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Adam Zickerman and Mike Rogers of InForm Fitness dispel some exercise myths that are often touted as truth by some popular TV trainers who are vying for ratings or authors who are looking to sell books. While some fitness myths are harmless, others might cause injury or simply just waste your time.
Now listened to in 100 countries, The InForm Fitness Podcast with Adam Zickerman is a presentation of InForm Fitness Studios, specializing in safe, efficient, High Intensity strength training.
Adam discusses the latest findings in the areas of exercise, nutrition and recovery with leading experts and scientists. We aim to debunk the popular misconceptions and urban myths that are so prevalent in the fields of health and fitness and to replace those sacred cows with scientific-based, up-to-the-minute information on a variety of subjects. The topics covered include exercise protocols and techniques, nutrition, sleep, recovery, the role of genetics in the response to exercise, and much more.
54 Debunking Exercise Myths
Wed, 3/23 12:11PM 37:45
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
exercise, people, stretching, muscle, workout, injury, myth, point, week, fitness, recreation, work, lower abs, podcast, vary, inform, cardio, indirect effect, client, ab exercises
SPEAKERS
Tim Edwards, Mike, Adam
Tim Edwards 00:00
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Mike 00:18
The broader purpose for why I think people do want to exercise is for their health. And underneath the umbrella of health is, you know, your body composition, your muscle mass, your endurance to do whatever you want to do, whether it's just walking upstairs a subway, or if it's a sport or something like that. It's I know, we discussed this a little bit in previous podcasts, but I think it's sometimes gets into the, you know, goes into the myths a little bit when you're trying to think about a is there a perfect exercise? Is there one exercise to do everything? And then what could that be? And then of course, the answer is is different for everybody.
Tim Edwards 01:00
That was certified personal trainer Mike Rogers, who also happens to be the general manager of the inform fitness Manhattan location and of course, co hosts for the past 53 episodes of the inform fitness podcast. Welcome in. I'm Tim Edwards with the inbound podcasting network. And this is episode number 54. Today, Mike Rogers and the founder of inform fitness, Adam Zickerman, dispel a few exercise myths that are often touted as truth by some popular TV trainers who are vying for ratings or authors who are looking to sell books. While some fitness myths are harmless, others might actually cause injury or simply just waste your time. Some of the myths discussed in this episode, are will women bulk up if they participate in the inform fitness slow motion high intensity strength training protocol? Is there one perfect exercise for everyone? Or how about the myth that if you want to see results, you have to vary your exercise regime that will be discussed and debated in this episode, as well as, does soreness indicate a good workout. So let's get to it and let Mike Rogers and Adam Zickerman otherwise known as the guru, debunk some of the not so helpful exercise myths.
Adam 02:14
Okay, everybody, welcome to the show. Mike and I are going solo today.
Mike 02:18
We are?
Adam 02:18
Yeah, no, no interview. No, no guests, just you and me.
Mike 02:21
If we're if it's two of us, are we solo or we duo?
Adam 02:24
Oh, alright, so we're gonna be talking about the 10 most popular myths in exercise. So Myth number one, that there is a magic bullet to losing weight. As far as exercise program. There's the particular perfect exercise to lose weight. Basically, what I meant by that question was cardio do you need to do cardio to lose weight? Most people think, yes. In order to really lose weight, you got to add cardio to workout? And when you say no, right?
Mike 02:47
I don't think all the answers are black and white. Frankly, I think in general, most of the people that we've experienced, and we've worked with and from all the science that we read, No, it does not require cardio in the conventional sense in order to lose weight. I mean, that's so that's what you were meant by, there's one perfect exercise to lose weight, because that is also another one of them, which is you need to do cardio to lose weight.
Adam 03:11
Yeah. All right. So a little redundant. And I think you're right. I mean, there's no perfect workout for any group of people. I mean, it's what's best for you.
