Fit2BTide S06.E06: Fitness Mythbusters

[00:00:10] Speaker A: Welcome to Fit to Be Tied with Charles and Whitney. Sheena is still out and we are having a blast. Ha ha. Sorry, Sheena. I'm just kidding. We're enjoying our time, and I know she's enjoying her time with her little baby Jack. But, Charles, thanks for being on the show and co hosting with me this semester. [00:00:26] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think this is just a blast. Like, I'm sure everyone misses Sheena. Absolutely. Absolutely. But I'm just happy to be here and get to just talk about health and fitness and this kind of stuff that I just nerd out on. So it's great. [00:00:39] Speaker A: Yeah, I feel like me and you and, you know, just to kind of recap for our listeners, we are recording through Zoom because obviously we're trying to socially distance and there's really so many people we can have in the recording studio. We always kind of hit our max. Anyway, so Charles and I are actually filming through Zoom and that's what we're going to be doing this semester, probably into the next semester, I would imagine. So. It's funny because we can see each other, which is kind of the new normal that we always talk about, but we're having to, like, I don't know, just come up with this whole new scheme of things. And I'm looking at us, and when we talk about nerding out, we both have on our glasses, like, we're seriously, like, in depth. Like, we're going to talk fitness and we're going to have kind of a good time on the show. [00:01:18] Speaker B: That's right. Going to get into some real sciencey stuff. Right. [00:01:21] Speaker A: And you know, just to kind of recap a little about the show, this is called Fit to Be Tied. And even though in the title we talk about, you know, fitness, and that's what Charles and I do kind of our stories. And we'll kind of hear from Charles a little bit in the next segment just to remind you guys his title and what he does on a daily basis and his story. But we like to hit the spectrum of wellness. And so if you look at the Alabama model, our wellness wheel that we use at the university, there's a lot of different aspects of wellness. It's not just the fitness side of things. It's not just the nutrition side of things, although those things play a huge role in everything. But we look at financial wellness, we look at spiritual wellness, emotional wellness, mental wellness. And so all those factors factor into what we do in the fitness profession, wouldn't you say, Charles? [00:02:12] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. I think that's A really good point. And something that commonly gets overlooked when people are wanting to start a fitness program or something like that is they don't really think about how the other parts of wellness contribute. And that if you're really struggling in one of those other areas on that wheel, then it's going to make it a lot harder to succeed in any kind of fitness endeavor. [00:02:33] Speaker A: Yeah. And I think, like, for us, I know, Charles, you currently have personal training clients. I teach classes. I work with clients on the Reformer. And even though me and you, our positions are more managing administrative, like, doing things to run the program, they're still a part of us. Because the reason why we got into this whole thing is because fitness meant something to us and our journeys, both of us and what we enjoy doing. And I think our journeys look a little different, but the similarity is we want to be healthy, we want to be well. We learn information, and we want to share that with other people. And I know we'll come up on a break shortly, but just to kind of recap for our audiences, if you'll tell us what your title is again and what you do over at the rec center. [00:03:18] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. So I'm the fitness services coordinator over for University Recreation. There are two of us. So there's me and then there's also Dee Hansen, who will be on the show later. But I specifically oversee the personal training program. So I focus a lot on getting clients signed up and getting set up with a trainer. I also do train a few clients myself and really just all aspects of personal training for the program. So the facility, the spaces that we use, anything that's related to personal training, that's what I focus on primarily. And then also some, like, small group training programs that we've done in the past. Morning Mayhem, Summer Slimmed Down. I do get to play a part in making sure those run smoothly as well. So a little bit of everything, but really specifically personal training, that's kind of my dojo. [00:04:06] Speaker A: And it's kind of funny because, you know, when people think about our jobs being in fitness, they automatically think we're just doing fitness all the time. And we used to kind of do that when we were just trainers and, like, having that position. And I mean, I remember those days of, like, working lots of hours, and it's totally different than managing things, but it's. We still like to keep our hand in things because we want to stay true to, you know, why we got into it. And I think it takes a really strong fitness professional that has been a trainer, has been an instructor in order to have those positions. I mean, I kind of see that on my end at least, because I can't imagine doing my job without any fitness knowledge whatsoever. [00:04:47] Speaker B: Oh, absolutely. And it's also nice because I also get some opportunities to still do that stuff. And when I can, I absolutely do it. I love working with clients and teaching classes. So that's definitely a part of my passion. That's never going to die. And I want to make sure my job always has some of