It’s easy to fall into the trap: A your friend passes along an exercise tip or you read something in a magazine and figure it must be true. And sometimes they’re spot on. But sometimes….they’re just straight up false and often times dangerous.

Read on this learn about 3 top fitness myths that need to die!

1. Soreness is a Sign of a Good Workout

Sure, sometimes feeling your workout the next day is kinda satisfying, but delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) isn’t actually a convincing indicator of progress.

Muscle soreness usually occurs when you make your muscles do something that they aren’t used to doing. Something like lifting heavier, slowing down the tempo of your reps,  performing higher reps, or doing a new exercise.

In time, whatever you did to cause your muscles to be sore again will eventually cause less and less soreness until there’s barely any (or none at all) anymore. The soreness doesn’t go away because you stopped working hard and because your workout isn’t effective anymore, it’s just that your body has once again become more and more accustomed to the stress.

So instead of chasing soreness, remember that the goal is progress over time.

Ask yourself: Are you getting stronger? Is the weight you’re lifting on each exercise gradually increasing? Are you seeing more muscle definition? These are the best markers of an effective workout program.

2. The More You Sweat, the More Calories You Burn.

Lots of sweat doesn’t equal a high calorie burn.

Let’s look at a really simple example: Walking outside for an hour on a hot, sunny day can cause you to sweat more than if you did an hour-long strength training session in an air-conditioned gym. 

So does that mean your walk burned more calories? Nope!

How much you sweat can be determined by genetics, gender, age, metabolic rate and the temperature you’re exercising in.

So sweat doesn’t play all that much of factor when looking at overall calorie burn. 

So what kind of workout does burn a whole lot of calories? HIIT workouts. After an intense 20-30 minute HIIT workout, your body can burn calories at an elevated rate long after the workout is over, so pick up some weights and get your HIIT on (scroll to the bottom of this article to get in on a HIIT challenge!)

3. You Need to Give 100% Every Time You Workout

The idea that you need to go all out every time you workout is not only untrue, it’s pretty much impossible. How hard we can push during out workouts depends on sleep, diet, hydration, amount of rest between workouts or sets, and fitness level. 

As important as higher intensity workouts are to keep you challenged and fit, moderate to lower intensity workouts are just as important to give your body time to recover and repair between higher intensity workouts. Lower intensity workouts, like gentle yoga or leisure walks, are also great for bringing cortisol (the stress hormone) down which can help you feel happier and more energized.

A few high intensity workouts per week are plenty- but keep them short. 20-30 minutes max. Then sprinkle in some lower/moderate intensity workouts, too.

And if you’re looking to kick your fitness up a notch with all the coaching and accountability you need, I have just the thing coming up for you.

The March Madness Fitness Challenge includes:

???? Dozens of HIIT-style workouts that can be done at the gym or at home which will take 30 minutes or less to complete.