Mike 03:20
The thing is, people associate lots of different activities as exercise. And sometimes we've been very strict with the concept of what's recreation, what's exercise. And other times I think we've been a little bit lenient on what those things are, because we know that certain action, certain things that people do for exercise, are really recreation, but they have a, quote unquote, exercise effect associated with them. And I think that's why a lot of the points that we're going to discuss are what people think in the conventional traditional sense. But I think, why I think it's worth having this podcast and discussing them is because I think it's it's trying to create understanding. So hopefully, we can be talking the same language when we are discussing,
Adam 03:58
it's more nuanced than people think like when we do talk about exercise, we have a real definition of exercise as strength training. But sometimes I don't like confusing issue with clients by saying, well, that's not really exercise, that's more recreation. And the thing is, in their mind, that doesn't make sense and adds more confusion when you start. So then you have started saying, Well, my version of exercise means strength training and doing it safely. And everything else to me, is like recreational pursuits. But the thing is, we want you to be active. And if you want to call that exercise now as a matter of just like, semantics, so I don't want I don't like confusing issues. So okay, let's call steady state exercise, let's call it riding on a moderate level of bicycle or going on a treadmill at a moderate level, and reading a magazine to the point where you can read a magazine or you pass the talk test, right while you're doing you can have a conversation, which is the talk test. You know, I call that recreation, because it doesn't fit the actual definition, our very strict definition of exercise. Nonetheless, we recommend that you do high intensity exercise once or twice a week and then moderate activity the rest of the week and if you want to call that activity, sport or recreation or exercise, so be it. I'm not gonna nitpick on words.
Mike 05:06
right? Sometimes people misunderstand us when we are
Adam 05:08
when we say that's not exercise. When we say that's not exercise, what do you mean? That's not exercise? It's good cardio and stuff like that. Yeah. And you start getting into a fight instead of really making influencing people don't bother getting activity. So what I do, like, for example, I was I was at a party. And I was introduced to this guy who was doing the workout with me for many, many years. And it's a good friend of his and I was introduced him for the first time. So what is this 20 minute workout? do really think 20 minutes once a week is enough exercise. And again, here we go again, because you know, people think really, you should be doing exercise every day of some sort. And I won't disagree with that, except my definition of exercise is really just the high intensity part. So instead of doing saying that to him, I said, No, I don't think it's enough. I actually said, No, I think it's enough for the intense part of your week. So I started instead of redefining exercise and recreation for him, what I did instead was frame intensity, and moderation. I said, No, it's not enough. Overall, it's enough for your intense bouts of exercise. You shouldn't do much more than really intense exercise once or twice a week for about 20 minutes at a time, after that moderate activity of any kind, given your tolerance for risk is fine with me. And he's like, oh, and he's like, okay, and I didn't have to get into the whole exercise verse, recreation, argument and definition. So that, you know, that's a case in point,
Mike 06:29
when you are defining things and trying to create, I think, if you're going into thinking about what is the purpose, the broader purpose for why I think people do want to exercise is for their health. And underneath the umbrella of health is, you know, your body composition
Adam 06:44
absolutely
Mike 06:44
your your muscle mass, your endurance to do whatever you want to do, whether it's just walking upstairs a subway, or if it's a sport or something like that. It's I know, we've, we've discussed this a little bit in previous podcasts, but I think it's sometimes gets into the, you know, goes into the myths a little bit when you're trying to think about a, is there a perfect exercise? Is there one exercise to do everything? And then what could that be? And then of course, the answer is no. And or I should say, it's different for everybody, you know,
Adam 07:14
right. So um, yeah, let's move on. Let's move on to something that's more black and white. All right. Women who lift weights will bulk up.
Mike 07:20
Yeah, I mean, a lot of women are afraid to bulking up and the question we get in every single consultation and many of them
Adam 07:29
I just can't believe in this day and age in 2018, that women still have that fear of bulking up from weight training, it kind of blows my mind. Yet, it does exist still. And there are some women on the extremes of the bell curve that actually do bulk up by working out but there's so there's so few of them. Like you have a better chance of becoming a rock star than bulking up from working out with weights.
Mike 07:52
But I think you know, sometimes I think when some people when they exercise, or they do a new form of exercise, sometimes they have that initial gain that initial adaptation. And I think sometimes it may manifest itself initially as a little bit of increased muscle size, which maybe intimidate people you associate that within your mind seeing other power lifting females who are looking to increase their size, in a way, I guess most women who are afraid of it do not want to, frankly, Adam, it doesn't surprise me that this still exists over all this time. You know, I think people they want their bodies to look a certain way they have insecurities about certain things, they want to make sure that they are going in the right direction. I understand why they believe that but then as you pointed out, the fact is that usually that is a those are outlying scenarios. And and for most people, unless they have certain genetics to where they're going to have that predisposition, they're just going to be gonna be just fine. They're probably going to have a similar body composition as they have always had. And we're just hopefully more more muscle and they'll be stronger and more capable to do whatever they want to do. Very good. Thank you for that very in depth analysis. did I ramble too much?