that in there. For sure. Yeah. [00:05:03] Speaker A: And so on that note, we are going to take a quick break. So you guys, you know, grab a sip of water, wash your hands, get the germs off. You're listening to fit to be tied with Whitney and Charles on 90.7 the capstone. [00:05:20] Speaker B: WVUAFM Tuscaloosa. [00:05:26] Speaker A: And welcome back. You're listening to Fit to be tied with Whitney and Charles on 90.7 the capstone on this lovely Sunday afternoon. And you know what? We are talking about fitness. That is going to be our whole show. Maybe a little nutrition talk here or there. But Charles and myself, we like to stay in our scope of practice because that is what we've been taught and that's what we believe in. So we both have our certifications for personal training. I am a certified personal trainer through ace, which is a nationally accredited certification, and AA for group exercise. Charles, remind me again, your certifications. [00:05:58] Speaker B: Yeah, so mine currently, so I've been certified through NASA and the National Academy of Sports Medicine. And then my current certification is through ace, acsm, which is the American College of Sports Medicine. So very similar for personal training, but also definitely have some differences. [00:06:14] Speaker A: Yeah, they do. And that's one thing, like just in our field when we're looking for certifications ourselves or because we specifically work with students. And like currently Charles is running his PT prep course, like teaching students how to become a trainer and how to go through that process and take and take the test. And you know, at university recreation, we hire number one people that are experienced that are going to be good trainers or that have that adaptability that we can train. But then also we look at the certifications that they have and you know, before we get into busting some myths, I mean, Charles, when you're hiring, what type of certification are you looking for specifically? [00:06:53] Speaker B: Sure. So there's what I like to call the big three certifications. Really. We do mostly accept any nationally accredited training certification, but there are big three that are just really the most well known. And as a result, I personally as a hiring manager know a lot about those certifications. So I know if they have these, then they're gonna at least have a base knowledge that is important for any trainer, and that's gonna be ace, NASM or acsm. So, really, any of those big three are definitely ones that we're looking for when hiring. [00:07:27] Speaker A: And I think, you know, to kind of segue into kind of our Mythbusters talk about fitness. You know, one thing when we talk about certifications, and I think the reason why, in my mind, I want to bring this up for our listeners is because there's so many certifications out there now that you'll hear an ad on the radio, you'll see an ad on YouTube or whatever, and it's like, you can become a certified personal trainer today. And while that is true, anybody can become a personal trainer, it is so important to know that your certification is legit, because if I have anybody come up to me and they're like, hey, I just got my personal training certification, and they tell me, you know, some name I don't know about, or it's something they can do at home online, that's a huge red flag. [00:08:11] Speaker B: Yeah, that's a good point. I mean, like, because, let's be real, these companies want to make money, and that's totally understandable. But sometimes corners are cut when developing curriculum or deciding what's important to teach people and becoming a trainer. And, you know, to be honest, and this in itself is a little bit of a myth, and it's something that I really didn't plan to talk about, but I think it's actually really good point, and it's that a certification by itself doesn't make you a good trainer. Certification. Yeah, absolutely. A certification provides a really good base knowledge, and so it's important to find a good one. But at the end of the day, that's not going to be a deciding factor on if you're a good trainer, [00:08:50] Speaker A: because, you know, I feel like, honestly, I'm a perfect example of that, because when I started out, I was a. I had my undergrad, you know, exercise sports science with the university, and there were certain components that I did quite get right away. It was like I was just memorizing the information because I had to for tests. And then I remember the first time I ever took my ACE exam. I was not ready, and I didn't pass. I remember going in there and sitting down and being like, I just want to be a trainer. I was rushing it. I sat down, and I remember looking at that test and knowing immediately I needed more experience, because it didn't. The questions were hard for me to kind of think through because you can have all the book knowledge in the world, and some people do really well on those tests if they can memorize that information. But in our situations, I mean, we're looking for people that can actually apply that. And just because you may not have scored super well or it took you a while to get that certification, if you don't have the experience, I mean, you're just not going to be a good candidate for us to hire. I mean, it's just, I mean, maybe us, since we are training college kids, but in the real world, if you're going to go to a corporate wellness, which Charles, you've worked in those areas, it's a lot different. [00:10:05] Speaker B: Yeah, it is. And I think, you know, that's a really good point, is experience is a really important part of this. And so I think any kind of preparation to becoming a trainer is going to involve some sort of