| Toe-touching is dangerous. Squats damage your | | | | reach the public? Why is so much hidden from the |
| knees. Never hold your breath during exercise. | | | | fitness professional or physique athlete? Is there a |
| Aerobic training is essential for cardiac health. | | | | conspiracy which prevents one from finding out |
| Ballistic stretches are harmful. Straight knee situps | | | | what is fact and fallacy? Does it suit mass |
| damage your lower back. Weight lifting slows you | | | | circulation magazines, equipment manufacturers |
| down and makes you stiff. Lactic acid causes | | | | and medical groups to allow most of us to remain |
| stiffness. Resistance training is bad for children. | | | | in relative ignorance? |
| And so on and so forth. | | | | Many of the answers to these questions lie in the |
| If you are in the fitness, wellness or physique | | | | image projected by high profile individuals, sports |
| professions, you will have heard these declarations | | | | heroes, companies and organisations who talk on |
| and many more. The emergence of fitness and | | | | behalf of the fitness, physique and sports |
| personal training as a discrete profession has bred | | | | professions. Very often these self-appointed |
| a host of rules and guidelines, many of which are | | | | authorities become shining examples of the saying |
| contradictory and confusing for the personal | | | | that \"a little knowledge is a dangerous thing\", |
| trainer, aerobics instructor, bodybuilder and sports | | | | yet, sadly, most of their intended audience |
| coach. The newcomer and veteran alike are | | | | become committed disciples because they |
| justified in not knowing what to accept and what | | | | generally are not interested in scratching any |
| to discard. Much of the time they opt for the | | | | deeper than the surface. |
| information disseminated in popular fitness | | | | Many exercise scientists and medical professionals |
| magazines and at fashionable fitness conventions. | | | | do not fare much better in this department, even |
| Even then, information which disagrees with | | | | though they have the training and the means to |
| existing dogma usually is ignored or dismissed | | | | dispel many of the myths and misconceptions |
| because the majority or commercialised view has | | | | associated with fitness and health. Some of them |
| become firmly entrenched as the reigning fitness | | | | extol the virtues of isokinetic or constant velocity |
| or physique religion. | | | | machines for rehabilitation or testing, even though |
| The \'thou shalts and thou shalt nots\' of fitness | | | | it is scientifically impossible to construct a constant |
| are blindly adhered to with greater fervour than | | | | velocity machine. Others warn against |
| the Ten Commandments of the Bible. Few | | | | breath-holding even during heavy weight lifting, |
| practitioners ever question the source or validity | | | | despite the fact that the Valsalva manoeuvre |
| of this fitness religion, nor are they encouraged to | | | | protects the back during lifting. Many accept |
| do so, because this would undermine the authority | | | | incorrect concepts such as isotonic exercise |
| of many fitness organisations, sports equipment | | | | (which implies constant muscle tension). Or they |
| companies and fitness professionals. The position | | | | believe that shoes diminish the likelihood of impact |
| in bodybuilding is just as confusing, since the | | | | injuries or that aerobic training is the best way of |
| newcomer has to choose between thousands of | | | | reducing the risks of heart disease. Some still |
| different routines promoted by hosts of | | | | consider that resistance training is contraindicated |
| prominent champions of gargantuan proportions, | | | | for children and older adults. |
| glossy bodybuilding magazines and persuasive | | | | The majority tend to regard strength training as |
| equipment manufacturers. In many respects, the | | | | being far less important than cardiovascular |
| world of fitness, bodybuilding and sports training | | | | training, even though most adults in the world |
| has yet to emerge from its Dark Ages, despite | | | | require far more strength-related fitness and |
| the fact that modern science is applying highly | | | | agility than aerobic fitness for executing their daily |
| sophisticated methods to produce some | | | | tasks. Many accept the contention that agonist |
| extremely exciting findings about the human body | | | | muscle action is always controlled by opposing |
| and mind. | | | | action by the \'antagonists\'. Few realise that the |
| Why this apparent paradox? Why is fitness and | | | | heart serves as an endocrine gland as well as a |
| physique training so primitive in so many | | | | pump. The majority are unaware that the |
| respects? Why does it incorporate so few of the | | | | hypertrophy produced by bodybuilding can be |
| discoveries of modern science? Why is the fitness | | | | different from that produced by weightlifting. For |
| profession regarded as a low level profession, | | | | that matter, many of them do not even know |
| practised by those who cannot pass a serious | | | | the difference between weightlifting, powerlifting |
| degree at a university or could not make it in the | | | | and bodybuilding. Indeed, many fallacies abound in |
| real world of business? Why is there a huge | | | | the apparently objective and scientific world of |
| collection of damaging fallacies that rarely seem to | | | | medicine as well! |