Fitness Myths and Realities

Reading time: approx. 7 minutes

Hey Brothers,

I’m Len. Welcome back to the LenDentonThrive Letter, where the focus is on helping men build thriving lives across all zones of their lives: Body, Soul (mind), Spirit and Treasure.

In this week’s edition, I’ll address four fitness myths that may be holding you back from achieving the health and fitness success you’re looking for. I’ll also share the four realities that can help you fast-track that success.

Let’s dive in!

Myth #1 - Heavy Lifting Is the Best Weight Loss Approach

Myth: In order to lose weight, you need to be constantly doing heavy strength training (lifting weights). The harder and more consistently you lift, the faster you’ll lose weight.

Reality: Lifting weights is a great way to build muscle. But, it's not the fastest way to lose weight. If you’re trying to lose 20 or more pounds, a better and faster way to lose weight is a combination of two things: 

1. Improving your nutrition 

2. Doing Zone 2 cardio 

We’ll talk about both of these in more detail below.

Myth #2 - High-Intensity Cardio is Essential for Fitness

Myth: Some fitness communities and influencers recommend high-intensity cardio exercise for rapid weight loss. This includes things like HIIT (high-intensity interval training), sprinting and jogging. 

Reality: While high-intensity cardio is a good way to improve your V02 Max (a measure of your body’s oxygen utilization), it's not the best way to lose weight or fat. In fact, at higher levels of cardio exercise (Zone 3 and above) your energy requirements cause your body to convert muscle tissue to glucose! 

(This is why most guys focused on building muscle mass tend to avoid cardio entirely.) 

A better approach is to focus on doing Zone 2 cardio. This is a more relaxed intensity exercise where your heart rate is maintained at around 60-70% of your max heart rate.  Most guys achieve Zone 2 while doing a moderately-paced walk. In Zone 2, your body converts your stored fat to glucose to meet your current energy demand. This has been scientifically-proven to be one of the most effective ways to burn fat, and to reduce weight. It is as effective as HIIT, but less taxing.

Myth #3 - No Pain - No Gain!

Myth: We’ve all heard the sayings before: 

- If it doesn’t hurt, you’re not doing it right! 

- Pain is just weakness leaving your body. 

- Do every exercise to the point of exhaustion. 

Reality: While these sayings sound good, they are really just recipes for disaster - usually in the form of injury or burnout! These are two of the major reasons why guys quit!

A better approach is consistency over intensity! Over time, your results will be better if you work at a slightly less-intensive pace on a regular, ongoing basis. A medium-intensity workout 3-4 times per week is better than doing 2-3 high-intensity workouts. 

Nobody wants short-term fitness! We all want forever-fitness! So, play the long-game with your workout strategies. 

Myth #4 - Work Hard So You Can Party Hard

Myth: Work out hard so you can eat (and drink) what you want…when you want!

Reality: Our bodies don’t work that way! We’re overweight due to an energy (meaning calorie) imbalance. We’re simply consuming more calories than we are burning.  

We’re not very good at estimating calories. We under-estimate how many calories we consume. And, we over-estimate how many calories we burn when we exercise. When this continually happens over time, it shows up as increased fat stores. So, you can usually spot the guy who’s following this approach. He’s got big arms, and a big belly!

Here are two fitness facts to keep in mind:  

1. You can’t outwork a bad diet.  

2. It’s easier to avoid excess calories than it is to exercise them off!  

Smarter, Not Harder!

We are living through a moment in time when these two seemingly opposing statements are both true:  

1. American men are more obsessed with muscles than ever before.  

2. American men are more overweight and obese than ever before.

Building muscle is great, but it's not leading to a generally healthier population of American men. 

Guys, in general, are NOT thriving physically!

The current muscle-first approach to fitness and health is not working for most of us. 

And, this is not about laziness. Guys are busier with work and family than ever before.

But, we’re also less physically active than ever due to the nature of our work. And, our diets are filled with tasty, but harmful highly-processed foods that are driving an obesity epidemic!

That’s why I created the Fitness ThriveCode more than ten years ago. It’s my food-first, gym optional approach to becoming forever fit! There are no crazy diets and no killer workouts. Instead, it focuses on plenty of healthy nutrition and consistent, moderate exercise.    

It's how I lost 70 pounds in 7 months, and have stayed fit for more than 10 years. It’s a smarter, not harder way to lose weight, get fit and stay fit for life!

Here’s a quick summary of the six key principles that make up the Fitness ThriveCode:

1 - Eat Smarter - our nutrition is the single most important aspect of our health and fitness. We can literally change the way we look, the way we feel, and how long we’ll live by changing the way we eat. We can make food work for us, but to do that we must eat intentionally. That means choosing foods that support our health and avoiding foods that can wreck our health. I began by eliminating sugars from the foods I chose, and ate more wholesome foods. I call this Eating Smarter, and I’ve written about this extensively here, here, and here. Change your food, change your life!

2 - Daily Meal Planning - I learned early on that it’s easier to avoid calories than to burn them off through exercise. A quick meal planning session in the morning (5 minutes or less) allows me to plan healthy meals and snacks so I don’t get caught later with only bad choices. Just 5 minutes of planning can save you 500 calories every day. Learn more about the benefits of meal planning here.

3 - Daily Weigh-ins - a very smart guy (Peter Drucker) once said: “If you don’t measure it, you can’t manage it.” He was initially talking about business practices, but it turns out to be almost universally true. It’s especially true for losing weight and getting fit. I do a quick weigh-in every morning and record the weight in my Fitbit app to track it. There is some real mind-magic (neuroscience) behind watching the trends in your weight. See what I mean here. This might be the most important 1 minute of my ThriveLife!

4 - Get My Steps - exercise is an important element of any fit lifestyle. Walking is my primary form of exercise. In the early days of my ThriveLife, it was my only form of exercise. (Yes, I lost 70+ pounds without running or lifting!) I call this Moving Smarter. Learn more about Moving Smarter here, and here.

5 - Build Muscle -  (Training Smarter) - as I learned more about building and maintaining lifelong health, I added muscle-building to my daily practices. Maintaining muscle mass is important, especially for Over-50 Guys like me. Sarcopenia, the gradual loss of muscle mass due to aging, is a real issue. Weight lifting and strength training are effective ways to build muscle mass and counter this natural loss. Today, I use bodyweight exercises and barbells to do daily strength training at home. Learn more about Training Smarter here.

6 - Sleep Better - getting more and better sleep is the newest addition to my smart daily practices. Today, it is a work in progress and is my #1 health and fitness goal. In recent years, I’ve learned a lot about the importance of getting at least 7-9 hours of quality sleep every night. Memory, cognition, stress management, and even weight loss are affected negatively by poor sleep practices. Today, I’m focused on getting 7 hours of sleep every night. Read more about the importance of sleep here.

Developing a forever-fit lifestyle is easier than you think. If you need to lose 20 pounds or more, I encourage you to give the Fitness ThriveCode a try. It works for me. It will work for you, too!

Thanks for reading today. 

And remember... God loves us. He wants us to thrive. So, let's go! 

Len

Thanks for reading this week.

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