experience. [00:10:18] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:10:19] Speaker B: You know, you mentioned that prep course that I'm doing right now. That's an important component that I'm making sure is integral to the whole course, and that is getting experience, even if it's just working with each other, working with me. But experience is such an important part to this industry that it's so hard to replicate just by reading a book. And so that is a really important part. [00:10:39] Speaker A: I think you know this. So our talk today, our theme of our radio show today is MythBusters. And the whole reason why we wanted to talk about this is, Charles, you've done a couple of presentations and webinars for the Office of Health Promotion and Wellness. So in case you're faculty, staff and you're listening and you want to sign up and get your perks with wellness and get your gift cards and all those incentives, which. Who doesn't want a $50 gift card? You go through their steps and you do your health screening. They're still doing them this semester. And then you have to sign up for a program. You can do something as simple as an exercise journal, which is what I do. And then you can also. Well, not that you can, but you need to also sign up for a webinar or a session where you're getting this educational information. And so when we get approached by our friends at Office of Health Promotion and Wellness, they always come to us because obviously we're to be the fitness experts on campus, because we do that on a daily basis. And so, Charles, I mean, just jumping right in, you know, when we were thinking about the show and Mythbusters, you know, what prompted that thought? I mean, when you were creating your presentation, it could just be that we just talk all the time about myths and things that people. I mean, that's kind of conversation for fitness professionals. But I mean, you know, like, start to think about. [00:12:02] Speaker B: Well, I guess on the short term, it would definitely be being asked to do some sort of webinar. But really, I guess what SFORD is, I mean, ever since we first got into this industry and, Whitney, I'm sure it's the same for you, is it's just. It's a constant topic that always comes up, whether it's with a client or when you're teaching a class or even just like a random family member. I mean, there's so much information out there about fitness, and a lot of it is wrong or just partially correct. And so as a result, I'm constantly getting questions, is this right? Is this correct? Or even just someone making a statement like, oh, this is what I heard the other day. And then it comes down to like, okay, well, let's talk about that. Because that's not entirely correct. And if you don't know it's entirely correct or not, you can kind of misuse that information. So that's really, I guess, what sbirta is. This is just a daily thing. And really part of this job is constantly addressing myths that are popping up, [00:12:59] Speaker A: and it's knowing the right resources. And that's what we always try to teach our training staff, especially our, you know, our students that are new into the game. We're trying to get them to understand that, okay, you may not know everything. Your clients are going to be coming to you with questions and information that they just want you to clarify. And it's okay if you don't know it, because I don't know everything. You don't know everything. Like me. And you are still constantly learning because things are constantly changing, trends are changing. There's always going to be specific information that's there. When you look at anatomy and physiology and biomechanics, it's all going to be the same information. But at the same time, we want our trainers and we want ourselves to be knowledgeable of the resources and where to look. And so a lot of times when people come to us with these myths and these ideas, sometimes it's stuff I've never even heard about, and I'm like, where are you getting this from? [00:13:51] Speaker B: Yeah, for sure. And, you know, I think one of the most Dangerous populations for myths is actually fitness professionals because not only are you certified, so you have a certain level credential, so people are going to trust you. But also sometimes a certification gives this kind of false sense of that you're right no matter what. So if you've heard something repeatedly from other fitness professionals, then you start to spout it yourself because you're like, this is just what it is. This is right. And so a lot of myths that are in this industry aren't just coming from people who don't know a lot about fitness, but really it comes a lot from fitness professionals themselves. [00:14:28] Speaker A: And, you know, I'm just thinking about my, my journey. When I started personal training, I was a student. I mean, it was back when I was a senior in college and I had gotten my certification, I started training and like, I knew how to physically work somebody out because I had done that type of stuff and I could, I could easily put somebody through a workout and that wasn't a problem. But when you first start out as a trainer, a lot of times you have a lot of pride and you think you've got your certification and you can just do whatever, and then you kind of get knocked down off of that pedestal a little bit because you realize you don't know everything. And so it's just, it's kind of a wake up call for those of you that are listening to us, that are in the fitness world. Because I think it's okay to say that, you know, we just don't really know everything and that's just kind of, that's just okay. We just have to accept that. So we're going to come up on a quick break really quickly and we'll come back and talk more about specific myths that people