The fitness industry has a vested interest in nurturing some of the misconceptions that we have about fitness. It is in their interest that we believe these myths and continue to buy products that promise the earth but deliver little.
Some of the most common fitness myths perpetuated by the fitness and weight-loss industry are:
Wearing the ‘right clothes’ will help you lose weight. Either because they are supposed to offer certain kinds of ‘compression’ or because they are supposed to induce more sweating, this weight loss inducing claim is often made by fitness garment manufacturers.- The ‘right’ shoes will help make you lose weight. Supposedly, some high tech shoes will help you run faster, jump higher and so on. Also certain shoes promise you the firm, curvy butt of your dreams.
However, what you eat and how you exercise are always going to be far, far more important than what you wear to lose weight or to get a toned butt.
- X machine will help you lose weight in Y area of your body – this is a myth that the fitness industry has been carefully nurturing for ages so that you will buy three different products to work on your abs, your butt and legs and a fourth to help with your arms.
- Supplements can help turn fat into muscle. Quite simply, this is not possible and fat cannot magically turn into muscle, no matter how cutting-edge the supplement claims to be, and no matter how expensive it is.
- No matter what they say, it is always best to get your nutrients from good old healthy eating rather than supplements.
Those models in the infomercials look the way they do because they used some fitness or slimming product. They look the way they do because of sensible eating, effective exercise and some good genes (if not some help from the friendly plastic surgeon as well).
