Myth Busting
This shelf is about fitness folklore, not television: every belief that sells subscriptions in the gym — you can spot-reduce, lifting makes women bulky, soreness means growth — gets one guide, and every verdict in those guides is tied to opened, named sources. When a medical authority already says the quiet part, we quote it directly: MedlinePlus, medically reviewed, on protein and muscle: “It is a myth that a high-protein diet alone will promote muscle growth. For muscle building, you need strength and resistance training.”
How a myth gets busted here — and how it doesn’t
Three rules keep this category honest, and they are the same rules every guide on it follows.
One, no memory verdicts. A guide may not declare a belief false because it feels false; it names the studies, position stands or official pages that test it. Two, the null result is a result. When the opened sources don’t settle a claim — we look up “myth busted” and find nothing we would sign — the guide says “not settled,” and this index does not pretend otherwise. Three, we don’t summarize verdicts we haven’t sourced. Only the protein example above is quoted settled on this page, because we opened MedlinePlus’s medically reviewed page today; the other nine beliefs live in their guides, where the evidence weighs them one by one.
The complete myth-busting library
Belief → guide → sources. The cards describe what each guide tests, not what it concludes.
Frequently asked questions
Today’s PAA for this topic leans on the phrase’s other life — the TV show and the dictionary. Answered honestly, that means naming what this shelf is and is not.
What does “myth busting” mean?
Generally: testing a popular claim against evidence instead of repeating it. On this site, specifically: fitness beliefs matched to their actual studies — the ten guides above, each carrying named sources.
What are some myths to bust?
In this category’s range: that fat loss can be aimed at one body area, that soreness measures progress, that women lift “to avoid getting bulky,” that changing workouts constantly (“muscle confusion”) drives growth, and that fasted training uniquely burns fat. Each gets its own evidence-based guide above.
What myths did MythBusters bust? / What is it called when you bust a myth?
The first is a question about an entertainment show — outside this shelf’s sources, so we don’t answer it; the second is a word question we won’t invent an answer to. This page answers only what it can put sources under.
Sources and verification
- MedlinePlus (NIH/NLM), “Nutrition and athletic performance,” medically reviewed 8/2026 — opened and read in full 2026-10-27; the protein-and-muscle myth quote is verbatim from it.
- Category inventory: content registry — 10 guides under CAT-myths, counted 2026-10-27; ≥5-live threshold per registry note.
- Same-day SERP/PAA:
serp_jour.csvand rawserper_jour_2026-10-27.jsonl(2026-10-27). The TV show named in the PAA is acknowledged as an homonym, not cited as a source. - Every belief’s verdict (or documented “not settled”) is owned by its guide’s fact-check ledger; this index deliberately states only the one settled example it opened today.