talk to us about. You're listening to Fit to be tied with Charles and Whitney on 90.7, the capstone. [00:15:33] Speaker B: Wvuafm Tuscaloosa. [00:15:39] Speaker A: You're listening to Fit to be tied with Charles and Whitney on 90.7, the capstone. Just having great conversations, which is what our goal is and is to basically tell y' all great things that we know about fitness. And we may not know everything, but we sure do try and we try to point you in the right direction. So, Charles, I want to get right into it. I want to go ahead and start busting some myths. I don't know what you've come up with, but I'm curious to hear maybe the biggest myth that we get as trainers, and I'm curious to see what you're going to say, and then to see if it compares with my thoughts and my experiences. So, ready? Biggest myth. What do you got? [00:16:16] Speaker B: Biggest myth. [00:16:17] Speaker A: Biggest myth. [00:16:17] Speaker B: I got a whole laundry list of myths, but I think one of the biggest ones, and the reason I say the biggest is it's just. It's so heavily and often said that I consider it one of the biggest myths. And that's just quite simply the catchphrase. No pain, no gain. [00:16:33] Speaker A: Oh, I hate it. Yeah. [00:16:35] Speaker B: Yeah, I do, too. And it's funny because. And I think, listeners, you're gonna realize that with a lot of myths, there's gonna be a little bit of truth somewhere around it. That's why it gets propagated. And that's absolutely the case with this myth. No pain, no gain. But I think it's really important that we understand the difference between normal discomfort that comes from exercise and actual pain. [00:17:01] Speaker A: Right? [00:17:01] Speaker B: I mean, those are two completely separate things. [00:17:04] Speaker A: You know, I hate that saying. I really do, because automatically I flashback to high school, and I flashback to I was a cheerleader. And so it was like, if you did something wrong or whatever, you had to run the bleacher stairs. And it was this mindset of, like, and those of you listening that did sports in high school or things like that, exercise was almost like punishment. And so you did do it to the point where, like, it really was terrible. Like, it was tiring. It was hard. It wasn't like, this, like, empowering, motivating feeling. Maybe for some people. For me, that's just not how I am. That's not how I'm wired. I don't like that type of working out. I like for it to be enjoyable. And I remember thinking, like, no pain, no gain. And I was like, that's crap. Like that. I don't like that at all. But then when I became a fitness professional and I started learning what exercises I like, then I started to understand that there's good feeling to exercises when you're doing certain things, like strength training, and then there's the bad feeling. And I think back in the day, I was hurt a lot, now that I think about it, because it's starting to make more sense now. And then I wasn't focusing on, okay, the good pain of it. You're actually working. You're strengthening. So, like, how does somebody differentiate from good pain or discomfort? [00:18:25] Speaker B: Yeah. So, I mean, exercise in itself is stressful, right? I mean, that's literally what exercise is. We're purposely putting our body through a stimulus that it's stressful to our body that it's not really sure how to adapt to just yet. And as a result of that stress, we adapt and we get better at dealing with it. So it is stressful in some capacity. But I think the big difference, and there's, you know, we could get real deep into this if we want, but really, one of the biggest differences that that discomfort that is normal, that is natural, is something that is supposed to decrease over time. Right. It should be something that is temporary. If 10 pushups feels absolutely brutal to me. Those last few reps, my muscles are burning and aching, and it's rough. You know, what if I come back in a few weeks and do that again? It should be a lot easier. It should not be the same difficulty. I should not be hurting that same way or uncomfortable in the same way. So the whole idea of exercise is that we're decreasing that discomfort over time. [00:19:26] Speaker A: And, you know, I think about clients that maybe are new to exercise or a lot of times, my older clients, I've noticed, they'll stop and they'll complain about, like, a pain. And I stop them and I say, okay, wait a minute. What are you feeling? Is it an actual, like, a sharp pain or something that is, like, obviously not good. Like, there's pains in the body, like, when we're doing exercises and maybe we have underlying issues or maybe our form is off, things like that. And we definitely need to stop and reevaluate and get our form better or change what we're doing. And it's very hard for me sometimes to explain to a client the difference between, like, actual strength, like, muscle pain, where, like, you're tired and you're fatigued and you can feel, like, the strength happening, and then you're going to feel soreness after and maybe Dom's delayed onset muscle soreness. So, like, I don't know. That's always been a struggle for me to explain that feeling to my clients. [00:20:18] Speaker B: Yeah, no, that's a good point. One specific tip I always like to give to people to really help at least identify one particular thing that is pain. It's not good. Right? Is if you feel something in the joint, specifically if your elbow's hurting, if your knees hurting, if your ankle's hurting, guess what? That's not a pain that's gonna lead to any kind of gain. That's usually the kind of discomfort that's not good. Generally speaking, a good discomfort is gonna be in the muscles that we're working or it's gonna be in, like, our