This post is from a friend, Jason Stubb, who is a personal trainer at the 24-hour fitness club in Hayward, California.

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As a personal trainer, it is quite surprising when clients say the weirdest excuses to get out of workouts or to miss their daily session. As a personal trainer, I can offer mental and physical support but cannot force anyone into pushing weights or doing cardio. I want to talk about some common misconceptions that my clients usually have about a healthy lifestyle, diet and various exercises.

  1. Fat and Muscle are completely different:
    Some clients think it’s easier to turn fat into muscle and so being fatter is an advantage. This is completely wrong! When working out one should focus on either burning fat or building muscle. It is not possible to convert one to the other. It is true that a person trying to get bigger should consume more calories, but we are talking about healthy calories like protein from lentils, grilled (oil-free) chicken breast, wheat breads, lots of water, veggies, fruits, a healthy breakfast, an extremely light dinner, and so on. The most effective way to build muscle while being overweight is for body-weight training. This workout includes cardio and resistance to burn calories and build new muscle tissues.
    PS: Primary results to be expected in 8-10 month after a consistent schedule.
  2. Cardio > Weight-Lifting:
    It is true that calories burn during a cardio workout but the primary goal should be muscle gain. One can lose fat and always gain it back. But muscle stay around forever. Muscular tissues reduces the chance for fat to seep in those muscular areas thereby lowering the chance to gain fatty weight.
  3. Myth —> Greater is the number of abdominal routines, the skinner is the waist:
    Sure, hundreds of crunches can be effective; but the most effective and shortcut path to gaining abs is to have a healthy diet. Eat clean & eat small at regular intervals. The exercises can help to strengthen your core muscles but the trick lies in the clean diet. Lots of athletes don’t follow millions of abdominal routines to get those perfect 6-packs. Cardio can also go a long way to get leaner and flatter. By cardio I mean any exercise that makes one perspire and gasp for breath be it basketball, swimming, soccer, football or even rowing.
  4. Zero calories does not mean its good:
    Zero calorie drinks and diet sodas have a lot of artificial sweeteners that act as a substitute for sugar. This is equally harmful as regular sugars and honestly, soda is just a good-for-nothing drink in general.

Now drop and give me 2 more sets!!!!!