Exercise Myths

I came across this list of exercise myths and facts and thought it was worth posting. I hope you all are staying motivated and not letting the holiday foods get to you. Stay strong and remember that you are in control of your body and that everything you put into your mouth is a choice made by you, so make it a good choice. Stop and really thing about what you're about to eat before you even pick it up. Really try to figure out if you are truly hungry. When you do eat, try to really taste the food. Most of the time people are just thirsty but mistake it for hunger. Drink a glass of water then wait ten minutes and decide if you are still truly hungry.

Make it a great weekend:)


Top Ten Exercise Myths

Myth # 1 - Your Cardio machine is counting the calories you're burning.
Fact - Caloric Burning depends on one's age, fitness level, BMI and sex. Different sexes at different fitness levels and BMIs burn calories at different rates.

Myth # 2 - Heart rate monitors will let you know how hard you're working.
Fact - Monitors can falter depending on what kind of exercise you're doing. Your own body is better at telling you how hard you're working. You can measure how intensely you're working out depending on whether you can talk in full sentences, short phrases, or are barely able to muster a few words.

Myth # 3 - Your weight is the end all, be all.
Fact - Your weight has little to do with your fitness level. Muscle weighs more than fat, so it's common to see an increase in weight when perfuming lifting regiments after a few weeks. Measure by seeing how your clothes fit and how you feel overall.

Myth # 5 - Low intensity exercise burns more fat.
Fact - The more intensely you exercise, the higher proportion of carbs you burn. You may burn less fat, but you burn more calories. Your body digs into the fat after it has burned all the carbs.

Myth # 6 - You can spot reduce for tight abs or toned arms.
Fact - The more repetitions you do just creates muscle memory, reducing the effectiveness of the workout and causing your body not to burn as much fat. Working out all body parts will reduce muscle memory and increase calorie burn, which will translate into fat burn.

Myth # 7 - You can eat whatever you want as long as you workout.
Fact - Losing pounds and burning fat happens when you have a caloric deficit. However, intense caloric deficit works the opposite. Muscles need to feed, so your food intake should consist of a balance of fats, proteins and carbs.

Myth # 8 - Cardio is the only way to lose weight.
Fact - Cardio is good for the heart and increases endurance, but is not the best way to burn fat. Since muscles have higher energy stores in them, the body will actually begin to feed off those after extended card regimens, rather than fat. 10-25 minutes of card is the best range in which your heart and endurance get what they need, while still not running into the zone of your body feeding off it's muscle.

Myth # 9 - You have to do card in the morning on an empty stomach in order to burn fat.
Fact - Our body's metabolism is at it's lowest in the morning because you haven't eaten for 8 hours. Eat a balanced breakfast and you will be able to exercise longer and your body's metabolism will already be working.

Myth # 10 - Drinking ice cold water burns fat.
Fact - There are no proven facts that the cold water will shock your system and force it to keep it warm, causing your metabolism to increase and burn fat. However, drinking room temperature water will have the exact same effects.