Fitness Myths That Are Holding You Back

17 July 2025

Hello Ziddis! You must have heard “no pain, no gain”, or someone told you that in 100 crunches your tummy will have magically converted to six packs. Fitness advice is mostly free and available almost everywhere. The one you get from social media is especially misleading. Not all of it is rooted in science, and you would either need to be a scholar in fitness or go deep down a rabbit hole to check your facts! Some of the most common fitness beliefs are myths that need to be shunned before they become the reason for your stalled progress. Let’s bust them together!

Famous Fitness Myths

Let us understand which are some of the famous fitness myths that have been passed on for generations like some gym heirloom:

Lifting weights can make you bulky: This is a common one among women who go to the gym. The truth is, weightlifting can make you stronger and help build lean muscle. You will not end up looking manly and bulky because of it. Weightlifting tones and strengthens your body, no matter your gender. It also boosts your metabolism without making you bulky.
Crunches will give you a flat stomach: There is no sure-shot way of spot reduction when it comes to losing fat. A calorie-deficient diet and a full-body workout are recommended to reduce overall fat.
If you sweat more, you burn more fat: Sweating differs from person to person. It is essentially your body’s way of cooling down and has no connection to burning fat. A drenched t-shirt can mean you have had a good workout session at best.
You need to work out every single day: Overtraining often leads to injury and fatigue. 3 to 5 workout sessions per week are good enough, but do not miss a rest day.

Common Fitness Misconceptions Spread by Social Media

If your source of fitness advice is Instagram, TikTok or a random fitness guru on YouTube, you are setting yourself up for disappointment. Social media can give some good advice, but most of these are either generative prompts or extremely personal to their fitness. Your body is different from theirs, so it is not necessary that their fitness tricks would work for you too. Some common fitness misconceptions you must steer clear of are:

You must detox or do a juice cleanse to reset your body
If you are skinny, you are fit
You need to have only protein in your diet
Building muscles is the only glow-up you need
If you can lift heavy weights, you are fitter than the rest
Workout makes you immune to all health disorders.

Common Misconceptions About Exercise

The spread of misconceptions is not just to be blamed on social media. Sometimes, people around you, your gym mates or even people who have never seen a gym from inside would give you advice. Most often than not, they are common misconceptions about exercising, and you must disregard them. Here are some:

You must feel sore after every workout. As you train harder, you get used to the limits and no longer feel sore. This means progress, not a halt.
Cardio is the only way to lose fat. The truth is spending hours on a treadmill is not going to burn your fat, and some people think this will work because that’s the only knowledge they have about gyming.
You must stretch only before workouts. A stretching post-workout session is equally important

Workout Myths and Facts

Let us have a face-off of myths and facts. Whether you’re new to fitness or a seasoned fitness boss, you can use this as your cheat sheet. Take a shot of your protein shake every time you hear people say these controversial statements, which are actually myths, and by understanding the facts section, you can counter such people or just know what is right for you! Here we go:

Myth	Fact
You need to do fasted cardio to burn more fat	Fasted workouts may burn slightly more fat during the session, but total daily fat loss depends on overall intake and activity
Machines are safer than free weights	Machines can be helpful if you are a beginner or struggle with balance, whereas the free weights help engage more muscles and improve overall strength.
If you stop working out, your muscle turns to fat	Muscle and fat are different tissues. You lose muscles because of gaps in your workout, but the fat in your body is only because of excess calories.
Only young people benefit from weight training	Your age has nothing to do with your fitness training. Respecting your age and body limits is important, but some amount of weight training is required at all ages to stay fit.

Takeaway

So Ziddis, what was our biggest lesson today? Not to let others’ lack of knowledge be a hindrance to your growth! 2025 is the year of throwing away the outdated opinions, fact-checking everything you see on social media and listening to your body! Pain is not always gain. Keep a check on yourself and your progress instead of setting unrealistic goals and ending up injuring yourself.Progress is about doing the right thing, the right way! So pull up your comfy joggers, fill up your shaker bottle and hit the gym with a mind clear of misconceptions