Fitness Myths Can Be Hazardous To Your Health

Many people – even those who have been working out for years – have misconceptions that can prevent them from getting the results they’re seeking or, worse yet, cause an injury.

What are some of these fitness myths?

Myth #1. Crunches and abdominal exercises will give you six-pack abs. The most important factor in developing six-pack abdominal muscles is a person’s diet. You won’t see improvements in your abdominal muscles until you trim away the fat that covers them by dieting and burning calories through cardio exercise. Avoiding processed carbohydrates, sugar and deep-fried foods will have a greater impact on a person’s abdominal muscles than countless crunches. Total body strength training and interval training will also help.
The “six-pack” effect comes from one long muscle – the rectus abdominis – but once you’ve lost your abdominal fat, you’ll also need to work your internal and external obliques, and your transverse abdominis.

Myth #2. Use high reps and low weight to tone up. As with your abdominal muscles, diet and cardio training will have a greater impact on muscle tone than the number of repetitions you do. If you can do more than 12 reps with a weight, you will probably need to increase the weight to get the results you want. Likewise, if you can’t do eight or more reps with the weight, it is probably too heavy for you.

Myth #3. Circuit machines, such as Nautilus, are the safest way to exercise. While machines are sometimes safer to use than free weights, it doesn’t mean you can’t hurt yourself on them. New studies show that many circuit machines put significant stress on certain body parts and may not use a natural movement. Leg extensions, for example, put stress on the knees.
To avoid injury, consult the diagrams on the machines and consider having a personal trainer show you how to use them properly.

Myth #4. Don’t eat after 8 p.m., because the food will turn to fat. When you eat has less of an impact on whether food will turn to fat than what you eat. If you’re eating a steady diet of ice cream and potato chips after 8 p.m., you will gain weight. If you’re eating healthy and have not exceeded a reasonable number of calories for the day, you may lose weight.
Many experts believe that your calorie intake for the day and level of activity are the only factors that affect whether the body adds fat on any given day. However, some believe that calories added at night will more likely turn to fat, because people are less active at night and burn fewer calories. Even if this is a factor, it is not a major factor in weight gain.

Myth #5. If you’re not sore, you didn’t work out hard enough. While soreness is to be expected when you are just beginning to exercise or when you change your program, if you are otherwise sore a day or two after your workout, you probably overdid it.
Soreness is caused by tears in your muscle fiber. If you're sore after every workout, you're not allowing your body time to recover. During this recovery period is when you’ll experience the most muscle growth.