Fallacies & Facts About Physical Exercises

Getting the most out of your workout can be difficult with so much conflicting exercise information swirling around the fitness industry. Fitness takes time, and there are no easy shortcuts. Heed the warning that if it seems too good to be true, it probably is. Weeding out the fallacies and arming yourself with the facts can help you to create more comprehensive and productive workouts that truly help you to reach your fitness goals.

  1. You Cannot Spot Reduce

    • While you can isolate specific muscle groups to increase the tone or size of a muscle, such as the biceps or quadriceps, the fact is, you cannot spot reduce fat. The fat layer lies on top of your muscles, so it is imperative to burn off the fat in order to be able to see the definition created by resistance training. Burning and reducing calories through exercise and a healthy diet reduces fat throughout your entire body, rather than one place in particular, such as your abs. Lowering your body fat percentage requires a comprehensive fitness program that includes a healthy diet, cardiovascular exercise and strength training.

    Yoga is Just Stretching

    • If you have never tried yoga, you may falsely believe that it is just fancy stretching with chanting. While yoga does involve stretching and flexibility aspects, it is actually a full-body, strength-training practice; almost every pose requires and builds strength as it is being performed. Additionally, a regular yoga practice helps to improve your balance, agility and core strength, which is key for sports, as well as everyday life movements and injury prevention. Yoga also allows athletes and fitness buffs to synchronize their body and mind, allowing mental strength and endurance to be enhanced. Another fallacy about yoga is that you have to be flexible to start a practice; the truth is that the practice helps to elongate your muscles and improve the suppleness of your body.

    Exercise, Not Diet

    • Many people engaging in regular vigorous exercise view their fitness regimen as a green light to eat whatever they want and still maintain their slim figure. False! In fact, exercise and diet are partners in the battle of losing weight and keeping it off. The key to weight loss is burning more calories than you consume, which is why eating a burger and fries after going for a run will sabotage your positive efforts. A healthy diet and regular exercise program can help you to reach your weight-loss goals.

    Rest Days are Important

    • Even though exercise is integral to any healthy lifestyle, it is also important to let your body rest and recover from all of your hard work. Rest days are particularly important for strength training, after which tiny tears in your muscles need to be repaired. Overtraining can also cause your body to reach a plateau, where weight loss and muscle gain cease to progress. Signs of overdoing it can be exhaustion, trouble sleeping, irritability and having an insatiable appetite. Taking one or two rest days per week provides your body the time it needs to recover and stay balanced.