The Top 10 Health & Fitness Myths

Spot Reduction – Put simply, you cannot do crunches to burn belly fat off. You cannot do leg adduction abduction (inner & outer thighs) to burn fat off your thighs. You can not do any weight training exercise which will burn fat off that specific part.

Evil Carbs – Carbohydrates are your main source of energy for your muscles for exercise and your brain to think. Fat is more important to avoid to lose weight. Fat has twice as many calories than carbohydrates or protein and is easily stored as body fat.

Working out in the morning burns more fat than working out later – Burning fat is accomplished over weeks, months or even years, not one workout. Doing your cardio when you have the most energy is optimal. You will burn more calories in the long run.

Doing Long and Slow Cardio Burns the Most Fat – It just wastes your precious time. High intensity exercise i.e. raising your heart rate to around 85% of the max burns far more calories, elevates your metabolism, and preserves your muscles better than snail cardio.

Muscle Turns to Fat – If you stop working out your muscle does and can not turn into fat. Losing muscle and gaining fat after ceasing a workout program often occurs though.

Heavy Weights will Bulk, Light Weights will Tone – Should be more like light weights help you not get results. Intensity (how heavy the weights are in relation to the rep range) must be high enough to get results.

Women Should Not Lift Heavy Weights – Lifting heavy weights in the 8-12 rep range will do wonders for a woman’s body. They will not bulk up like a woman bodybuilder without massive injections of testosterone.

You Should Not Eat After 6pm – Depends how many calories you consumed before 6pm. Carbohydrates after 6 are okay as well they will not turn to fat overnight. Again, one short term decision will not alter the long term result.

If You Eat Too Much Protein You Will Get Too Muscular – Excess protein is excreted out of the body as urea. It is impossible build “too much” muscle without taking anabolic steroids.

Fitness Machines Advertised on TV are More Effective than the Stuff in the Gym – To achieve your fitness goals, you should base your fitness program on science. Using free weights and performing cardio is more than you need to achieve your ideal body.

The Quest For Fitness For Life

Achieving fitness for life is very daunting thought but, if approached in the correct way, can totally change the future for you. As soon as you begin to be aware of the fact that your health and fitness levels are not what you want them to be, you should take a moment to think about what being fit for life could mean to you.If you knew you could avoid some of the health problems that are becoming more prevalent in today’s society, would you want to find out more? If you knew that you could possibly increase your life expectancy, would you want to know more? Yes, of course you would!To begin your quest in finding fitness for life you should start to observe your diet. What kind of foods are you eating? Do you eat a large percentage of processed foods? Do you eat enough fruit and vegetables? Just by changing your diet to a healthy and varied one could drastically improve your health and well being. If you are overweight, a simple change in how and what you eat could help shift those extra pounds without you even trying.The next thing to consider is the amount and type of exercise that your body is used to. Do you get out and exercise at all? Could you exercise a little more? By adding more exercise to your life, along with the diet changes could help you to avoid those, all too common lifestyle conditions that are prevalent in today’s society such as diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, joint aches and pains and heart related problems. These are just a few health problems that could be avoided by a change in your lifestyle.Research shows that your lifestyle has got a lot to do with your overall health, so adding a few small changes every week or two to your diet and exercise routine could, potentially, help in your quest for fitness for life.It is never too late to change your lifestyle to a better, healthier lifestyle. It is never too late, nor are you ever too old to begin to exercise. For an older person who has decided to begin to make small changes to their lifestyle, it is so easy to begin just walking. If you already walk, then walk at a faster pace and for longer. It really is as simple as that to begin to improve your health. Small, positive steps to improve both diet and exercise can help make your chances of avoiding or delaying the common symptoms of old age much easier.Fitness for life could mean many things, but in the overall context of health and fitness, it means getting out and making a start at improving your lifestyle and changing your unhealthy habits to healthy ones.To Your Success,