lungs, you know, where it's Tough to catch a breath because we're running hard. Those are examples of discomfort that are a little bit easier to identify. If it's in my muscle, it's more likely to be a positive discomfort unless, obviously, it's sharp. But like you said, it is a challenging challenge to differentiate those two. And it is one of the big reasons I don't like no pain, no gain. Because it has kind of an assumption that anything bad during exercise is, well, that's what I just gotta do. [00:21:13] Speaker A: Yeah, that's 100%. All right, so let's go on to another myth. Myth number two, because I would say that's pretty far up there, Charles. That's one of the ones I was thinking about. My top two or three. [00:21:25] Speaker B: Yeah. And actually, I think another good one that goes really well with this. Since you mentioned soreness, one myth that I hear a lot is if I didn't get sore, then I didn't work out hard enough. [00:21:35] Speaker A: Ah, that's interesting. [00:21:39] Speaker B: Yeah, a really common one, and it's something that I hear a lot. And I've had clients who, after a workout, they're like, you know, I don't feel sore at all. From what we did our last workout. Does that mean I didn't work out hard enough? And the answer is absolutely no. That's not true. [00:21:53] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:21:54] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, with soreness. Soreness is not a measure of how hard we work. Soreness is really to understand what soreness is. Soreness is really the result of us tearing down our muscle fibers. And so when we tear down our muscle fibers and we have to repair those, and as a result of that tearing down, it causes some discomfort. But we feel soreness more when it's some sort of movement or activity we're not used to. If it's. [00:22:21] Speaker A: Yeah, that is 100%, because I, for example, I normally teach yoga on Pilates. My body is so used to those movements, I feel great when I do them. I feel energized. I can tell I've physically done something. I'm not necessarily sore. Even if I change my reps, even if I add more springs on the reformer. Like, I may not be sore, but I know I've worked. The moment I do something out of the ordinary for myself, the moment I go and actually do strength training, and it might not even be a ton of weight. It might just be just a normal weight for me. The next day, I'm sore because it's different. And that's kind of why I think it's important to cross train a little. Bit more because you're constantly challenging your body and not to get too comfortable and used to what you always do. But, yeah, 100%, I get that question all the time. And that became really frustrating sometimes when I was personal training, when I would have a client, because as a trainer, your ego is if you can make somebody sore or, like, feel really worked, you feel like you've accomplished that. Like, that's something that that old mindset of, like, well, I got to make them sore or they got to throw up if they do cardio. And that's just not the way we look at it anymore. It's a journey through fitness, and there's going to be days that you are sore, but that's not a good measure. [00:23:39] Speaker B: Yeah. You know, it's almost treated like a badge of honor. And I'm not, like, downplaying, like, there's nothing wrong with feeling good about being sore. I just think it's really important that we understand that soreness is not an indicator of an effective workout or of results. It really just means we put our body through something it's not used to and might have to take a little while to repair. That's why we have delayed onset muscle soreness. Our body's just taking a lot of repair. [00:24:02] Speaker A: 100%. I'm up there. I didn't have that in my ideas of myths. That was kind of one that you surprised me with because I had forgotten about that because it's been so long since I've personally trained somebody. And the reformer is a little different. We're kind of focusing on a couple of different things. We are coming up soon on a break, so I do want to jump into another myth, and then we'll catch it on the other side. So what you got for your third myth? [00:24:28] Speaker B: Ooh, third myth. Let's see. Man, I've got so many good ones. Let's see. I think another good one would be, is that you need to stretch before exercise. That's a really interesting and common myth. And what's interesting about this myth, and I know we're going to get to it after the break, is that there is some truth to it. And the problem is not in the statement itself, but how it's often interpreted. That's really the big issue. [00:24:54] Speaker A: I think that's perfect, and I'm excited to talk about that, because I think when I first started working out, working out with people, there was a thought process that went along with how you did your workouts, and we're kind of seeing that efficiency is changing A little bit and what the muscle needs in order to perform better. So this is good stuff. All right, guys, we are going to take a quick break, so catch us on the other side. You are listening to Fitzp Ty with Charles and Whitney on 90.7 capstone. [00:25:26] Speaker B: Wvuafm Tuscaloosa. [00:25:32] Speaker A: You're listening to fit to be tied with Charles and Whitney on 90.7, the capstone. And we are busting myths. That is our job today. We are busting some fitness myths that we get asked a lot as trainers, and sometimes we just kind of shake our heads, and we're like, where the heck are people getting this information? But then we realize fitness professionals can sometimes be the culprits of, you know, putting this thought out into the airwaves. But we kind of left off talking about stretching and is it important