I’m not exactly surprised that celebrity fitness person Tracy Anderson’s recent interview with Well+Good consisted almost entirely of body-shaming, fear-mongering, and unscientific “facts” about fitness — that’s sort of her brand. But I guess I am somewhat surprised that we’re still giving Anderson a platform to spread these myths. I will say this: I’ve interviewed Anderson before — for Fit Pregnancy magazine — and found her take on pre- and post-natal fitness surprisingly comforting and reasonable. Unfortunately, she doesn’t seem to take the same approach to life outside of procreation. As an ACE-certified trainer and Refinery29’s director of health and wellness, I’m here to urge you — implore you — to take anything Anderson says about what you should be doing in the gym with a grain of salt. To that end, here are my six (maybe surprising? maybe not) workout rules.Anderson says that less is more, and large muscles are a roadblock. But in fact, the largest muscles in your body are set up that way because they’re responsible for most of the daily work of living — you need glutes and quads to help you walk, abs to help you keep yourself upright, and lats to help you move your arms around, pick things up, and put them down. Making sure these larger muscles are strong helps you live your life more comfortably and efficiently. They also help you age better: Squatting with resistance helps keep your lower half strong throughout your life, which helps ensure that you’ll be able to sit down and stand up with ease even as you get older. Plus, it’s a true joy right now to be able to lift your suitcase into the overhead bin of an airplane without needing anyone’s help. Believe me, I’ve done the teeny-tiny-movements-with-teeny-tiny-weights thing, and while I did notice a bit of definition, I could barely lift my cat.(No, I’m not done talking about large muscles.) Beyond the functional benefits, these muscles give you the most bang for your buck in terms of time in the gym — you have to engage many of the smaller accessory muscles around the big guys in order to use them properly, so everyone gets some attention. Crazy coincidence: That’s also just how bodies work — your muscles work in tandem, not in isolation. Anyway, I can attest that when I started focusing my workouts almost exclusively on movements like squats, clean and jerks, snatches, and push presses, the smaller muscles in my arms became more defined than ever, even though I hadn’t done a single bicep curl or tricep dip in months. And while metabolic function may not your goal, if it is, working these muscles contributes to a greater metabolic boost than focusing on the little ones.Okay, Anderson didn’t say the word “bulky” in this recent interview, but it’s basically implied (plus, she’s said many times, including on this website , that “bulkiness” is a major exercise risk for the fairer sex: “98% of women will bulk completely.” Okay .). First, can we do away with the idea that bulky is bad? Or that any body type is bad? Not everyone wants to look like a tiny waif. Personally, I see female Olympic weightlifters and CrossFit athletes and think, Damn, girl. But moreover, it’s actually pretty freaking hard to build visually noticeable muscle mass when you’re a woman — you pretty much have to have the right genetics and frame, a seriously intense workout regimen, and a focused diet, sleep, and hydration schedule to do it. And might I share this photo of myself after nearly two years of regular CrossFit and weightlifting sessions — during which I regularly chugged protein shakes and ate crazy amounts of meat? Not all bodies are the same, but even when I tried to get more muscular, it was actually difficult. (Unrelated note: The CashCats tote bag is from onepurrrcent.com .)