Be Wise and Exercise!

Be Wise and Exercise! | Deoskar Integrative Health Blog
If you plan on exercising regularly, it is important to understand some basic exercise myths. In order to gain the benefits ofexercise, you need to be aware of …
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About the Author

Healthy Living is something of a work in progress. Having a heart attack at 33 showed me the joy of living healthily and I hope you will share some of those experiences with me.

Written by Anand

5 Basic Exercise Myths

If you plan on exercising regularly, it is important to understand some basic exercise myths.  In order to gain the benefits of exercise, you need to be aware of what information will hinder or help your workout! There are certainly many more myths out there, and I’m sure you’ve heard your fair share, too; however, I’ve elaborated on some of the common myths that I have been approached with over the course of the last several years.

Exercise Myth #1: No pain, no gain

Oftentimes people believe that getting the most out of their workout requires putting the body through a painful experience.  This is far from the truth! There are many benefits that can be achieved through physical activity that does not require extreme exertion.  You can even achieve benefits of exercise without needing to break a sweat!  In fact, doing too much too soon increases the risk of injury and can also cause (delayed onset) muscle soreness—also referred to as DOMS.  If you worked out too hard, the muscle soreness may take days to return to a normal state, thus potentially keeping you from performing daily exercise.  Therefore, your exercises should be slightly challenging, but within your body’s capabilities!

Exercise Myth #2: Spot training

Many people believe that if they perform numerous crunches that they will develop a flat stomach or a six pack!  If only it were so easy!  There is no such thing as spot training (exercising a certain muscle in order tolose fat in that region).  First of all, cardio activities—using large muscles for an extended period of time—play a larger role in fat reduction than strength exercises; therefore, doing crunches to reduce body fat is not the ideal approach to take.  Secondly and unfortunately, your body decides where it will store or shed fat.  Most of the time, genetics plays a major role in where you store the most body fat.  Some people have a tendency to store fat in their buttocks or hips, whereas others may store more around the midsection.  Don’t become discouraged about any ‘problem areas’; continual exercise—which includes cardiovascular, strength, and flexibility activities—will help you increase your fitness levels as well as help you achieve or maintain a healthy weight.

Exercise Myth #3: Women will become bulky if they perform strength exercises

Women have the capability to increase their muscle mass when strength training; however, women cannot build muscle at the same capacity as men can, naturally.  Testosterone—as well as other hormones—is required to build large, bulky muscles.  Women are not capable of producing massive muscles because they simply do not secrete enough testosterone to do so.  There are women who inject male hormones—such as testosterone—in order to achieve an unnatural extreme muscular build, which is not something I recommend!  Women are encouraged to perform strength exercises because it helps to build and maintain muscle mass as well as bone density, both of which gradually decline with increased age.  So start lifting, ladies!

Exercise Myth #4: More protein means more muscle!

Our society today believes that protein is very important! It IS important, but culturally we are consuming more than what our body needs.  An ideal diet will contain 55-65% carbohydrate, 20-30% fat, and 10-15% protein of total daily calorie intake.  Muscle building occurs from engaging in strength training exercises and eating a protein rich meal one hour post exercise.  While exercising, muscle fibers will tear and rebuild themselves within a few days.  During this rebuilding process is when muscle size can increase.  It is important to know that strength exercises should not be performed on consecutive days in order for the muscles to have adequate time for repair. To conclude, the most important aspects of muscle building is combining challenging strength exercises (immediately followed by a protein-rich food source) with sufficient rest periods in between workouts.

Exercise Myth #5: If I’m not losing weight, I’m not getting any healthier

There are so many health benefits that exercise provides other than changes in body composition.  Your risk for cardiovascular and metabolic disease decreases as you become more active.  Adequate physical activity is described as thirty minutes of moderate aerobic activity five days a week or vigorous aerobic activity three days a week for a total of 60-70 minutes.  By achieving this amount of physical activity, your blood pressure and total cholesterol can decrease, your glucose and insulin sensitivity can increase, and stress levels can decrease (Plowman and Smith, 2011).  Even if your body weight has not changed much, your health profile has improved dramatically!  In fact, fit individuals who are obese have a lower risk of all-cause mortality than unfit, normal weight or unfit, lean individuals (Plowman and Smith, 2011).  Try not to become too concerned with the number of the scale and focus more on the way you feel!

Selfseeds:  I love the common sense and reality of this blog.  He nails it with the truth of the body and all of the variations.  It takes commitment, but “just moving” is a big step.  Plant the seed, nurture it, and watch it grow–no judgment.  Be inspired by the growth and the aliveness of doing something towards your wellness/wholeness plan.