Goodbye, HIIT. Hello, MISS. Image by Csaba Nagy from Pixabay. I say it all the time: One of the best things I ever did for myself was to stop working out every day. Seriously, I sound like a broken record, but I can’t stop saying it because I know there are so many others out there who, like me, feel an overwhelming obligation to go nuts in the gym — or do nothing at all.
The all-or-nothing mindset kept me bound for years. I battled with guilt when I felt like I didn’t “go hard” enough in the gym, and I sparred with even more guilt when I skipped a workout because I was too tired to do whatever intense session I’d written for the day. So there I stayed, in an endless cycle of working out hard every single day (and sometimes twice a day), or doing nothing at all, because I thought that low-intensity workouts weren't worth it. You can’t spot-reduce fat. There’s no such thing as lean muscle. HIIT isn’t the best exercise. Please, no more fitness myths!  Photo by George Pagan III on Unsplash. The fitness industry is not noble. Like any industry, the fitness industry is chock-full of lies. Full of deceit. Many, if not most, companies in the fitness industry don’t have your best interest at heart — they have their bottom dollar at heart.
As such, the fitness industry’s own pool of marketing gurus have formulated dozens of myths over the years, all aimed at suckering some poor souls into their poorly developed programs or suspect supplements. I’m here to end it. I’m truly fed up with fitness industry BS, and day by day, I’m working to dismantle the lies and shine light on the truth. Here are just a few fitness myths I’d like to clear up. If you chronically do HIIT to reach your goals, maybe you should try something else. HIIT's days as the reigning training method may soon be over. Photo by dylan nolte on Unsplash. High-intensity interval training (HIIT) became the gold standard for exercise in the early 2000s, when scientists discovered that exerting a lot of energy in a short time frame could result in accelerated fat loss, increased metabolism, improved strength and endurance, and reduced risk of chronic disease.
In other words, HIIT could do what traditional cardio could do in far less time. This was fantastic news for people who wanted to exercise but were always stretched for time. And it still is great news! HIIT training offers so many benefits for health and fitness — when implemented correctly. What you may not realize is that aerobic exercise — the completely unsexy, unexciting kind of cardio — unarguably outperforms poorly planned HIIT. After a hip and shoulder surgery before age 25, I decided enough was enough. Photo by Content Pixie on Unsplash If some exercise is good for you, more is better, right? That’s what I thought as a competitive athlete, anyway. I wanted to be the best.
I was out running extra miles while my friends and teammates were hanging out. I was at the REC doing extra strength workouts on weekends. I wanted to be the strongest, most well rounded athlete I could be — and I was. I was on a path to setting school records. I was strong, I had endurance, and could have competed well in many events. I found my worth in those abilities until, eventually, it crumbled on top of me like a structureless building. |
About Smarter SweatSmarter Sweat is a fitness company built from the ground up by fitness experts Amanda Capritto and Ashley Phantz. Amanda and Ashley are both dead-set on cutting through the clutter of the fitness industry and providing raw, real, utterly honest information about fitness and wellness. Archives
February 2021
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