6 Lies of the Fitness Industry

Last week on Gus’ Guide to Peak Performance we discussed macronutrients. This week I will be discussing the topic of lies in the fitness industry.

#1 Working out is the only way to lose weight: In reality, losing weight is based on taking in less calories than you burn. Therefore working out would help in losing weight but in reality the most important part is your diet. This leads into the second lie.

#2 You need to eat strictly “healthy” foods or go on crazy diets to lose weight: Once again losing weight is about taking in less calories than you burn, so you could theoretically lose weight eating ice cream all day as long as you eat in a slight caloric deficit. Although I am definitely not recommending this. Fitness is a journey and if you are trying to lose weight you should be trying to eat whole foods and meeting your daily protein requirements, but everyone is gonna have bad meals and bad days and this is inevitable. For this reason do not give up after just a bad day or a holiday weekend, because in the long term these bad meals will have no effect on your physique. 

#3 New lifters need to go to the local supplement superstore and load up on every random supplement: In reality, our body can work wonders and produce many of the necessary nutrients on their own. And what they cannot, can be taken in through our diets. Supplements such as protein powder are great to implement into your diet to increase your protein intake, but eating a piece of chicken is just as if not more beneficial. Personally, the only supplement that I take regularly is creatine. It is fairly cheap and is one of the only supplements that would be very hard to receive a beneficial dose in your diet alone. 

#4 You need to lift heavy weights to get bigger and stronger: Some might think that lifting heavy is always better than lifting lighter weights and this is not always the case. Fatiguing your muscles is important so don’t hear what I’m not saying, but it is way more beneficial for a beginner to go light at first and learn the correct form. This will prevent injuries and build just as much if not more muscle. 

#5 Foods marketed as keto, gluten free, all natural, etc. aren’t always as healthy as they seem to be: Oftentimes companies market foods using words like these to entice people trying to make healthy choices to buy these foods. However, oftentimes these foods are super calorically dense and contain lots of fats and added sugars. An easy way to not get drawn into these supposedly healthy foods is to check the back label and compare the calories and macronutrients to your average snack or meal and see how they stack up. 

#6 Those products that your favorite fitness influencer is using are the best in the market: The truth behind a good portion of these products is that the influencer is being paid lots of money to use and advertise them whether they admit it or not. Don’t get me wrong some of these products are high quality and should be purchased but most of them are just overpriced and overhyped. My recommendation is to be careful and do your research on the company and their products.