to stretch before working out or after? And I think there's been a lot of changes in our thinking and how to be more efficient. So, Charles, what you got on that one? [00:26:12] Speaker B: Yeah. So the myth I need to stretch before exercise. It's sort of a myth. It's sort of not a myth, but I think it's really worth having this discussion. And the reason being is that what it comes down to is the kind of stretching you're doing to really understand that we want to understand what's the purpose of warming up. Right. Like, why are we warming up our bodies before exercise? And the reason for that is to try to loosen up our muscles so that they can stretch and flex more easily and also to make sure our joints are lubricated and ready for movement. And so if we think about it in that way, then the kind of stretching that we need to do is what's called dynamic stretching. Right. So, Whitney, I'll let you talk about what dynamic stretching is. [00:26:52] Speaker A: Yeah. So, you know, thinking about, you know, when I was dancing and things like that, we did a little bit when I was in high school and in college, I did a little bit of both. Okay. So dynamic stretching is a type of stretching where you hold it for, like, one to two seconds. It's not very long. It's a limbering exercise. So the first thing I think about is, like, pulling knees into chest. Like, you pull one knee into your chest, you pull the other knee, and you alternate, and you kind of keep it at a good pace, Whether you're walking as you're pulling your knees in or you're just standing in place, you're getting the hip flexors warmed up, because you're coming into a Bend at the hip and then you're also getting the hamstrings warmed up because you're bending the knee. Another exercise I think about, just to kind of give you guys a visual example, is like side lunges where you're kind of bending side to side to stretch out the inner thigh, like their groin area that typically, you know, people tend to pull that muscle very easily. Because we sit with our legs crossed a lot, we don't really open the hips as much. So dynamic stretching is, if you think about the word dynamic, it's got movement to it. And we've even started in yoga classes throwing more dynamic movement into our practice. Rather than just holding stretches because of warming up the body to prevent injury. It's just like anything, if you're going to warm up something to prevent injury and loosen the muscles, then why would you hold a stretch? You would need to move through the joint and prepare it for the other movements that you're going to be doing that are bigger. [00:28:23] Speaker B: Yeah, exactly. So like a dynamic stretches, we're basically just kind of practicing the movements that we need for the actual workout and sort of like a low intensity manner. So like we're going through those movements, we're warming up those joints so that when we start putting some real stress on on it, they're able to handle it effectively. That's really the difference between a dynamic stretch and a static stretch. A static stretch, our goal is really to actually stretch out or elongate that muscle. And while that definitely has a lot of benefits, it's not really preparing us for exercise. It's not warming up the joint, it's not getting that muscle ready to start moving. Really all it's doing is it's just stretching that muscle out and that's it. [00:29:05] Speaker A: In fact, I mean, static stretches, if you've ever taken a yoga class, our typical format or flow is you do a little bit of dynamic warming up, you get into your moves, you do hold stuff, but you're not holding a stretch in the middle of class. You're more or less holding a strength exercise and kind of moving through the joint. And then in yoga at the very end of class, that's when we do our static stretches. And the point of that is to relax the body. We then put stress on the body because if you've ever stretched when you haven't been relaxed, like a static stretch, you're not going to get the benefit of that stretch. So they are very different. I would always recommend to do some dynamic stretching before you work out and then End it with some static stretches. You could also dynamically stretch after you work out, and that might help too. But we just don't want a static stretch before working out. It doesn't do any good. [00:29:55] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely not. There are very rare occasions where you would want to do that, and really, you would only do that with a personal trainer who knows exactly what they're doing. For the most part, we just want to do something dynamic to get our body warmed up and get those ready to go. [00:30:07] Speaker A: 100%. I think that's great. And that was one I was thinking about is, you know, used to people, we just hold and stretch. Oh, let's stretch out before we exercise. Exercise. And while you do need to stretch, you need to do it in a dynamic way. You just, or, you know, lightly do the kind of movement that you're going to do when you start working out. Just do a little bit smaller to prepare the body. [00:30:28] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. [00:30:29] Speaker A: Okay. What's another myth? I love this. I feel like we could just like, keep going down the list. It's just. It's a good reminder for me as a fitness professional, too. [00:30:37] Speaker B: Well, here's a fun one. And this one actually becomes more and more prevalent. The kind of deeper you get into our industry and. And it's basically the idea that you need workout supplements to get the most results or to get the most out of your workout. [00:30:51] Speaker A: Oh, I love this. I love it. [00:30:54] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, it's