Thread by @stevemagness

The world of exercise and fitness is littered with so much nonsense. It's easy to get fooled by hype and fads. Let's sort through the mess.

Here’s what most people get wrong about fitness:

A THREAD on exercise myths. 🧵👇👇

1. It's not always supposed to be hard.

80%+ of their training time, an elite endurance athlete can have a full-on conversation, as if they are going on a walk.

Novices train too hard when it doesn’t matter. And not hard enough when it does.

They get caught in the middle ground. Of training kind of hard most of the time.

Not easy enough to get much volume, not hard enough to create a big training stimulus and adaptation.

Often, it’s the work that doesn’t feel much like work that is the most important.

The guy jogging down the street huffing and puffing would be better going for a walk 5 days a week, and then doing his hard jogging interval style 1-2x a week.

2. When you do good hard, make sure there’s a point.

Creating fatigue is easy. It’s simple to make someone incredibly tired. But that’s not what we’re after…

If you are going hard, make sure it is for a specific adaptation. What’s the point?

Are you to build up a tolerance to fatigue by-products so you have tolerance for race day? Is it race-specific training? Have a legitimate reason. Don’t just get tired for tiredness' sake.

If you’re going to the well, make sure it’s to make progress. Not just to make you tough.

3. The Little things matter…but they are little things for a reason.

The old joke in running is: Recreational runners spend 30min warming-up, stretching then go on a 30min easy run. The experienced runner spends 5min getting ready, and runs 55min.

Keep the main thing the main thing. The other stuff matters, but it’s not the main thing.

That doesn't mean neglect the small things, it just means make sure you are prioritizing what matters most based on your schedule.

4. Speed and Endurance are NOT antithetical.

Worries of losing speed by doing endurance work are largely overblown. Unless you are specializing at the extreme end of the spectrum, stop freaking out over losing speed/fiber type conversion.

I’ve worked with guys to split 46 in the 400 & go out and run 5min pace for 6+ miles.

Most of us are training for something that requires a combination of speed and endurance. Soccer, basketball, most events in track, and so forth…as well as most of life in general.

If someone tells you that you’re going to lose all your speed by doing a bit of endurance work or going on easy jogs, then tell them thanks for letting you know they are a horrible coach.

5. There are no short-cuts or hacks. Adaptation takes time.

Stop looking for short-cuts. When you exercise, you're applying a stimulus that 'embarrasses' the body so that it will adapt and grow.

That process takes time. You can't rush it.

If someone is promising you a quick fix, super supplement, magic workout, etc., run far away.

They are a hack.

6. Most novices stretch too much.

Flexibility isn’t inherently good. It can be good and it can be bad (instability). How much flexibility you need is dependent on the range of motion you need your body to go through for that activity.

If you are a distance runner…not much range of motion for many things. A relatively stiff muscle/tendon unit can be good, as it acts as a stiff spring, returning more energy.

A punter? Well, you need good dynamic flexibility…

7. “The air is up here! Get up. Put your hands over your head and stand up straight.”

In the athletic realm, hands on your knees, bent over, gasping for air is to be avoided. Coaches yell at us to stand up tall.

The only problem? It's bad advice that goes against our physiology

Bending over and putting your hands on your knees helps. Why?

1. Your rib cage and diaphragm are in a better position to utilize their total capacity.
2. Lowering your upper body & being on a level plane with your heart, the heart doesn’t have to work as hard against gravity.

8. HIIT Training isn't special.
No one workout gives you everything.

You adapt to the stressor that is applied. For most events/activities, you need a myriad of stressors. Some long and slow, others short and fast. And everything in between.

Many in the exercise world overdo HIIT training as if it's magical. It's not. If you're doing it more than about 2x per week, you're probably doing something wrong.

This thread could go on for an eternity as the exercise and fitness world is wild.

The best advice is to keep it simple. The best exercise routine is something you enjoy, that can be done over the long haul. A mixture of hard, easy, long, short, strength, and endurance.

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