We all know what it takes to be healthy. Doctors tell us at every visit. It’s all over the news and television. We see it in magazines.
The key to a healthy life is as simple as it is straightforward: eat a healthy diet and exercise regularly.
So why don’t most of us do it?
It’s complicated, but there’s one piece to the puzzle we can address: Workout myths.
What are Workout Myths?
Workout myths (fitness myths, exercise myths, whatever you want to call them) are preconceived notions about working out that create mental blocks.
Some myths make us feel overwhelmed, scared, anxious, and like no matter what we do, it’s not good enough. Others give us false ideas of what will happen if we do work out.
Exercise Phobia
A few fitness myths create something akin to an exercise phobia. We’ve built up this massive idea in our heads about working out, and so we freeze.
We don’t do anything at all.
Despite the abundance of weird phobias, there’s no clinical term for a specific “fear of exercise”. Most people don’t have a true phobia.
Instead, people are afraid of a combination of factors they associate with the word “exercise” or the idea of working out. But these associations are false.
They’re workout myths preventing you from living an active lifestyle. Once you let them go, you can start thriving.
As a certified personal trainer whose primary focus is special populations and senior health, I’m always sympathetic when asked to train people terrified of exercise. And I’ve identified the most common workout myths preventing you from living a healthy lifestyle.
Any Exercise is Good Medicine
The saddest part about this phobia is that exercise is the medication they need to improve their lives. Even the American College of Sports Medicine recognizes that exercise is medicine, and we should all be doing more of it.
Let’s overcome these workout myths together and embrace healthy, active lifestyles.
Too Old To Work Out
Our society glorifies youth and top-performing athletes who compete at unimaginable levels of fitness.
People outside that age range think it’s too late for them to start.
But that’s not true at all. It’s never too late to start. As long as you are capable of moving your body, you are capable of working out, no matter your age.
Thinking It’s Natural Talent
Believing you must be naturally good at something to start is a myth that transcends exercise. People believe this in all aspects of their lives, to their own detriment.
When it comes to exercise, people assume master athletes are born with innate abilities they’ll never have. The public is rarely privy to the immense training, exhaustion, and work ethic it takes to compete at professional levels.
But even if they’re born with a little genetic superiority that helps them run faster, who cares? Nobody is asking you to work out at the level of professionals.
Working out, like most things in life, is worth doing poorly. If you can’t run two miles, run one. If you can’t do that, walk it. Start small and work your way up.
You don’t have to be naturally talented to start.
You Must Be Healthy To Exercise
Society views these athletes with awe and wonder while creating a subliminal suggestion in our minds that we need to be athletes or, at minimum, in good enough shape to exercise.
It’s a self-defeating paradox. You’ll never get into a “fitness shape” that makes you feel good about working out if you never start working out.
Thinking Exercise = Pain
Folks suffering from arthritis, chronic disease, injury, obesity, or the natural effects of aging associate exercise with pain and form a mental block that genuinely frightens them.
While disabilities do make exercising more complicated, they don’t prevent you from doing it at all. Some folks will never be able to run, but they don’t have to.
There are thousands of ways to exercise – there is a way for you to work out without being in pain.
No Pain No Gain
The flip side of thinking that exercise means pain is the fitness myth of “no pain, no gain,” which tells people that if you aren’t hurting, you’re not exercising right.
Maybe it’s the same side, because the common saying leads people to think exercise automatically equals pain.
But it doesn’t. Sure, muscle soreness will likely come from working out, and that’s normal. But you don’t need to push yourself so hard that you can barely move.
It’s okay to start slow and take it easy.
I Don’t Want to Get Bulky
The idea that lifting weights or working out more will make you “bulky” is a massive workout myth that prevents millions of women from hitting the gym.
Strength training will not make you bulk up unless you want it to (because it’s actually really hard to get bulky – especially for women).
It will tone and tighten your muscles, though.
It Won’t Make a Difference
A lot of people refuse to even try working out because they begin with a defeatist attitude, thinking the little they can do isn’t enough to make a difference.
It is. Every step matters. Every extra movement, no matter how small, is an additional gain.
Everything you do makes a difference – and that’s true in life as well as in working out.
You Can Overcome the Fear
For a healthy life, let go of these misconceptions and get moving! Even the smallest steps will help.
If you’re not sure where to start, check out our five secrets to overcoming workout anxiety and staying active – it won’t even feel like working out!