Adam 09:02
a little bit. Yeah, a little bit too.
Mike 09:04
I'm working. I am working on trying to be more succinct.
Adam 09:06
Yeah, let's try it out. Okay,
Mike 09:08
If it's a stretching one, forget about it.
Adam 09:17
Let's try this one. But in order to see really good results, you have to constantly bury your exercise change, change it up a lot.
Mike 09:25
I think that's a really interesting topic because
Adam 09:29
see, you're already too long.
Mike 09:32
Okay, can't you just say yes or no! The myth is, is it important to vary your exercises
Adam 09:39
to maximize your results?
Mike 09:42
Right. I think in the general sense for the reasons why people feel they have to do that. I think the answer is simply simply no.
Adam 09:52
Oh my god, I can't believe it. He actually,
Mike 09:54
but from my experience people once again are very, very, very different.
Adam 10:01
Alright, so if somebody said to me if somebody was in my office and hey, do I have to vary my exercise workout and right off, I would say actually, no point is, ultimately, if you pick five exercises that works out the whole body, and you do those intensely enough, and that varies from person to person, how intense it needs to be. And if you do it often enough, which can probably be anywhere from once to me maybe even three times a week, again, the variables being intensity and age and things like that, but but once you find your sweet spot, alright, and and you are getting stronger and staying stronger, five exercises, you know, like a leg press or legs or squat, a push ups or pull ups or a varying amount of exercise will work all the muscles in your body, and it can only be maybe five or six, or even less exercises to do that. And you can stay very strong your whole life doing that. So so the answer is no, you don't have to vary your exercise. Now, having said that, varying exercises can have lots of value people vary, people have different injuries, so that you might have to do different exercises with them to get to all the muscles and, and work around certain injuries. But also, from a psychological point of view, people to motivate people to stick with the program, they get bored. And if it means varying exercise to deal with boredom and their personality of needing things to change, or else they're not going to sick charts pretty much. Yeah, then I'm all for that too. But it doesn't mean they need it in terms of their physicality and the physiology. But they but it's not doing it if it means not doing it, then yeah, let's bury the exercises. For some people. And that's my succinct answer. I'm gonna leave it at that for a lot for a lot of people, I think they are motivated by newness. Okay. And and I mean, we have I have tons of clients, they absolutely love doing the same five exercise all the time, and they get phenomenal results. So a lot has to do with psychological motivation. But I think just to add on to your point, I think people think that adaptation is a bad thing. And I think that's the thing that I think is like is on its head. I think people think that like when you do the chest press so many times, like, oh, you know, Mike, I felt so so when I first started coming here, and I never feel sore anymore. And they think oh, that's a really, really bad thing. And I therefore I didn't have as good of a workout anyway. I think that's the big that confusing factor because people associate soreness, and that with oh, there's a myth for you right there. By the way, does soreness indicate a good workout if you don't get sore. Did you have a shitty workout? Absolutely not. A lot of people do believe that
Mike 12:35
there's the myth that I wanted on the list.
Adam 12:37
That's the myth he wanted on the list!
Mike 12:39
So no, but the thing is, when p90x and insanity and all those things came out, they the the word, the term muscle confusion became very popular.
Adam 12:49
I think that was confused, popular before that when I was on crossfire. I don't remember you had that. That what was the these Denise Austin, right? She said on CNN to, to balance. You know what I said? Which, you know, I was basically making the point that you don't have to keep varying exercise. And she made the point. No, you got to confuse the muscle. Yeah. And I just said, Wait a second, how do you confuse the muscle muscles? Don't think, right? Don't you have to think to be confused, you know? And so and then they got a chuckle from the audience when I said that. So you know, but yes, a lot of people do think that you again, you have to keep varying it to get results. But I just made the point that that hasn't been proven at all
Mike 13:28
right.
Adam 13:29
And I have clients for years, I don't vary very much from their routine. Again, not to say that some people respond better to variation and things like that I don't really have a problem with variation. But this idea that you have to constantly vary for variation sake to confuse muscle, which is a nebulous term. It's just misleading. And it can lead to a lot of injuries for people. And it goes hand in hand with that myth of soreness being an important factor because when you do change workout a lot, you do get sore more often. But soreness in and of itself has not been proven to be an indicator of a good workout.
