Just for fun: what’s everyone’s favorite fitness/health “fact” that’s been debunked?

[jamsie]

@notaperfectchristian Well I mean there was a time when people drank their own urine. So who fucking knows. I remember my best friend at the time telling me she drank her first morning piss in the shower and I almost had a stroke. She got mad when I told her it wasn't sterile.

 

[defender211]

@notaperfectchristian autophagy

 

[rockhopper72]

@antioch88 Don’t even get me started on “detox” I could go on for hours about it haha

 

[huffygal]

@notaperfectchristian That lifting weights as a woman will make you man-ish and too muscular.

If only I knew then what I know now

 

[simple_man]

@huffygal Years ago my friend, a PT, said this and I will never forget it:
gesturing to a bodybuilder

"Half my day is explaining to women they won't look like that, and the other half is explaining to men that they won't look like that."

 

[jessephilz]

@simple_man I wanted to look like that and I had to go through 4 PTs before I found one who would help me even try to bulk as a 20 year old woman in the 2010s.

I kept getting “oh no honey, you don’t EVER want to use dumbbells heavier than 10 pounds or you’ll hurt yourself.” Lady, I work in a warehouse. I could quite literally squat you without warming up.

And also “you don’t want to get bigger, men don’t like muscular women.” Good thing I don’t care!

 

[simple_man]

@jessephilz So bold of them to assume you're into men as well?!?! Lesbians exist like really people it's not the year 1900.

 

[notaperfectchristian]

@huffygal Ugh I hear this one all the time! I see these videos all over social media of like “do this lil arm circle workout for lean feminine arms” and it’s so frustrating cause if you wanna build muscle you gotta get lifting

 

[jimsfaust]

@huffygal Soooo many overly concerned (usually gen x and boomer women) people warning against getting too bulky. As if you can "accidentally" bulk. Muscle growth takes so much effort.

 

[csh97]

@jimsfaust I heard it from elder-millennial dance teachers growing up too :/ like girly it is 2007 and you are 25, don’t tell children their thighs are going to get bulky lmao

 

[davidmarks]

@huffygal I would like to personally thank female competitive climbers for beginning the process of dispelling this myth for me.

Saw some of those ladies in tee-shirts and it hurt my brain.

 

[sweetkf]

@huffygal Right or instantly cause bulking. Like damn I wish Science says the best we can hope for is 1-1.5 pounds of new muscle mass A MONTH and that’s if you’re eating at peak levels to build it.

 

[csh97]

@notaperfectchristian My least favorite one is that lower stomach fat is there to “protect your uterus” or that it’s “just your uterus sticking out”. That’s not true at all and it’s wild how much people repeat it. There’s nothing wrong with lower stomach fat but let’s at least be factual about it lol

 

[honey1]

@csh97 Yes! Like that is clearly fat (on some examples I’ve seen ) and there’s nothing wrong with that ! Idk about it being there to “protect your uterus “ but I’ve seen people say it’s the actual uterus lol.

 

[davidmarks]

@csh97 As a lady who had her uterus removed, I admit to being sad to have this one disproven once and for all.

I didn't really believe it, but a tiny part of me still hoped.

 

[alan]

@csh97 This one has always bothered me as someone with fat there even when I’m fit and lean. It’s always felt condescending— it’s OK; I can emotionally handle that this is just how my body stores plain ol’ fat, because it is normal and good to have some body fat and we can’t pick where it goes first— and also like tradwife-adjacent, bioessentialist nonsense. The uterus is not a terribly large or sensitive organ to begin with, and my abdominal wall is a much better barrier between it and the outside world than any little two inch bump of fat could ever hope to be!

Lower belly fat is not an inherent flaw that needs to be excused. It’s just a thing that some people will have and some people won’t, even at the same BF %.

 

[jamsie]

@alan Also like...how do people not know about basic human anatomy. Your uterus should not be herniating through your lower abdominal fascia, if that's your goddamn uterus you need to be speeding to the nearest ER. It's also, for the majority of history, considered to be very attractive to have a fat deposit there. It is how bodies naturally store fat.

 

[suwon11]

@csh97 This one usually comes from body positive folks and it is ironically... fat phobic. There's nothing wrong with fat on the lower stomach. You don't have to validate it by pretending it is an organ.

 

[dougw59]

@suwon11 I do autopsies on medically donated bodies at a cadaver lab. There is something called the greater omentum as well as the lesser omentum which acts like an apron over your intestines. It’s definitely an organ, but not in the sense those people want it to be.

 

[sglewis]

@csh97 This one!! It makes me roll my eyes when I see people insist that a belly pouch is your uterus poking through. Like, girl, if your organs are poking through your abdominal wall like that you have a hernia.