Don’t Fall For These Fitness Myths!

by Lauren Condell
Certified Personal Trainer

 

Spend enough time at the gym and you’ll hear the same myths circulating every few years. “You have to do cardio at a low intensity to burn fat,” or “weight training will make you look like a bodybuilder.” This month I decided to debunk the ones I hear most frequently. Here’s the real advice that will help you get more calorie-burning, muscle-toning ‘oomph’ out of every workout session.

MYTH You shouldn’t work out in the morning because you won’t have enough energy for a good session.
TRUTH Exercising before the day gets crazy is always a good idea, but you do have to time it right. When you work out first thing, you draw on your carbohydrate stores from the previous day, so you should have energy to get through a 30 to 45 minute routine. Some people feel better with something in their stomach, though, so see what works best for you. If you prefer to exercise later in the morning, you’ll have used some or all of your carbohydrate supply, so eat something an hour or so beforehand to avoid “hitting the wall,” that out-of-gas feeling you get when you just have no energy – mentally or physically – to keep moving.

MYTH Lifting weights regularly will make you look bulky.
TRUTH Most women can’t develop big muscles like men do. But if you find yourself adding more muscle than you want, don’t give up on weight training. Instead, reduce the load by working with lighter weights, and do moves that used you won body for resistance.

MYTH To burn fat, do easy cardio.
TRUTH Low-intensity cardio exercise – at 50 to 60 percent of your maximum heart rate – does burn fat primarily (your body generally always uses fat and/or carbohydrates for energy), but it doesn’t burn a ton of calories. To lose weight faster and save time, focus on just burning calories by exercising at a moderate to high intensity.

MYTH Muscle turns to fat when you stop working out.
TRUTH Muscle and fat are different types of tissue, and one can’t morph into the other. What can happen when you stop exercising is that you put on fat, so those once-flat abs will turn distinctly flabbier. Also, when you don’t use muscle, it starts to atrophy, so it’s not as firm as it was – but it’s still lean mass. Conversely, when you start working out, fat doesn’t turn into muscle. You build muscle fibers and shrink fat cells, so you look firmer and leaner.