Mike 14:01
But one last thing I was saying variance again, doesn't really mean different exercises, it could also mean like changes in frequency or
Adam 14:09
maybe the order of the exercises or things like that
Mike 14:12
But I think that's where if you're going to try and that's what I try to do first before anything else try to create a little bit of variance in the exercise itself but exactly like how I would actually do that exercise.
Adam 14:25
one more point I want to make about variation before we go and I'll make a quick and that is the more you vary an exercise and change the order of things and change the exercise it's harder to quantify results because you want to compare apples to apples. So I like to try to keep variation to a minimum or at least consistently vary things so I can compare workout to workout and really measure true progress. I hope that makes sense. Alright, let's let's move on a little bit. Another myth another big myth is the stretching thing. Alright, everyone thinks you have to stretch. Everyone thinks specifically that when you stretch your lengthing muscle when stretch that you're preventing injury enhancing athletic performance. I'm not a big proponent of that I just don't, I don't, but science doesn't show it. I've never been able to really, in my 20 years, seen people drastically improve their flexibility to the point where it's made a big change in a life. I mean, I haven't seen it, people are who they are, I think people have tried to become more flexible, and work against their genetics and their skeletal structure, which was really largely determines their their amount of flexibility. There's nothing you can do about that. For example, when you have very deep hip sockets, you not as flexible, your femur can't move out as wide when it's deep into hip socket. But there are a lot of people that have very shallow hip sockets and allows their femur to go a lot wider. So somebody who has very deep hip socket that's trying to do a split is going to just end up really screwing up their joint, their hip joint it to the point where they're going to need surgery and serious injuries. So this idea of enhancing flexibility to improve performance or, or some kind of notion that being more flexible is healthier. It's just it's just hasn't been shown to be true at all. But I know I always get a lot of pushback when I say this, because a lot of people feel good when they stretch, and they feel like they're more centered when they stretch. And I get that too. But that to me, again, we're getting back to definitions. To me, that is not necessarily stretching, that's more more of a neurological thing that when you do some light stretching, and it kind of lets your neurological system, trust that it's okay to go in that direction. Because of past trauma or muscle injuries in the past, you muscles tend to kind of guard against going out and being as flexible as they can be. But aside from some of that light stretching that overcomes those neurological issues, again, stretching has not been shown. And it had been a lot of studies to try to show it but the meta analysis of all these studies so far, and again, if you want to know how I feel about studies in general, listen to the podcast we did with Dr. Attia not too long ago. I'm not going to get into that right now. But the bottom line is, at this point it the jury is way out on the efficacy and how unnecessary stretching is, again, for the purpose of enhanced performance and sports and of course preventing injury. Now I know you have plenty to say on this,
Mike 17:12
I keep it I keep it short, I generally agree with every single thing you just said. I think it has a lot to do with definitions and what goes on in the mind what they're thinking about what is stretching and thing, I think when it comes to doing anything, like from waking up in the morning, and feeling tight to preparing yourself for a movement pattern that requires some sort of athletic, you know, a little bit more range of motion. I think what people some people think that static stretching is what you have to do. And I think that's the traditional sense of stretching, which I think is absolutely, there's no science to support that that actually works. And I think that's where most people's minds go when it comes to doing the stretch. But the thing is, if you are, say, really, really tight in your back and shoulders, and you reach your hands above your head, and then try to do a little bit of a rotation back with your shoulder and your arms. It actually when you bring your arms back to the front, it actually what you just essentially did was a short movement, it's a light stretch, it feels phenomenal. And you do feel like you have a little bit better range of motion in your shoulder. What exactly did happen when you did that? Like, well, apparently, like you release some synovial fluid which lubricates the joints, which can happen in a lot of little just movements. Yeah.
Adam 18:25
All that you're describing. Again, you know, that's to me, that's not really the kind of stretching I'm referring to.
Mike 18:32
Yeah, well, I think
Adam 18:34
you're referring to what I was saying about the movement patterns, biological connections, reminding your body that it can do this, it like you just said, as you move these joints, if you've been sedentary for a while, or static for a while, like sleeping or sitting at a desk for a while, it helps to get the synovial fluid, which is really, you know, the lubrication of our joints and the synovial fluid. It's like putting oil in your car. Yeah, that that's, that's all well and good.
