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Make it Make Sense: Understanding the Fitness Journey is a podcast for everyone, from beginners to seasoned athletes. Hosted by pro men's physique athlete and experienced fitness coach Frank, the show explores all aspects of fitness—physical, mental, and emotional. With candid conversations, practical advice, and insights from across the fitness spectrum, this podcast is designed to inspire, inform, and empower all demographics on their unique fitness journeys.
Hello, everyone, and welcome back to the Make It Make Sense podcast, the show where I break down fitness, nutrition, and wellness to help you live your healthiest life. I'm your host, coach Frank. And today, I'm gonna dive into a topic that's really near and dear to me. It's debunking the common fitness myths. Alright.
Frank:I know we've all heard them, those fitness tips, those tricks. They just sound too good to be true. Like, you gotta automatically get results without putting in the work. Well, today, I'm just gonna separate fact from fiction. I'm gonna give you the evidence based truth behind some of the most popular fitness myths.
Frank:Before I jump in, I do wanna hear from you. So what's a fitness myth that you've always wondered about? Just go ahead and DM me on Instagram at frankly fit at fat underscore fat loss expert, or you can just drop a comment and I just might feature it in a future episode. Alright. So let's get started.
Frank:You know, what people need to understand before I really get into some of the most common myths is that in no way have all the people that have done this before us put in all this work and there's just some magic way to work around actually getting the results you want. At the end of the day, you really are gonna have to put in work and it's gonna have to be consistent and it's gonna have to be movement with intention. So one of the most common myths that I hear and I see advertised a lot is, spot reduction. Alright. It's definitely probably one of the most popular of the myths that are out there.
Frank:You know, like you've probably heard if you do a whole bunch of crunches, you'll get a six pack or by doing leg lifts, they're just gonna magically melt away thigh fat. That is just a myth. Alright? Fat loss doesn't work that way. When you lose fat, it happens across your entire body, not just in one specific area.
Frank:Now, of course, we liked that, but that's just not the way things go. A lot is gonna be based on your genetics and your hormones are gonna play a big role in where you lose fat first. Weight loss is really just a simple math problem. If you're trying to lose weight, then you need to burn more calories than you take in. Are you gonna hear me say that so much that if you pay attention long enough, you might just believe it.
Frank:If you want to lose fat and you want definition and to show your muscles, then you're gonna have to focus on the combination of strength training mixed with cardio and a calorie deficit. You build muscle and it's gonna boost your metabolism. Take your time. Be patient. It's a marathon and not a sprint.
Frank:I tell my clients all the time. That's why they call it a fitness lifestyle. It's good to set intermittent goals for things that you wanna do, but you also wanna fully understand that it is a lifestyle, your fitness journey. The habits that create should be things that you can sustain over a long period of time and not just inter inter intermittent or intermediate burst because that's when, you know, those situations happen where people feel like they fall off. If you work whatever lifestyle you have into your fitness lifestyle, then there's no point for you to fall off because you have plans and process set in for things like that.
Frank:For example, my girlfriend and I, we like to take vacation. We both like to eat, but, of course, we're gonna work out a bit harder before we leave. More often than not, we're probably going somewhere to hike, so we're gonna be burning calories anyway. Or even if we did a cruise, we worked out on the cruise ship. Of course, we ate, had fun, did our thing, but fitness is our lifestyle.
Frank:That's how we've worked it in, and that's what you should do on your fitness journey. If you follow some of those myths, like doing crunches because you love them, that's great. Just don't expect these crunches to magically burn away your belly fat. Remember, it's always about the bigger picture. All right.
Frank:Next up, and this week I have a lot of stake in, because of how I've trained. I've trained so many women and this myth is that lifting weights makes women bulky. I don't know how many times I've heard that nonsense. When I started my training career, I was, at an LA fitness here in Phoenix, Arizona. My largest clientele base was women as an in person trainer.
Frank:It has always been women. One of the things I used to do was get them to understand that the weights are for everybody. They are not gender specific. I've seen some very, very strong women, very strong women. I remember the story once.
Frank:I had taught, one of my clients, her name is Paige. I taught her how to lift, give her a confidence. And, one day we were, we were in the gym and there was a guy doing a seated cable rows. I had her, critique the guy's form, and explain it back to me. When she started explaining it, she was like, yeah.
Frank:Well, okay, Frank. So first of all, you know, his knees are really bent. He's really close to the machine, so he's not getting a full extension of his lats. His shoulders are rounded forward, and he's just pulling with his arms. So he's using it mostly as an arm exercise.
Frank:The weight's too heavy because it keeps drop you know, she just went on the whole thing pretty much the same way that I taught her. The beauty of it was that she was able to see it and recognize it. Paige started out as a long distance runner and within months she was lifting weights and it was just her thing to do. I'd love to know if she's still working out. Just because you lift weights as a female, it doesn't necessarily mean you're going to look like a stage competing bodybuilder.
Frank:But what I like to do, even when I train my clients, and it's probably because I am a pro men's physique athlete in the bodybuilding sport, I always like to debunk the whole bodybuilding thing. Here's the definition of bodybuilding, and this is why with all my clients, I tell them that they are bodybuilders. It's the development of the body through exercise and diet, specifically the development of the physique for competitive exhibition. Remember, you always wanna look at the big picture. Right?
Frank:When people are on their fitness journey, there's always that competition. People say, you know, it's you versus you. So if that's the case, along your fitness journey, then aren't you developing your body for a competitive exhibition between you and yourself? You don't have to compete on stage to be a bodybuilder, although you can, that's a goal of yours. I did it.
