It's a familiar scenario for many: you're at the gym when you unintentionally overhear the two nice women on the treadmills next to you discussing the parameters of their exercise routines, or a trainer doling out a piece of fitness advice to their client.
You catch something they say and to yourself think one of two things: "Wait, is that really true?" or "I'm pretty sure that's definitely wrong."
The Worst Fitness Advice
The point is, there's lots of questionable and flat-out false fitness advice floating all around -- in the gym, online, on TV, and in magazines.
"As a fitness professional with almost 20 years of experience, I've seen and heard a lot about fitness," says Maurice D. Williams, a NASM and NSCA certified trainer and the owner of Move Well Fitness. "In my days of training clients, watching people exercise, and exercising myself, there probably has not been a day that's gone by that I haven't heard something that made me cringe."
Yes, there are "fitness tips" so wrong that they can make a trainer cringe, so we decided to find out which are the worst offenders.
Williams calls this cringe-worthy advice "gym science," or untrue information that tends to float around in gym conversations.
"Typically speaking, they either have been proven wrong or are not proven at all," he said.
We asked a few trainers to share the worst advice they've ever heard. Straight from the gym floor, here's what they reported.
- Katie Rosenbrock, The Active Times