Mike 18:58
The bottom line is the evidence does show that if you're going to like get up and just start doing static stretching, when your muscles aren't ready, it likely you're going it could cause an injury even before or even make you more susceptible for an injury before you work out.
Adam 19:11
Exactly. So another point to before we move on, because I think you know, we covered it. But stretching to really trying to lengthen the muscle actually weakens the muscle. And if you're doing that right before a sporting event, you can actually set yourself as a disadvantage for performance for that sporting event. And like you just said, also stretching a muscle like that. Not only makes it weaker, but again, you can actually set it up for an injury. So not only does stretching this not necessarily prevent injury. But depending upon how severe your stretching is you can actually be setting yourself up and increasing your risk for injury, not just reducing.
Mike 19:50
very quick, I think just to like just before we go on to the next myth,
Adam 19:53
sure.
Mike 19:53
I think it's a sort of prescribe. It's like for people who are thinking they're ridiculous. I have to stretch before Before I do something like I think the best sort of way to look at is, for example, if you're going to run, walk a little bit, and then jog a little bit, and then run jog a little faster and take, you're basically preparing yourself for increased range of motion when you're running by actually doing smaller movements that lead you into that activity. Yes, something like that.
Adam 20:20
And if you can't do a split, if you can't kick high, and you want to be a Rockette, you might not be able to be a Rockette. You know, if you're a thin, lean, fast, fast, fast runner, and you want to play football, you're probably better off trying to be like a safety or wide receiver or corner back not a lineman. And if you're a big bulky guy that's not too fast, but really strong. Maybe you want to be a lineman, not a not a sprinter. So you have to know what you're capable of. And we're not all capable of the same things just because we stretch being just because I stretch doesn't mean I can become a Rockette or gymnast. All right, moving on. Moving on. What else? Do you want to talk about?
Mike 20:59
You'd be a horrible Rockette.
Adam 21:00
I'd be. I'm not tall enough. But I think I'm pretty enough
Mike 21:06
I mean, this is kind of an easy one. But I think still people really do get this wrong. And that is, the more time you work out. The more fit you will be,
Adam 21:14
ah, the old more the more you work out, the more fit you'll be trick
Mike 21:19
how many, how many times over the years where we've taken people who've had five, six days of exercise a week and then come down and they've looked better, the energy was better, their performance was better. And they've actually lost weight even more
Adam 21:32
exactly the more you work out, the better it is that the more fit you'd be the healthier you'll get. All right now this this reminds me of Dr. McGuff's dose response relationship of medicine, and just like medicine exercises a stimulus and you could overdose on it. And it reminds me of an analogy that I make. And that is if you come in and you have an infection, you have a you have a bacterial infection, and you got a cough and your nose is running. And you know, you got a bug and the doctor determines it's bacterial and gives you a antibiotic, right? So you take the pill, and he tells you to take one a day for 10 days. And you have to take the whole course right? Oh, you know what a day for 10 days and you say to him, but Doc, you know, I got to go to a bar mitzvah in five days, I got my nephew's Bar Mitzvah, what am I gonna do? I mean, what I'm going to do is, if you don't mind, I'm going to actually instead of taking one a day for 10 days, I'm gonna actually take two a day, for five days. It's the same thing, right? I mean, I'll get if I take two a day, I'll get better twice as fast. And of course, the doctor. And most people realize that that doesn't work that way, right, you end up just taking too much, that's not gonna, you're not gonna get better twice as fast. And the same thing with exercise. When people say to me, should I do twice a week, should I work out three times a week, as if if you add another day, you're gonna, you're gonna double your results or triple your results. It just doesn't happen that way, you have to let the body body can only handle and grow and adapt. At a certain rate. It's limited by how fast a muscle could adapt to a stimulus. So no, it's like Goldilocks and three bears, you know, you have to do it just right. If you don't do it often enough. It's not enough exercise. If you do too often, it's too much. And it can have detrimental effects, injuries, and overtraining. And you just got to find that balance, a perfect balance, where where you're balancing rest and recovery and intensity. So
Mike 23:28
the dosage is definitely that's variable. That is something it's not the same
Adam 23:32
It's variable for everybody. But again, like we said earlier in this episode, you know, you have to modulate intensity. So if you are doing one or two really intense workouts a week, the rest of the week, if you're going to work out or do some kind of quote unquote, exercise for the rest of the week. Just make sure it's it's you're not doing something crazy all out, you know, every single day of the week, playing basketball at a very high level. And then the next day, running it at a six minute mile pace, a seven minute mile pace, and then the next day doing your high intensity work and everything every time you exercise, it's always all out. That is no Yeah, it doesn't make you better.
