What’s the WORST fitness advice you’ve ever heard?

purifol0 wrote: »

How's that for bro science

I'd give you a solid 7/10. Needs more misunderstanding of basic fat metabolism though.

To start, you're not talking about 'exercise' but lifting weights because some of your points don't stack up for exercise across the board. Endurance training won't increase testosterone for example.

But I also need to restate that I'm mot advocating not exercising. Just stating a fairly straightforward fact that diet will be the primary driver of weight loss.

purifol0 wrote: »

Losing weight should not mean losing muscle and it's downright stupid to act like it does. Covid caused a lot of people to lose weight real quick this year including Lewis Hamilton. Most of that was muscle. Would you class that as losing weight or being sick?

No one knows most of what they lost was muscle. You would definitely lose strength due to the inactivity of being sick but in the time frame but not a huge amount of muscle. He said his strength was at a low level but went on to say that he's lost so much muscle but that doesn't stack up with the timeframe of his being sick based on studies on the level of muscle loss when someone is immobilised.

But that's beside the point. I'm not sure why you think that rapid weight loss due to being sick supports anything you've said. If someone had a leg amputated, no one would class that as losing weight either.

purifol0 wrote: »

Universally "losing weight" is synonymous with losing fat; please don't try to move the goal posts on that.

I didn't. Not sure why you needed to say that.

purifol0 wrote: »

As for what I have written on exercise controlling weight loss - I will repeat it does so by regulating blood sugar levels and pulling energy out of fat stores. If you don't do any exercise and eat less your body is going to feel horrible because good (anabolic) hormone levels haven't increased to help access energy in fat. So now you're hungry and your body decides to excrete the bad hormone cortisol (catabolic) which makes you stressed AND causes you to stay fat and will strip muscle in the process.

So if someone 5 stone overweight exercises but changes nothing about their diet, they will automatically become a healthy weight? Interesting. Evidence would suggest otherwise.

purifol0 wrote: »

Also "Bulking" is just eating way more than your body needs and it's nearly always completely stupid. If you exercise and eat a normal amount of food (your daily basal metabolic rate or "maintenance") with enough protein you'll gain muscle and lose fat. If you "bulk" you're just overeating full stop, resulting in fat gain. Since fat turns testosterone into estrogen congrats on ruining your gains. Of course if you want to bulk like crazy and not get fat go get yourself a doctor to prescribe you "testosterone therapy" and then buy some DNP off the dark net.

Bulking isn't eating 'way more than your body needs'. It's eating above your TDEE so that you can provide for muscle growth along with training to provide the stimulus. Eating at maintenance to lose fat is body recomposition. They're different things.

Adding too much fat obviously decreases insulin sensitivity in the muscles so the level of bulk should be sensible. But none of that means bulking is overeating to a stupid degree by default.

purifol0 wrote: »

As for your "exercise burns calories so that's a deficit " comment well now unlike cardio, weight lifting doesn't burn much while you do it - it's the "after burn" effect that does. Testosterone and Human Growth Hormone levels are raised for about a day afterward effectively raising your metabolic rate, most notably burning fat while while you sleep so you wake up hungry.

You're totally overstating the impact of EPOC ('after burn'). The extra calories burned will be somewhere in the region of 100-200. But you won't be exercising at the intensity to get that level of EPOC for as long as you would be doing cardio so the effect is levelled off purely in terms of calorie burn.

The effect of EPOC is greatest after the exercise and decays over time so unless you go to sleep straight after, there won't be a massive amount happening while you sleep.

purifol0 wrote: »

This is a very good thing but the exact opposite will happen if you decide to calorie restrict yourself by eating regular meals with less food. Your body won't pull any energy out of fat storage and you'll get cranky. This is why "intermittent fasting" along with exercise (can be low impact cardio) before breakfast is a better option. This burns fat faster because you've got high grehlin and low insulin levels after sleeping and that causes your body to run on fat from your fat cells until you eat again.

Fasted cardio doesn't do anything for burning fat compared with training after eating.

https://jissn.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12970-014-0054-7

purifol0 wrote: »

Your body composition is based more on hormones then most people realise. And exercise is key to producing the hormones you want to have and keep lean muscle mass. If diet was all there was to it thin women wouldn't hate going on the pill because it makes them fat. No change in their diets but a hefty amount of fat gain because that's what estrogen does.

The pill doesn't cause fat gain. There may be water retention but you'll be doing well to find studies that support the idea that hormonal contraceptives cause a hefty amount of weight gain.


Again, I never said to not exercise or that exercise isn't beneficial nor that they are two completely independent things. But the primary driver for weight loss is going to be the caloric deficit.

Resistance training, recovery, sleep and hormones will have an impact on body composition but that doesn't change or undermine the fundamental influence and importance of energy balance on body mass.

purifol0 wrote: »

Current worst advice advocated by pretty much everyone and is wrong is that exercise is not as important as diet.

I honestly don’t remember anyone posting that exercise wasn’t important (even the wombles) that said it’s only a fraction of the requirement to loose weight or drop bf, diet (nutrition) is by far the biggest factor in this.

A normal, healthy person cannot control their weight by exercising, I’m sure the majority here have trained to oblivion and wondered why the weight doesn’t drop.

Speaking from personal experience, regular and intense training does not quell the desire for chocolate or taco fries, if only it did.

bladespin wrote: »

I honestly don’t remember anyone posting that exercise wasn’t important (even the wombles) that said it’s only a fraction of the requirement to loose weight or drop bf, diet (nutrition) is by far the biggest factor in this.

A normal, healthy person cannot control their weight by exercising, I’m sure the majority here have trained to oblivion and wondered why the weight doesn’t drop.

