Fitness Myths

A lot of people get put off from exercising because they have misconceptions about it. The good news is that most of these beliefs aren’t correct, and so they shouldn’t dissuade you from starting up an exercise programme.

For example, some people think that you need to be in a lot of pain to get any benefit from exercise, or that you need to dedicate a lot of free time to do it.

Both of these assumptions are false, and if you believed them you probably wouldn’t be too keen about fitness in general. Here are some other fitness myths to watch out for.

Fitness Myth 1 -

If You Work Out You Can Eat As Much Food As You like

Just because you are exercising it doesn’t mean you can eat junk food all day long.

The key to losing weight is to eat a healthy balanced diet in addition to your exercise programme. This means eating less sugary foods and more green vegetables.

Fitness Myth 2 -

In Order To Get Fit You Need To Go To The Gym Every Single Day

You don’t actually need to go to the gym to get fit. As long as you eat a healthy diet and are fairly active throughout the day, you can keep yourself in good shape.

As little as 30 minutes exercise a day, five days a week, should be enough for most people to keep control of their weight.

In addition to this you don’t have to go to the gym to work out, as many workout routines can be done at home with a pair of weights.

Fitness Myth 3 -

If Women Lift Weights They Will Get Muscles

Some women are afraid of lifting weights because they think that they are going to develop big muscles as result.

What they fail to realise however, is that they don’t have enough testosterone to develop large muscles.

In fact weight training, regardless of your sex, is an important part of exercise because it helps to accelerate fat loss.

Fitness Myth 4 -

You Can Remove Fat From Specific Parts Of Your Body

Unfortunately you can’t burn off fat in one area of your body just by exercising that area. This can only be done through a combination of aerobic and anaerobic exercise.

Whilst it is true that some exercises will help to tone specific areas of your body, if you want to lose weight you’re going to have to do a full body workout.

Fitness Myth 5 -

You Have To Feel The Pain To Get The Gain

Every exercise you do should challenge you to some degree, but this doesn’t mean you should exercise to the point of pain because this could cause you more harm than good.

Ideally, the difficulty of the exercise you do should increase gradually so that you strengthen your heart, lungs and muscles without causing injury to yourself.

Fitness Myth 6 -

Muscle Weighs More Than Fat, So Being Fit Makes You Heavier

Although muscle is denser than fat, it doesn’t weigh more. The more your muscles become developed, the quicker you will burn fat from your body.

This is why exercising using weights is important, because it develops your muscles and increases the rate at which you burn fat and loose weight.

Fitness Myth 7 -

Fruit Juice Doesn’t Make You Fat

Whilst fresh fruit juice may have some health benefits, most of the juice you buy in stores is full of sugar and has been pasteurised.

This means that most the vitamins and enzymes within it have been destroyed. As a result, drinking too much fruit juice can actually cause you to gain weight due to its high sugar content.