Mike 24:10
Hey, the bullet points are A exercise is a stimulus, and B, your rest and recovery is directly related to the level of intensity. So if it's if it's high intensity, you need more time after the actual exercise
Adam 24:23
True, you made something succinct. Excellent. There you go. Good job. Ok
Mike 24:27
I take after the greatest.
Adam 24:28
All right, you're learning see and only 20 minutes you learn. Alright, what else we're going to talk about?
Mike 24:34
Ah, let's see a list we see you cannot exercise while injured.
Adam 24:38
Well, yeah, well, that depends, right?
Mike 24:40
It depends.
Adam 24:41
Well, this is the point. The point is, let's say let me give you an example. Just happened just happened a minute. And this is this is one of hundreds of examples I can give you after 20 years of doing this. Two days ago, a client of mine who happens to be a medical doctor, which is interesting. She says to me, I broke my finger. I recently just broke my finger. And the doctor says, I'm not the fingers not gonna be better. And It sounds like a joke. Yeah. So this doctor walked in this client walked in, said, Hey, Doc, I broke my finger,
Mike 25:12
I got this duck on my head. I said, Well, you can't exercise.
Adam 25:16
She says to me this, and my doctor told me that my thing is not going to be better for another four, six weeks that, you know, Take Me Out Of Schedule until until I was like, wait, you broke, you know, she's so she felt that she had a broken finger. And therefore she can't grip things. And she gets to do certain things that, you know, let's scrap the whole thing. And she wrote at the end of her email, to me saying that you couldn't do it for four to six weeks. She's like, Ah, so frustrating. So I wrote back, have no fear that you can, first of all, work your whole lower body, we can do a lot of upper body exercises that don't require you using your finger at all. And it's important to exercise when you're injured. Because the
Mike 25:51
we're fortunate to have equipment, because there's a lot of places that don't have a flying machine without a grip on it, or rotary at the rowing torso, which involves no gripping, and he can get pretty good anterior and posterior upper body muscle,
Adam 26:06
there's something called indirect effect. And that is, if you can't exercise a particular part of your body, that's okay, work out the parts that you can because they will have an indirect effect on the strength of the immobile part of the body that you can't use. They will atrophy less if you're still active, and you're still working out despite the injury. Now, I don't want you doing things that are exacerbate that injury. Absolutely. And I know my client was being very cautious and conservative when she wanted to cancel appointments. But she Little did she know about indirect effect and the fact that there's lots of things we can do that won't exacerbate her current injury. And she when I when I pointed out to her, she was like, All right, keep me in a schedule. Thank you. So yes, you can work out when injured, obviously, check with a professional and make sure what you're doing is not going to exacerbate your injury. But it's actually if you can, is better do what you can while you're injured. So when you do get back into the game, and your injury is healed. You're not starting from ground zero, you're starting from a higher level.
Mike 27:09
Oh, yeah, exactly. Oftentimes, like mobility and work is what exactly what you need in order to get better. Yeah.
Adam 27:16
How did I do on that one?
Mike 27:18
I give you a B plus
Adam 27:19
B plus. All right. Okay, this is this is a big one. This is a big, big, big one. All right, that Mike, let me see how you do on this one. All right. I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna pretend I'm a client making this comment. You're gonna respond to me.
Mike 27:32
Okay.
Adam 27:32
All right, Mike.
Mike 27:34
Yes.
Adam 27:35
What can we do for this? My lower abs, you know, I'm pretty happy with the upper part of my abs. But down here, I got kinda like this. This, like, pooch pouch, whatever, you know, like, I have three kids. And, you know, it just my lower abs are just a mess. You know, can we do some lower ab exercises, please? Can we emphasize the lower abs.