Frank:I love it. I love this word of bodybuilding. But remember, there's still that competition between the old you and the new you. So you're still a bodybuilder. So your your intent of your movements still have to be aligned with the fact that you are in competition and you are a bodybuilder specifically building your body to compete against the old you.
Frank:What lifting weights will actually do is help you build lean muscle, boost your metabolism, and improve your overall strength. Proof is shown. I know for myself, women that I've trained, that it works wonders on your confidence and self esteem. When you start a fitness journey with an intent set goals and start accomplishing them, it's big. And plus most of the strong tone women that we admire lift weights and look amazing because of it, not in spite of it.
Frank:So listen, ladies, if you have questions, feel free to ask me. Don't be afraid to pick up some heavy weight. I promise you, your body will thank you. Moving right along into this next myth that's definitely gonna be a killer is that cardio is the best way to lose weight. Now don't get me wrong.
Frank:Strength training, cardio, diet. Cardio is great for your heart health and to burn calories. But if you're spending hours on a treadmill and you're wondering why the scale isn't budging, alright. The truth is that you're gonna need strength training. And the high intensity interval training they hit are more effective for long term fat loss because muscle burns more calories at rest than fat does.
Frank:Muscle is thermogenic, so it's like always has an energy moving. And so the more muscles you have, the higher your resting metabolic rate is. So it'd be healthier with more muscle than you are with more fat. You wanna pay attention to your body fat content as opposed to your weight sometimes. When you're building muscle, you're losing fat, and that's gonna give you that toned lean look.
Frank:Cardio doesn't do that. So instead of, you know, dreading going to the treadmill because you've already fixed in your head that it's really not gonna get you where you wanna be, try some HIIT, you know, do some strength training. You're you're you're gonna love the feeling of accomplishment that it gives you. So your body and your mind are definitely gonna thank you. No days off.
Frank:No days off. Listen. You do not need to work out every single day to get results. Alright? You your body's gonna be a it needs to rest, you know?
Frank:Plus, you know, when you do that no days off, it can lead to burnout. And then with burnout, people end up quitting their fitness journey. You don't need to work out every day to get results. I get it. You're motivated.
Frank:You wanna see progress and you think more is better. So, yeah, I've had clients. And when I design a program, I make sure that I give sets and rep ranges that are definitely meant to exhaust the muscles. But, you know, I'll always have a client. And so I did more here, and I did more here, and I'm like, but did you?
Frank:Did you? I mean, you moved. Like, what was the intent? What was the form? Things like that.
Frank:Hey. You know, if they're able to do more weight or more reps, then I'll go ahead and make an adjustment to their program to incorporate their progress, but that's still within the structure of their already existing program. So if they're working four days a week to increase intensity, I don't need to add a day. We can just intensify the workouts. So that's definitely gonna be a benefit with online training.
Frank:You're able to have a program where you get workout days and then you also get your rest days. When you work out, it can lead to overtraining. And then the overtraining can just lead to fatigue, you know, body runs down, injury, and then you can even hit a plateau in your progress where you're not growing anymore. You're not getting any stronger. You're not understanding what's happening to your body.
Frank:And basically, what you need to do is just take it down a notch, you know, give your body some rest, let it recover. A tip that I would give someone on their fitness journey, to avoid the possibility or, you know, the eventual situation of overtraining is, like, sort of just aim for three to five, like, good, well structured workouts a week. And then don't forget to listen to your body because if you're feeling exhausted or sore, you need to take a rest day. You'll come back stronger and more energized. And that's because you've given your body, the proper rest that you need.
Frank:Alright. Now this one might be the most important to me because if you know Frank, coach Frank, you know that I love honey buns. So you know that this particular myth, eating carbs makes you fat. Listen. Carbs have been villainized and demonized for so many years.
Frank:But the truth is they're your body's preferred source of energy, especially for high intensity workouts. The key obviously is gonna be in choosing the right carbs. As much as I love honey buns, and I would love honey buns a % of the time to be a diet for fitness progress, it's not. Although I talk about honey buns, a lot of people may hear me talk about them. I don't eat them like that.
Frank:It's just not necessary for me to do that for when you're thinking about working out in your fitness journey and you're thinking about carbs, you wanna make sure you're choosing the right carbs. So you wanna think things like whole grains, fruits, vegetables, rather than the sugary snacks and processed foods. And remember, weight gain happens when you consume more calories than you burn, not just because of carbs alone. It's the whole calorie content. If you're taking in more calories than you burn, then you're gonna weight gain.
Frank:If you're burning more calories than you take in, then you're gonna lose weight. For folks on the opposite end of the spectrum where they're hard gainers and they're not able to gain weight, you may wanna log your foods and calorie intake. If you're not gaining weight, then mathematically, you're burning more calories than you take in. You may want to do an adjustment or an audit of your calories to see exactly what's happening. If you need some help with that, message me on Instagram or leave a comment, and we can do a consultation, and we talk about exactly what you're doing.
Frank:Maybe come up with some ideas that can help you on your process. In regards to carbs, if you've been avoiding them, go ahead and bring them back. Thank you. Trust me. Listen.
Frank:There you have it. Five common fitness myths debunked and knocked out of here. I hope this episode has given you just a bit of clarity and some confidence to approach your fitness journey with a new perspective and a good understanding. If you've enjoyed this episode, don't forget to subscribe, leave me a review, share it with a friend who might need to hear this. And remember, fitness is about progress, not perfection.
Frank:Thanks for tuning in to the Make It Make Cents health and fitness podcast channel. Until the next time, be grinding or be nothing. See you soon. Peace.