5 Myths About Training, Nutrition, and Stretching

1. Calories Are All That Matter for Fat Loss—Or Are They?

Many trainers and fitness influencers on Instagram love to preach that CICO (calories in, calories out) is the only thing that matters for fat loss, claiming you can eat whatever you want as long as you're in a caloric deficit. These so-called "professionals" all share one thing in common: they’re seeing little to no real results. Sure, energy balance is crucial and gives you the most bang for your buck when it comes to weight loss. But if you’re aiming for exceptional, sustainable results you’ve got a lot more to consider. Being energized, healthy, and strong demands more than just counting calories. Unlike a combustion engine, your body operates with a complex interplay of factors that require a nuanced approach.

I've often had clients with similar weights, body compositions, and activity levels, all eating around 2,500 calories a day. Yet, one would be struggling to lose body fat while the other couldn’t gain weight to save their life. Why? Factors like gut health, insulin sensitivity, thyroid function, stress management, and individual carbohydrate tolerance all play a huge role in how your metabolism operates and, ultimately, how effective and sustainable your diet will be.

2. The Myth of Abs: Why Compound Exercises Alone Aren’t Enough

The muscles in your midsection are just like any other—if you want them big and strong, you need to train them directly. Just squeezing them isometrically during compound lifts won’t cut it. By that logic, I could say I don’t need to train my legs because I engage my quads during the bench press using leg drive (a powerlifting technique where you push with your legs to make the bench press easier).

Training your abs is crucial, not just for aesthetics but for performance as well. You’ve probably heard people say that you don’t need to train your abs, just lower your body fat percentage, and they’ll magically appear. Well, here’s a surprise—abs hypertrophy just like any other muscle. The bigger and thicker they are, the less body fat you need to lose for them to be visible. And when it comes to performance, the more contractile component you have the greater the strength potential. This means that the more muscle you have on your abs, the better your bracing will be during heavy squats, deadlifts, or any other exercise. So, one way or another, you need to train your abs. Period.

3. Do You Really Need to 'Deserve' Your Carbs?

This is a statement many coaches throw around, but unfortunately, most don’t fully grasp its meaning, often leading to the demonization of carbohydrates. It’s not about whether you "deserve" carbs but about understanding your individual carbohydrate tolerance. Carbs like rice, potatoes, fruits, and fibrous vegetables certainly belong in a diet, but the amount you need varies significantly depending on factors like liver function, the environment you live in, gut microbiome, physical activity, muscle mass, and body fat percentage.

You’ll often see professional athletes talking about how many carbs they eat and how essential they are to their diet. Then, these posts get reshared by your average lazy Bob, whose peak physical activity for the week was grabbing a cold one from the fridge. Now, Bob can—and should—have some carbs to optimize his training performance, but he’ll likely need far less than a professional athlete carrying 70 kg of lean muscle mass and training 6 hours a day, 5 days a week. If you want to be strong and build muscle, carbohydrates are your best friend, you just probably need a little less than you think.

4. Undulating Periodization: The One-Size-Fits-All Myth

The undulating model of periodization, as most coaches use it today, gained massive popularity thanks to Charles Poliquin and his later students, particularly after his famous 1988 article, "Five Steps to Increasing the Effectiveness of Your Strength Training Program." Since then, many coaches have dismissed other forms of periodization, sticking rigidly to 4-week phases and undulating periodization—whether they’re training a professional wrestler, a powerlifter, or 50-year-old Caren, who just wants to drop 5 kg before her sister’s wedding in Tuscany.

Now, this doesn’t mean undulating periodization is wrong or ineffective. It simply means there are many more ways to structure a training program, and a good coach should know how to choose the right model for each individual. There are many paths to Rome, but some are just way too long and complicated.

5. If you are stiff you need to stretch

Stretching is something most trainers and physiotherapists swear by. Why? Maybe because they don’t have a better solution, they don’t fully grasp the physiological reasons behind muscle stiffness, or simply because recommending stretching is a safe bet—there’s almost no chance of causing harm.

But here’s the thing: it’s rare to see someone who stretches regularly and actually becomes more flexible. Muscle stiffness can stem from two main causes: overwork or underwork. If a muscle is overworked, stretching or other soft tissue work can help. But in most cases—especially when it comes to areas like the neck, hamstrings, adductors, or hip flexors—the muscle is underworked.

Increased muscle tone is your nervous system’s protective mechanism. When a structure (like your neck, lower back, knees, or hips) lacks stability due to weak supporting muscles, your nervous system cranks up the muscle tone to compensate and keep you stable. By constantly stretching, you’re essentially fighting against a mechanism designed to protect you. The solution? Train in the full range of motion to maintain muscle elasticity and build strength. When you strengthen your muscles through their entire range, you not only maintain flexibility but also give your nervous system the stability it craves. This way, you’re addressing the root cause of the stiffness rather than just putting a temporary band-aid on it with stretching. Strong, well-conditioned muscles are far less likely to tighten up in the first place.