Mike 27:56
Yeah, a lot of people come in, and they have they want to work their lower abs, they say and because of the whatever they they report, the pooch and stuff like that. Sometimes that's just some alterations with their nutrition that they have to actually just get
Adam 28:12
to the point about whether you can work your lower abs or not. I know you can isolate.
Mike 28:16
I was given this speech 100 times about nerve innervation. And the rectus abdominus.
Adam 28:22
You don't have to go like that. Oh, can you? Can you isolate your lower abs Michael?
Mike 28:25
You cannot. If you're talking about the rectus abdominus? No, you cannot.
Adam 28:25
Thank you very much, let's move on to the next.
Mike 28:37
Everybody clear on that. I know
Adam 28:40
you can isolate your lower abs, right? It's one long muscle attached to the top of your rib down to your pubic bone. And when you lower abs contract, so does your upper abs.
Mike 28:49
That is a fact the thing is people feel it differently because they've either done a crunch from the lower part of the body or the upper part of the body sometime, but they are not. I think I think they also confuse that with their hip flexors, which is another which is just kind of around the waist and gets confused with the lower abs sometimes
Adam 29:07
Yeah,
Mike 29:07
but the the, the big thing is people don't they think that if I just do lower ab exercises, because they feel it, they're actually just getting their lower abs. But in fact,
Adam 29:17
I have my clients tested where I do when they when they think that is it. Look, watch, check this out, put your hand put one hand here, and I put their finger like on the lower abs. And then I say put another hand over here. I put on the upper abs and I have to do it to some type of abdominal, you know, spinal flexion. And lo and behold, they feel a contract in both spots. like huh, what do you what do you know about that? You know, and so the point is, they're like you were about to say, that rudely interrupted you, you know, when somebody has thought, yeah, I don't know. I haven't eaten very much.
Mike 29:50
Have you been watching the news again?
Adam 29:55
Your point was, you know what? People sometimes store fat in the lower ab, especially women that have had children, you know, and they're genetically predisposed to have that pooch. It's tough to get rid of that no matter how much exercise that's not necessary, even night or anything. Yeah, yeah. So unfortunately, there might not be much you can do in the way of exercise for that thing. For that problem. Certainly, we don't want to mislead people think that if you start doing some exercises, that that kind of way you feel in the lower part of the abdominals, that that's going to give them some kind of benefit. I don't want to give that kind of false hope. And I want to be honest about what what the facts are. Some people don't like to hear that. And sometimes they didn't want to believe it. But that that, that is the truth. You know, hey, you have two beautiful kids. I say, No, all right. You know, that's the trade off. You know, if you want to ensure that your abs would be in perfect shape the rest of your life, you might have thought twice about having kids.
Mike 30:56
I think you shouldn't have kids ok...
Adam 30:57
what are your goals? You know, I mean, what are your priorities? Like kid kids? Or yeah, so you know, I get it, I get it. It's frustrating. But that's, you know, these are the choices we make. But certainly doing lower ab exercise is not going to solve the problem. We don't want to sell those kinds of pipe dreams. All right, what else we got going?
Mike 31:16
Okay, so our final myth of the day is the more you sweat, the more you burn, Adam.
Adam 31:22
Yeah. I don't like the way that worded. I mean, I guess that we talked about, like cardio and exercise, burning calories. And that's not really the way to go. But a lot of people associate sweating, the fact that you're sweating, that the more you sweat, the more you're exercising, and that's something I want to address because we recommend people work out very cool environment when they work out so they don't overheat. And a lot of times people say why is it so cold in your gym don't doesn't have to be warm. So you muscle have to warm up. And first of all, I always say, well, your muscles are always going to be 90.7 degrees anyway. But no matter what temperature outside, you know what they mean, I keep it cool in here. So you don't overheat because when you overheat, your production is diminished. So we want you to maximize your production, you maximize your output for the greatest stimulus of the muscle. So we like to keep it cool. But besides that, we don't want you to overheat because overheating can be dangerous. You know, let's say they'll come back four weeks later, and and now they're really starting to get into the workout. And they start to break a sweat, right? They're working out because now they're learning how to really work out hard after a couple of workouts. And they say I thought you said I wasn't going to sweat. And I said, No, no, no, I didn't say that. I said, we don't want you to overheat during your workout. That's why we keep it cool in here. Just because you're sweating doesn't mean you're overheating, necessarily. So I didn't say I didn't promise you weren't gonna sweat. Everyone's different when it comes to that. Thing is a lot of people think that unless you're sweating, you're not working out hard enough. And that's just not true. People work out very intensely here and they might break a sweat on their brow here and a very, very minor sweat. Some people they profusely sweat here, no matter how cold we keep it in the room, because that's just the way they're, they're programmed. You know, some people sweat more than others. I don't sweat very much when I work out unless it's really hot in the room. So you know, everyone's different that way, but I can assure you that just because you're not sweating, doesn't mean you're not working out and let me tell you something else just because you are and just because you are sweating. And just because you are sweating. Exactly. Mike doesn't mean you are working out. Alright, so they're not related per se.