great. I mean, there are so many supplements out there, right? There's protein powder, there's bcaas, there's pre workout, there's post workout. There's all these different things. Beta alanine stuff that you don't even know what the chemical makeup is, but you see it and someone told you to take it. So you got to take it if you want to get good results. [00:31:10] Speaker A: And correct me if I'm wrong, if Sheena were here, she's always super helpful with this type of stuff because she is a registered dietitian. So she can tell you all these things. You know, that's good, that's not good. But they're not regulated by the fda. I do not believe. [00:31:23] Speaker B: No, they're not. Absolutely not. And so a lot of what companies can do is while they'll list the main ingredients, you know, especially the ones that you're looking for, like protein powder will say, you know, protein, whey, protein, whatever. There's also they're allowed to put proprietary blend or something like that where basically they don't tell you what it is. They just got to tell you they got something else, and it's kind of up to you to hope you figure out what it is or hope it's nothing crazy. [00:31:48] Speaker A: See, that freaks me out. I am not a supplement type of person. I mean, maybe a multivitamin is all I will take, but, like, I have never gotten into that because I just. I'm very skeptical and careful about what type of substance I'm putting in my body, especially if I don't know anything about it. And it's interesting to me that so many people will just buy whatever the marketing, like, if the marketing looks good and somebody promotes it. And there's tons of people out there that are promoting certain things. Obviously, they're probably getting sponsorships and money from it, of course, but, I mean, you just don't know what you're putting in your body. And a lot of it has caffeine in it, too. And so if you take that caffeine in, of course, I know being in fitness, we all kind of like our caffeine because, trust me, we definitely need it sometimes. But, I mean, you have to wonder, especially if you're taking any medications. I don't know if that's healthy. It's just drinking. [00:32:35] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. And I don't want our listeners to think that I'm downplaying supplements. They definitely have a time and place. But I think the important thing to understand about supplements is, I mean, quite literally, the definition of supplement is that you're adding in or you're filling in the gaps. So really, the idea is we take a supplement if we aren't able to get the nutrients we need from our normal diet, but otherwise it's really not necessary or needed. I mean, we can get enough protein in our regular diets to sustain just about any kind of outcome we want. That's the same with just about any supplement. We can get most of those things, really all of them through our regular diets, rather than having to rely on these things to get us these chemicals or these specific nutrients. [00:33:21] Speaker A: I think when I think of supplements, I go back to thinking about bodybuilding. Of course, I know there's probably other chemicals involved there, but I'm thinking about people that are trying to put on a lot of muscle mass. And I mean, that's not ever my goal, really. When I go to the gym, I'm not trying to just load up on tons of muscle. I'm just trying to be healthy and move. But like Charles, have you had any experiences with any clients or friends or even yourself where like, that is the goal, obviously, to put on muscle mass. And so, like, I don't even really know how that works, to be honest with you. [00:33:55] Speaker B: Sure. [00:33:56] Speaker A: Conversation. [00:33:57] Speaker B: But, oh, yeah, we could really dive into it. I think the important thing to think about it, building muscle in regards to supplements is really, really. There are definitely goals that you need to hit in order to build muscle. Nutrition is such an important part to exercise and especially building muscle. You do need to have a caloric surplus, meaning you're eating more calories than you're burning. And then you do need to make sure a good portion of that is protein in order to build muscle, because we do need protein to build muscle, but it's really not as hard as most people think to get the protein in to build muscle. I think it's a really common misconception in the bodybuilding industry that you just need this outlandish amount of protein in order to build muscle. And I think that's because, well, they do that and then they build muscle. But what they don't realize, they're just getting a lot of extra protein. That's not doing anything. Yeah, you really don't need all that much. [00:34:48] Speaker A: Yeah. And if Sheena were here, she'd probably enlighten us, you know, with so much information about that, because usually she blows my mind when we start talking about food, because, you know, that's not really. That's not our scope. But we do have enough knowledge to do know right from wrong, good choices and good habits. So this is great stuff. We've got some time at the end of our show for one more myth, so you guys stick around with us, and you are listening to fit to be tied with Charles and Whitney on 90.7, the capstone. [00:35:20] Speaker B: Wvuafm Tuscaloosa. [00:35:26] Speaker A: Welcome back. You're listening to Fit to be tied with Charles and Whitney on 9.7, the cat saying we're busting myths. And guess what? We got one more myth that we've been talking about actually on our break while you guys were just, you know, listening to some music that we want to talk to you guys about. And, Charles, our last myth, it comes down to some food and eating. [00:35:42] Speaker