Got an unpopular opinion? We've all got them. Our "Confessions" column features the voices of women who dare to share their side of the argument to contradict some of beauty and lifestyle's most popular practices and beliefs.
Gone are the days when fitness and wellness are viewed as self-indulging activities, whether we're talking about time or money. Now, people are more open about investing in their health, launching an industry — think fitness apps, services, and careers — centred around this practice. But while it's something to be lauded, registered physical therapist Rheine Canlas, 22, believes that people's initial instinct to "go straight to the treadmill" in the hopes of getting fit and losing weight in the process is highly overrated. She strongly expresses that as someone who studied the field from a scientific standpoint, it's her pet peeve to keep hearing this misconception from people she knows, including certified personal trainers.
"I believe that if someone wants to achieve long-term and sustainable results, building muscle while losing fat is a better goal," says Rheine.
What are your thoughts on this?
She emphasises that resistance training as "only a means to be bulkier" is nothing but a delusion, pointing out that there are studies citing the benefits of resistance training (or a combination of resistance and cardio) for fitness more than cardio alone — yet, people still insist on the latter. Rheine claims that this is due to "the misrepresentation of research by media, as well as the outdated information being dispersed by "reliable and trustworthy' personalities" lauding cardio as the ultimate method.
She also views the fitness industry's way of pegging weight loss as a "measure of success" as another one of her "biggest pet peeves". She points out that this thinking often leads people to blindly rely on what they see on the scale, rather than the bigger picture of what the definition of fitness is.
She concludes by saying that she isn't discounting the benefits of cardio, but hope that more people understand that "combination training" (or using varying fitness methods) is a better way to go than solely going for this overrated method.
Do you share a similar unpopular opinion? Share with us your thoughts on this Confession here.
*The statements shared here are based on the opinion and experiences of our interviewees. No studies or tests have been done to refute or affirm these claims.
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