Mike 33:23
I guess you I mean you do burn more. The more you sweat, the more you burn, if kept burning calories is what you're trying to do. I think you are burning more calories by a room.
Adam 33:33
I'm not sure about that, to be honest.
Mike 33:35
I'm not sure buy that either
Adam 33:37
Yeah, so let's strike that from the record.
Mike 33:38
Strike that from the record. But keep it on the podcast.
Adam 33:42
Yeah, but but but don't over mean that they have they have certain exercise programs that actually encourage a lot of sweating and keep the environment very hot. I just think that's actually dangerous and absolutely not necessary. So I'm not going to name names and the brands that do that. But we all know we've all heard of the hot workouts that encourage sweating and encourage warming up the muscles and I just think it's a people you know, we can adapt you know, human beings have the ability to adapt anything including working out in very uncomfortable temperatures, but doesn't actually mean it's good for you doesn't mean it's healthy for you. And so therefore, in terms of production and physiologically, making yourself stronger and healthier. Working out in a hot environment is not helpful. That's different from however I mean, I might as well bring this up because it's popping into my brain. You know, if you take a job that's going to be outside a lot and you're not used to being outside a lot in the heat and because you take and you go from a desk job and next thing you know you become a roofer. I don't know how many people go from desk jobs to roofing. But if you did go from a desk job to become a roofer and you're not used to working in in heat all day long. It behooves you to maybe start doing things in the heat for a while and build yourself up to that tolerance of heat. Again, doesn't mean you're healthier because you can handle the heat, it just means you've adapted to working in heat doesn't necessarily mean it's healthier. All right, I'll leave it at that. Alright, so,
Mike 35:08
that's an example of succinctness.
Adam 35:11
No, maybe not, not my best work. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this everybody. Those are there are many more myths, but um, you know, those are some big ones. And I hope it cleared some things up for you if you need some of these things.
Mike 35:27
I think all of them are are still discussions. I think if you have questions, definitely email us or call us or come in and see us
Adam 35:36
and if you think you're full of shit, tell us that too.
Mike 35:38
We'd love to hear that.
Tim Edwards 35:42
Thanks for listening to the inform fitness podcast with New York Times bestselling author, Adam Zickerman. Adams book is titled power of 10 the once a week slow motion fitness revolution. And it's just a click away and available at Amazon. For about 15 bucks, you'll find exercises that you can do in your own home along with some great nutritional tips that will help you build muscle and burn the fat and some additional exercise myths will be debunked. With an exercise protocol that is backed by science. We will have a link in the show notes to Adam's book and we also invite you to try this workout for yourself. There are several inform fitness locations across the US to find a location nearest you and then to cash in on a FREE 20 minute once a week workout. Click the link in the show notes to informfitness.com. Once you're there, you'll click the Try it free button on the homepage. Fill out the form, pick your location and enjoy a slow motion high intensity full body workout in just 20 minutes, you'll see results in your body composition and most importantly, your strength in about six weeks or less. You know we have interviewed several authors over the past 54 episodes here on the inform fitness podcast and many of those authors have their audio books available through audible. We would like to offer you Inform Nation a free audiobook download just for listening to this podcast. Simply click the link in the show notes to audible trial.com forward slash inbound and sign up for a free 30 day membership trial from Audible. Then you can download any book you want for free. If you like podcasts, you're gonna love audio books, give it a shot and try it for free risk free for 30 days. Audible trial.com forward slash inbound. We hope you enjoyed this episode and invite you to join us again next time for the inform fitness podcast for Adam Zickerman and Mike Rogers with inform fitness. I'm Tim Edwards with the inbound podcasting Network.
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