By: Anthony Campo
Good information about nutrition and training is all over the place, still there are some misnomers that exist that have me completely dumbfounded. I don’t know where these tidbits of false information came from, but for some reason I hear them way too much. Some of these are so simple, yet they have to be addressed in order to stop the madness, and hopefully move towards a time when we will never hear this misinformation again.
1.) Eating too much protein does NOT make you fat. I don’t care how much protein you are eating, it is not making you fat. If you are getting fat, you are eating too many carbohydrates…. Period, End of story.
2.) Eating too much protein or using creatine is NOT bad for your liver and kidneys. Unless you have a specialized condition, eating too much protein is not going to give you liver or kidney disease. This generalized statement was based off faulty science years ago in which the researcher did not understand the relationship between the bi-product creatinine and protein synthesis/creatine consumption.
3.) Lifting “heavy” weights for low reps doesn’t make you “bulky,” and lifting “light” weights for high reps does not make you tone. This one can really get technical, and it is A LOT more complicated than this. However the take home point here is that if you are a woman, do not be afraid to lift “heavy” weights because you are not going to turn into Ronnie Coleman. If you are worried about getting “bulky” then the novice trainee should worry more about their nutrition. No matter what your fitness goals are you should train a variety of energy systems hard, and specialize only once you have the basics down.
4.) Stop using the term “Going Heavy.” Everyone should be in the gym training, trying to hit some form of a record for themselves every day. You can hit a record by lifting more weight, lifting a weight for more reps, lifting a weight faster, or performing more work in a shorter period of time. “Going Heavy” is too subjective and really doesn’t mean anything. If you are just at the gym to workout, that is fine, but just know that you will only get a limited amount of progress that way. Training and hitting records everyday means you have a plan, and that you will continue to have success in the long run.
5.) Time has nothing to do with food choices. The most popular excuse I hear from people regarding their poor food decisions is lack of time. Making good food choices does not take any more time than making poor food choices. I can’t imagine a situation in which making poor food choices takes less time than making good food decisions. The real culprit here is laziness, and time should not be used as an excuse.