Exercise Myths

They are plastered all over the covers of women’s magazines, affirmed by crazy infomercials touting the benefits of the latest exercise contraptions, and perpetuated by conversations with your girlfriends over steaming lattes. It’s challenging enough just to get to the gym while avoiding the cheese danish beckoning you from the local bakery display case. Don’t let these common exercise myths weigh you down.

Myth 1: If I stop exercising, my muscle will turn into fat.

Reality: While it’s true that if you stop exercising you will begin to lose some of the muscle tone you’ve worked so hard to develop, that muscle will not turn into fat. Muscle and fat are two entirely different tissues and it is impossible for one to morph into the other. Muscle cannot become fat, and fat cannot become muscle. However, a decrease in muscle size (which is very likely to happen if you nix your workout routine), makes your body burn fewer calories in a resting state. Add that to the calories you are no longer burning during exercise, and there’s a very good chance for your body to lay on some extra fat.

Myth 2: Weight training will make me bulky.

Reality: Weight training will not make women “bulk up”. They just don’t have the levels of testosterone (at least not without the aid of injected steroids) to develop big, bulky, hulk-like muscles. What weight training will do is help your body become leaner and reduce body fat percentage. Weight training also helps increase bone density, balance, and strength. So don’t be afraid of the free weights.

Myth 3: If I exercise long enough, I’ll get the body I’ve always wanted.

Reality: It’s not necessary (or even advisable) to spend hours upon hours in the gym. Exercise quality is just as important, probably even more important, than quantity. Walking at a slow to moderate pace for an hour every day isn’t going to yield fabulous results in the weight loss department, and you’re probably going to get frustrated over time. Increasing the intensity of your workouts may be far more important than increasing the duration. By utilizing High Intensity Interval Training (or HIIT), you can shorten the duration of your cardio workouts to no longer than 30 minutes, and still achieve great calorie-burning effects. For more detailed information be sure to read Keith’s article, HIIT vs. Steady-state Cardio

Myth 4: If my muscles aren’t sore, then I didn’t have a good workout.

Reality: A lot of people will judge the effectiveness of their workouts by how sore they feel the following day, but you don’t need to feel like you’ve been run over repeatedly by an eighteen-wheeler to have had a great and effective workout. Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS) is the muscle soreness that creeps in a day or two after training. It’s most common when you first begin a new fitness routine and usually lessens in intensity as your body begins to adjust to it’s new level of activity. But muscle soreness isn’t always a good sign. A healthy and balanced diet, proper hydration, sufficient amounts of rest between workouts, and a “cool down” period after exercise all help lessen the intensity of DOMS, which is a good thing. Who wants to walk around feeling like a hit-and-run victim?

Myth 5: I can “spot reduce” areas of fat by targeting that area with exercise.

Reality: While it would be cool to think that performing daily abdominal crunches would rid you of that poochy belly for good, it’s just not going to happen. Fat cannot be toned up by targeting an area with weight training or calisthenics. Fat is stored throughout the body and can only be reduced by controlling the calories you consume through your diet and increasing the calories you expend through exercise. Unfortunately, it’s probably your trouble spots like your belly or thighs that will hold on to it’s fat deposits the longest.

Myth 6: As I get older, gaining weight is inevitable.

Reality: It’s true that most women (and men for that matter) gain weight as they get older, but that doesn’t mean they have to. The reason most people pack on the pounds with each birthday is loss of lean muscle mass. Women can lose as much as 8 percent of their muscle mass with each passing decade. Muscle tissue burns more calories than fat, so a decrease in muscle mass means a lower metabolic rate. Couple this with the typical decrease in activity level that seems to come with age, and it’s no wonder waistlines seem to grow with each passing year. But do not fear! Just a few months of weight training can help a woman recover years of lost muscle mass and increase her metabolism, not to mention firm up those floppy underarms.

Myth 7: I need to stretch before I exercise.

Reality: There is no research to support the common misconception that stretching before a workout reduces the risk of injury. It’s the warm-up before exercise that seems to be the important factor in injury prevention. Your warm-up should used to get the blood pumping, something like jumping jacks or a brief jog. Save your stretching for AFTER your workout. Then it will help maintain and even increase flexibility, which, in the long run, could help prevent injury.

Myth 8: It’s better for my joints if I run on a treadmill instead of pavement.

Reality: Joint pain is a result of your body pounding against any surface when it isn‘t used to it. If you experience joint pain when you run try switching up your cardio routine with an elliptical trainer, recumbent bicycle, or stair stepper. If you do decide to run, make sure you have proper shoes. Switching up between a treadmill and pavement might be helpful, too.

Myth 9: As long as I exercise, I can eat anything I want.

Reality: It’s important to eat a healthy balanced diet, even if you exercise regularly. Don’t try to justify the extra empty calories of a brownie sundae or triple cheeseburger just because you spent 30 minutes on the treadmill this morning. The amount of calories your burned on the treadmill aren’t nearly equal to the calories in your most recent diet splurge. This is especially important if you are trying to lose weight. It is common for people to over-estimate how many calories they burn in a day and under-estimate how many calories they ingest. If you aren’t expending as many calories as you consume, you’ll find yourself packing on the pounds. Sorry ladies, I wish this myth was true, too. Recent research seems to indicate nutrition is the key element in weight loss, with exercise helping you along. For more on this subject read You Can’t Out Train A Bad Diet.

Myth 10: Wearing or carrying light weights will boost the effectiveness of my workout.

Reality: Strapping on those Velcro wrist and ankle weights (or carrying light dumb bells) when you walk or run only slows you down. A slower pace reduces the aerobic benefit of the workout, and the weights, usually just a few pounds, aren’t enough to provide the muscle-building benefits of regular weight training. So leave the weights at home and pick up the pace.