Exercise myths are great because they are either so patently untrue that it’s easy to dismiss them or they sound suspiciously like great advice so they are easy to believe. We’ve all been taken in by common fitness myths. My favorite was the one I believed for years. If you’re not going to give it your all and exercise every day or at least every other day, then exercise is a waste of time. That’s complete bunk. Sure, exercising every other day is ideal, but even if you can only get out and walk for an hour or two a week, you’re doing more for your body than you would be if you just sat sedentary all the time.
What are some great other fitness myths?
- You burn fat more effectively if you exercise at a lower intensity for a really long time. – Okay – it works like this. Exercise burns calories. Calories are the building block of energy. The harder you work, the more calories you burn. Most of us can’t workout at a high intensity for a sustained long period of time. Beginners, especially out of shape beginners, will burn more calories in a longer session than they might in a shorter higher intensity session, but overall you do more effective training if you mix it up. Let’s say you’re walking, for a minute, pick up the pace and then resume normal pace for five minutes, then for a minute pick up the pace, then resume normal for another five minutes. The higher intensity of that 1 minute will burn a few extra calories for that minute and for the minute that follows. See how that goes?
- Yoga is hardly a workout at all, it’s more about stretching. Well, in some cases that is true, but yoga itself is a disciplined form that can be very physically demanding as your muscles are expected to hold you rigid in stances. It also requires balance and continued flow from one stance to another. I’ve come out of yoga sessions dripping sweat and muscles trembling from the different forms. As with any exercise, that’s one you start slow and don’t rush into Power Yoga.
- Exercising regularly means you lose weight. You don’t exercise, you don’t lose weight. – I hate to say this but poppycock. Our bodies are biological machines that are constructed by DNA. I know lots of size 0 women who don’t bother to exercise because they never gain weight. That doesn’t mean they are fit and healthy, it just means that they won the genetic lottery in that case. I also know women who work out regularly and are in great shape, but they can’t lose those 10 extra pounds to save their lives. Exercising is about being healthy and feeling healthy, losing weight is a balanced proportion between exercise, diet and genetics
What fitness myths have you believed in before?