The 11 pieces of fitness advice you thought were true. They aren't.

by Kahla Preston March 25, 2015

Image: iStock

Have you ever seen a fitness meme on Instagram, or overheard a passing comment made by your spin class neighbour at the gym, that makes you think, ‘That can’t possibly be good advice’?

You’re not the only one — fitness gurus encounter these popular myths all the time. According to personal trainer Kirsty Welsh, these little tidbits of misinformation are often spread with good intentions, and aren’t wholly untrue, but they’re too all-or-nothing to be good advice for everyone.

“Yes, [the advice] will reach the purpose they’re after, but it’s probably not best in terms of health on the body,” Kirsty says.

Here are just 11 of the fitness ‘pearls of wisdom’ that maybe aren’t so wise after all:

1. “Situps will give you a flat stomach”

"I would hear that at least on a fortnightly basis. It's all well and good to do situps, despite the fact they're not the most effective ab exercise, but when it comes to 'torching the fat' a large portion of that is going to come down to nutrition. Despite people being a little more educated around that space, we're still a long way off really understand how to get rid of stomach fat and how to have abs." — Blake Worrall-Thompson , trainer — Wellbeing By Blake

2. "It's better to work out at [insert time of day]."

This sounds legit — and it is in terms of certain times being less crazily busy at the gym — but there's no solid evidence to suggest that one particular time of the day is most effective for everyone. Rather, your own body's circadian rhythm and your schedule are the best ways to determine what time suits you best to squeeze in exercise on a consistent basis. If you bound out of bed in the morning and like to go to bed at a reasonable hour, an a.m. workout is probably right up your alley. For other people, that perfect time might be in the evening after work.

"[F]ind a time that helps you make your exercise a regular, consistent part of your life," Stephen Aldana from the department of exercise sciences at Brigham Young University tells WebMD. "This is more important than the time of day."

3. "No pain, no gain!"

"Often people avoid exercise as they think the only way to get benefit is if it is painful. We need to think of exercise as movement and get some every day. Exercise is as important to the body's function as eating, drinking and breathing. The old cliché of 'no pain no gain' only really works if you want to look like a body builder but not everyone wants this. Most people want to feel better, feel stronger and have more confidence. When people train with me my aim is to have them finish a session feeling better at the end then when they started. Because at the end of the day 'no pain, no pain!'" - Greg Stark, Personal Trainer at Better Being , lululemon athletica Ambassador

Forget No pain no gain — we prefer these honest and far more sane fitness motivation posters (post continues after gallery):

Honest motivational posters

4. "I've got a nutrition plan that works for everyone!"

"Nothing could be further from the truth! You are an individual. Your body is extremely complex and as such needs to be individually assessed before understanding the depths of what will and won't work for you. Start simple and think of what ultimately benefits your body's functionality, immune strength and digestion. Eliminate one thing at a time that you know is not good for you and replace it with something positive you feel works for you and benefits your energy levels. e.g. eliminate artificial soft drinks and replace with a fresh veggie juice." - Marissa Frew, Program director and Personal Trainer at Life Elements , lululemon athletica ambassador

"When it comes to diet... I am really keen on each of my clients understanding how their body responds. You can have a bad reaction to something that's really healthy; it's really important to almost create an individualised program by listening to your body and seeing how you feel and seeing what energises you." - Blake Worrall-Thompson

5. "I have to run to lose weight."

"This old saga is horrible too. Obviously [running] is the highest calorie burn for the amount of time, and effective weight loss in terms of stripping stored energy from your body, but no two bodies are the same. For example, I think it's harder for a taller person to run and keep their body in alignment and in balance because there's more lever length; everything's longer so there's more force and shock through the joints ... Not everyone can be a runner — find what feels good in your body." - Kirsty Welsh, personal trainer

"Most people spend their entire day 'running'. Even if they're just running through emotions and stress, their body still thinks they are running. To add to this by running, or spending an hour keeping your heart under stress like that [through extreme cardio], can again add more stress to the body and actually cause further weight gain." — Leila Lutz, Master Trainer of NLP and Matrix Therapies at Momentum for Life , lululemon ahtletica Ambassador

6. "It's not possible to over-stretch"

"It's so possible. I've seen this a lot recently - you'll be against the wall, trying to force your body into middle split ... and people will pop weights on their legs in order to force them down toward the floor and open the middle split further. Part of me feels that is so horrendous, because your body's tight for a reason, it's not just suddenly tight. It means it's not strong enough to hold that extra range of motion. If you're trying to force flexibility into your body, where the opposing muscle group is not strong enough to support that joint structure and you try to force them open more, that's an accident waiting to happen. And if you're popping weights on your body to stretch it out further, that's brute strength, that's not cool." - Kirsty Welsh

Love a good stretch that won't do damage to your body? Try one of these back-friendly yoga moves (post continues after gallery)

5 yoga poses to ease back pain. (Post continues after gallery.)

Legs up wall

This pose has a multitude of benefits for your mind and body. If you suffer from arteritis, headaches, high blood pressure or insomnia, the legs up move can be therapeutic. It can also relieve lower back pain and tired or cramped legs, and ease the symptoms of PMS, menstrual cramps and menopause. Added benefit: itll give you an energy boost and help ease anxiety and stress.

Puppy pose

The Puppy pose (best name ever) does great things for your upper body. Itll expand your chest, improve flexibility in your spine, and relieve any tension in your upper arms, shoulders and neck. It also stretches out your abdominals, opens your hips and stretches your hamstring. In terms of wellbeing, doing the Puppy pose will calm your mind and relieve symptoms of chronic stress, tensions and insomnia.

Corpse pose

It sounds morbid, but the corpse pose is the ultimate relaxation pose and will rejuvenate your body and mind. It can physically relax you, help to lower blood pressure, and reduce the symptoms of headaches, fatigue an