Speaking from personal experience, regular and intense training does not quell the desire for chocolate or taco fries, if only it did.

"A normal healthy person cannot control their weight by exercising" Like where do I even start with this. If a normal healthy person did 35mins of weights followed by 35mins of running without changing their diet a jot you reckon they'd look the same? Because that's about a 600 kcal deficit on its own (without counting after burn calorie expenditure on building muscle,tendons & ligaments and increasing bone density)

I'd also add the exercise will change your gut bacteria for the better - its the gut bacteria that cause you to crave sweet foods, exercise will change the composition of the guts microbiome. This is not going to happen if you just eat less.

As a female -

Don't lift weights you'll get bulky

Don't play rugby it makes you butch

Lifting weights is bad for your womb

Tackling damages your breasts

Long distance running is enough to keep your legs strong

Don't eat carbohydrates

Maintain "good" posture

purifol0 wrote: »

"A normal healthy person cannot control their weight by exercising" Like where do I even start with this. If a normal healthy person did 35mins of weights followed by 35mins of running without changing their diet a jot you reckon they'd look the same? Because that's about a 600 kcal deficit on its own (without counting after burn calorie expenditure on building muscle,tendons & ligaments and increasing bone density)

You can’t say it’s a 600 deficit without know what they are eating. Many people adjust intake due to exercise. Whether it’s for fuel, protein synthesis, or simply a treat. They are also unlikely to do that everyday, so the energy burn needs to be averaged out. 600 could become 100 a day. Nothing really.

Also, you won’t be as prone to build muscle, tendons, bones if you are in a deficit.

bladespin wrote: »

Dieting makes you gain weight is a current leader for me,.

It's kinda true in fairness. The diet itself doesn't cause the weight gain of course. The vast majority of people who diet don't stick to the plan and end up eating more after the diet than they did before they started this diet.

bladespin wrote: »

It’s not though, willpower will result in success or failure regardless of what diet you follow, can’t blame the diet.

But willpower is an ability most humans fundamentally don't have. I do of course agree that keeping to the diet will work. All you have to do is look at the success rates of diets to see this.
People who are overweight don't want to be and I'm sure most have tried damn hard not to be. Blaming them for lack of willpower is simply unfair.

Yes while I of course agree with you, on one level. Diets can cause people to have disordered ordered eating so that's why people say they cause you to get fat. Mental health has to factored in too.

Yes of course diets work for some and the success stories that we are told. Yes I totally agree about people profiting from diets too. I'd go as far as wellness lifestyle are sold as a religion too. And there's a purity in eating certain foods too.

Imagine if a medicine was prescribed by a doctor that doesn't work for 95% of people who try it and on top of that the illness gets worse for many too.


Thanks for the respectful discussion, the last time I was on boards, I found if I had a different opinion to someone they basically told me I was a fool.

Wandered on to this through boredom - Been working at home for the best part of a year. Managed to get some decent equipment

• Adjustable Heavy Duty Bench
• 150KGs of Standard 25mm Plates
• Bar, EZCurl, Tricep Bar, 2 setrs of Dumbbells
• Lat Pull Down and Vertical Row Plate Loader Cable Rig
• Half Rack for benching/squatting

One of the things i ABSOLUTELY dont miss is the bogus 'BroScience' advice. So difficult to pin down the worst so here are a few choices

• 'Watch out one of those Olympic Bars weighs 30KG' - But they're Olympic bars? There all the same. 'No No one of them is heavier'
• 'When your Bulking up you have to remember to do a serious amount of HIIT Cardio, otherwise you will put on a tonne of fat' - (Spoken by THEE MOST ECTOMORPHIC man i had ever seen. ) Went on to explain he was doing High Reps sessions during this bulk. When i inquired slightly, and made a suggestion that what he was describing was CUT routine by my reckoning he went into a long meandering story of how he knows what he is doing , and 'used to be a fitness instructor bro':rolleyes:
• 'Better off using these Leverage machines man, i can bench way more since i started' - Genuinely curious so i asked how much he was benching since he started using the leverage rig? 'Oh i dont bother benching anymore man, havent in years. i can push twice as much on this chest rig' - (Sorely tempted to invite him to bench 100KG to prove his point, but i valued my sanity)
• 'Im in a plateau at the moment with Bicep curling, cant understand it cause i do bicep work 3 times a week!' (proceeded to jerk an EZCurl up about half way - later i saw him doing deadlifts, with straight legs and back arched like a cat - it hurt to watch:eek:)

when you have a meal eat the protein piece first

Brian? wrote: »

Why is that bad advice? The protein part is generally the tastiest.

If there's also gratin dauphinois on the plate too?

Brian? wrote: »

Why is that bad advice? The protein part is generally the tastiest.

i save the best for last - like a big child I eat the veg first then enjoy my meal :pac:

I should have been clearer author was talking about hormones and fat storage.

another was not to have protein shake as your first meal , same article.
was back in 2010 or so...but to his credit , his advise always remained with me unactioned though.

Intuitive wrote: »

But willpower is an ability most humans fundamentally don't have. I do of course agree that keeping to the diet will work. All you have to do is look at the success rates of diets to see this.
People who are overweight don't want to be and I'm sure most have tried damn hard not to be. Blaming them for lack of willpower is simply unfair.

Fair or not, it's not the diet that fails, it's the human following the plan, ultimately it's will power that determines success at anything, if you throw the towel in when it gets hard you will fail.

Brian? wrote: »

That's a protein in itself though, especially if you're doing GOMAD or my own favourite YOCAD(yard of cheese a day).

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