I thought this week I would debunk Three common myths in the fitness industry.

The first one is, “If you lift weights, it will make you bulky”. FALSE! Eating too many calories over an extended period will make you “bulky” or overweight. Lean muscle is very hard to build and the average person, training relatively hard, will only ever add around 1-3 kg of lean muscle a year.

Myth number two is, “Artificial sweeteners are bad for you”. If you can’t do without a sugary fix, substituting a few teaspoons of sweetener over foods and in coffee should not adversely affect you. However, I would not recommend drinking five cans of diet soft drink a day – water is a much better alternative.

And finally, the third Myth I would like to cover is, “Sit-ups and crunches will burn unwanted belly fat”. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but this is false. We cannot choose where body fat comes off – this depends on your genetics. It is not possible to “spot burn fat”. Overall exercise will burn overall body fat. If you are losing fat but not on the belly, it just means you must continue to watch your calorie intake until those stubborn areas are forced to move.