There are a lot of misconceptions about fitness floating out in the public conscious and they cause people to fail at building a healthier lifestyle for themselves due to misinformation. From diet tips to types of exercise, no one seems to be able to pin down exactly what works and what does not. Here are 7 myths regarding fitness that need to be dispelled.

1. Carbs make you fat

Thanks to lovely programs like the Atkins diet, this myth emerged and has continued to cling to our collective conscious for decades now. The Atkins diet claims the best way to lose weight is to eat fewer carbohydrates. While carbs do tend to reside in foods with more calories, they are not going to make you fat if you are managing your calorie consumption. It's all about the numbers people!

2. Fat makes you fat

This myth originated in 1977 with the emergence of the McGovern report, which found that an increase in fat and sugar consumption was correlated with an increased risk for things like heart disease. The report specifically stated that "too much" fat was one factor that correlated with the increase of the disease. Because of this, and the tendency for scientific studies to be vastly misrepresented to the mainstream public, caused this myth to be born. Too much fat is definitely not a good thing for our diets, but eating that low fat snack that has just as many calories as the high fat one will still have the same effect in regards to weight gain.

3. Fad diets are the only way to lose weight

We've all seen them. Ads that read "lose 10 pounds in 2 weeks!" "I lost 50 pounds on the South Beach diet!" It seems that our public believes that the key to weight loss is a subscription fee and mail-order meals. The fact is, while diets like Atkins or Paleo may help people lose weight they usually do not give proper information on why that person is losing weight. Lower carbohydrate intake (Atkins diet) means less calorie dense food. If you consume less calorie dense foods you are more likely to lose weight. However, you can eat plenty of carbs during the day and still lose weight if you are careful about your calorie counts. Paleo is the same. Avoiding processed foods like breads, potato chips, and candy means you have to find sources of food that have naturally fewer calories. Eating "what cavemen ate" does not make you lose weight inherently, but avoiding all of those extra calories from sugary, processed foods, might. While these diets can be effective, they are not necessary.

4. Cardio is the only way to lose weight

Cardio is a beneficial and healthy exercise option, and I highly encourage you to engage in some form. However, most people are under the assumption that weight loss is caused by cardio. As it turns out, cardio is a pretty poor way to burn calories. Some estimates suggest that running 1 mile will burn around 100 calories. If this is true, a 5k will burn about 300-400 calories, or about 3-4 spoonfuls of peanut butter. It is much better to just avoid that extra peanut butter entirely. Instead of working to burn off all of the bad food you eat, just eat less of it. Cardio should help increase the difference between the calories your body needs and the amount you are eating.

5. If you so much as touch a dumbbell you will explode with mass

Dumbbells, not even once.

I mostly hear this from women, as mass tends to be a good thing for men. Even in my own gym there only tends to be one or two women actually lifting weights, the rest are climbing stairs or pretending to ride a bike. "I don't want to get bulky" is always the reasoning behind avoiding weights. It takes years to build a large amount of muscle. You do not become Arnold in a week, that takes a lifetime. Besides, with less testosterone production women struggle to increase muscle mass as quickly as men. Men, on average, have around 7-8 times the amount of testosterone production women do, meaning they see greater levels of muscle mass and bone density. These things allow men to grow muscle far faster than women, meaning women in the weight room will likely never reach the same size as their male counterparts without the use of steroids. Besides, you can't achieve "tone" if you have no muscle to show off in the first place.

6. Squatting above parallel is okay

I see this in the gym all the time. Squats are an amazing exercise that work huge amounts of your lower body. The quads, hamstrings, and glutes are all targeted by this exercise, those are huge muscle groups. But, if you squat like this:

You are not squatting correctly. Without full range of motion, you are missing your upper quads, hamstrings, and the entirety of your glutes. The quarter squat is a dangerous myth to buy into. In high school my friends and I were under the impression that quarter squats were real squats, and because of this it was common for us, 16 and 17 years old at the time, to think we could squat 350-400 pounds. We would "rep" 365 pounds on normal days. The fact is, it is incredibly easy to half-squat huge amounts of weight because you have not fully extended your quads, and you have not fully contracted your hamstrings. If you get your squat to look like this:

You are squatting properly. Notice how in the this picture the thighs are parallel (or in this case below parallel, good job guy!) to the ground? That is a squat.

7. Curls in the squat rack are okay

Notice the squatter's form. Parallel.

No. Bad weightlifter. Squats are an exercise that can be dangerous upon failure. Large amounts of weight falling backwards is generally something to be avoided. The squat rack helps prevent unnecessary injuries by providing safeties the bar can be dropped on to, as well as preventing the weight from leaving the squat rack. If you decide the squat rack is your personal curl dojo you have prevented people from doing a much more dangerous exercise in a safe environment. Curls can be done anywhere.

8. The Smith Machine is okay

While this looks like an ordinary piece of workout equipment it is actually gym Satan. The Smith Machine is a guided barbell machine with safety hooks that allow the bar to be stopped at any point. The problem with the Smith Machine is that the bar is guided. This prevents the use of stabilizer muscles, which are muscle groups that aid in balance. They are what keep you from toppling over as you practice your proper full squats. The Smith Machine takes away the need for stabilizers, which means you are not learning proper form. Bad Smith Machine. The only thing the Smith Machine is good for is pretending you are a truck driver.

(The Smith Machine is actually great for exercising with past injury, or for basic mobility exercises. Just avoid it for strength training.)

Hopefully you have not fallen prey to any of these myths. But, if you have maybe you learned something today. Happy fitnessing!