You don’t have to go far to find conflicting advice on what to do in the gym. Some people will tell you not to do certain exercises at all; others will discuss details such as how straight your elbows should be at the tip of a press. It can be frustrating to encounter diametrically opposed viewpoints just looking for expert advice, but there is often a reason for such wild disagreement – provided you look deep enough.
Before we get into the reasons why these differences exist, it’s worth noting that there are a number of things that apply across the fitness world. These are what you can count on, and if you get confused, come back to them:
Well, for some of the reasons it often gets confusing …
There are different fitness cultures with different approaches
Are you a bodybuilder? A power lifter? A weightlifter? A crossfitter? A runner? A cyclist? A kettlebell enthusiast? If you don’t have a straight answer to this question, you are in the best territory to be confused.
That’s because these groups do everything a little differently because of their different goals and different histories. For example, weightlifters often go as deep as they are comfortable in a squat because they are pushed into that position during competitive exercises; Powerlifters usually crouch until their thighs are just parallel to the floor because that’s how they are judged in competition and because they want to use their energy as efficiently as possible.
There’s a similar divide almost anywhere you see conflicting advice, or when followers of one training style look down on another. Military fitness tests require rigorous pull-ups; Crossfit competitions encourage quick pull-ups, where kipping or butterfly movements make the most sense. Each group does what works best for them.
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So, if all you want to do is “do a chin-up” or “a squat,” it’s no wonder you’re confused as to how to get it right. There are many correct answers! One way to deal with this is to choose a discipline that is your tiebreaker. If you think that one day you might want to compete in powerlifting – or even if you just think powerlifters are cooler (you’re wrong, but that’s a hypothesis) – then ask a powerlifter for advice if you’re confused, or not Do some research on what a respected powerlifting trainer thinks.
Another strategy is to simply take a zen-like approach and recognize that every answer is an answer, and none need to be the answer.
Some things are technically correct, but not useful
We’ve already established that the basics of fitness are simple. But people still love to talk about fitness, and they have to say something other than “Constancy is good” and “Hey kids, let’s all lift heavy.”
Therefore, a lot of attention is paid to the smallest details. Some studies found slightly lower strength gains in people who did more cardio, causing some strength athletes to refuse to do cardio. (Incidentally, this is not an appropriate response to this information; the effect “Cardio kills your gains” is more myth than fact.)
This is the same mindset that makes people wonder what supplements are best without first delving into their diet, or asking if this or that variation of curl is more effective instead of going to the gym and actually do some curls.
The bottom line is, you can and will encounter endless arguments about whether something is true or not, or whether X is better than Y when in reality it doesn’t matter. When in doubt, refer to the basics above.
People will spread any message they want to believe
Part of the confusion is the result of outright misinformation, such as: We found these old chestnuts repeatedly on TikTok. You can’t spot cut fat (for example, reducing belly fat with ab exercises) and you never could, but an alarming number of people like to say or imply that you can because that’s the kind of thing their audience likes to hear . That, and sometimes they want to believe it themselves.
Here at Lifehacker we try to destroy these myths whenever we can. But when you’re alone, it’s best to stick to the basics. If someone seems to offer an abbreviation that obviates the need for the basics, it is a guarantee that what they are saying is too good to be true.
