPunk.com. DIY to Survive.

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