B: Yes, it does. And again, we're not dietitians. We're not professional specific to nutrition. But this is something I've researched a lot, and really what I want to talk about is how it relates to exercise specifically. So the common myth, and there's actually a few different variations of this, but basically, it says, don't exercise on an empty stomach. I actually hear this A lot really within bodybuilding industry or people who want to put on muscle or people who think that their performance within their workout is going to suffer because they don't eat before. And that is actually a myth. That is not true. And by the way, when I say empty stomach, what I'm talking about really is like a fasted state. So we're talking about going like a long period. Like let's say you work out first thing in the morning. A lot of fitness professionals will say don't do that because I think it's going to affect your performance in some way. [00:36:37] Speaker A: And I think that's a good point because we get those types of questions a lot. And let's face it, everybody's different and everybody reacts differently to things. For me, I am not an early morning workout person at all. I'm like a mid afternoon lunchtime. That's kind of my highest performance. And for me personally, I like to be a little bit more empty or if I eat a snack, I like for it to be well in advance because I don't want all of my blood flow going to my belly to try to break down that food when I need to use it for my cardiorespiratory endurance, my strength training. And I think all in all, my opinion is you definitely have to do what works for you. And if it affects your performance because you're doing the fasting, then you might need to reevaluate and maybe speak to a dietitian just to kind of balance it out and figure out what works best for you. [00:37:29] Speaker B: Yeah, actually that's a good point is it really doesn't come down to a facet stomach or not. Obviously you don't want to work out on a full stomach. Right. That's not going to be good because then we're having blood flow issues and stuff like that. But what it really comes down to is your own performance in the workout. So like let's say you normally work out in the afternoons and so you had dinner around five or whatever and you normally work out at seven. Well, all of a sudden you start doing fasted workouts in the morning and you notice a big issue you in your energy level, then that might be a good time to maybe have something to eat before the workout rather than just going right into it. One thing I'll say, and you know we're trying to avoid getting too deep here, but carbs are going to be one of our biggest source of energy. [00:38:12] Speaker A: That's right. [00:38:12] Speaker B: And simple carbs and simple carbs are those Carbs that are absorbed quickly. So really a great example is fruit. So like a banana, that would be a great energy source before workout because it's absorbed quickly, it's not heavy on the stomach and you can use that energy pretty fast. So that's a really good example of if you are struggling in a workout to have energy, then having some sort of carb source like that is going to be pretty helpful. [00:38:37] Speaker A: Yeah, and I think that's spot on. I mean, it's that quick little energy source that's going to absorb quickly in the bloodstream so that you have energy. And you know, if you are starting out a new workout routine or you're starting working out, your body's going to go through some changes, you're going to start to get a little hungrier, you're going to start to understand that you have different energy needs now that maybe you have to plan your meals out a little bit differently, plan your snacks out. And I think that that's kind of the journey of it is when you do start working out, everything starts to shift. I mean like everything. And so it all plays together. [00:39:12] Speaker B: Yeah. And there's a lot of good research about exercising both and in a fasted state and not. And to be honest, while there is definitely some research that supports actually exercising in a fasted state, what it really comes down to is what your body gets used to. So anything that's new is going to be challenging at first. Those first couple workouts in a fasted state, when you're used to eating before might be challenging, but our bodies are awesome at adapting and our bodies store energy. So if you ate something the night before, I mean, unless you went and ran right after at 10 o' clock at night or something, your body's just going to store that energy and have it available first thing in the morning. So there's really no evidence at all to support the idea that exercising on an empty stomach is bad in any way. [00:39:57] Speaker A: You heard it here, folks. We've busted a lot of myths today. We've had a great show and you know, just a quick little, you know, preview of next week. We are going to be having, I believe it's next week. De Hanson on to talk a little bit about our group exercise program and we'll talk more about personal training and you know, the rec center is open, the Witt center is open. Definitely check out our hours. Make sure you wear your face mask. We'll keep each other, you know, socially distanced. We have group exercise classes going on, but we also have YouTube classes as well. So there's lots of great opportunities. Now is the time to start. If you started your New year's resolutions and you kind of got off the bandwagon because of COVID and now you're back on a routine, now is the time. So we are going to close out our show today. We're so glad that you guys are listening to us. And we will catch you next week. You're listening. A fit to be tied with Whitney and Charles on 90.7 the capstone.