5 execise myths debunked

You've probably heard them all and may have even thought a few of these to yourself now and then. Here are 5 of the most common myths/worries that I hear as a personal trainer from clients. Let the debunking commence.


1) If I stop working out my muscle will turn in to fat.

Muscle tissue and fat tissue are two completely different things. One cannot change to the other. However if you stop working out and are consuming more calories than are being burned it is possible that your body will store more fat and you could gain weight.



2) Lifting weights will make me "bulk up" and I just want to tone.

It takes a natural (one who doesn't use any muscle building supplements) bodybuilder approximately 1 year of hard training and effort to add just 10 lbs of quality muscle so it's not that easy to do. The bottom line is the only way to tone up muscle is through proper resistance training (i.e. weight training). So quit stressing, grab those dumbbells and get to it!



3) All carbs are bad.

We are not at war with carbs. Carbs are not our enemy. When eaten, carbs are broken down and stored in our muscles as a substance called glycogen and when we work out it provides us energy. When performing moderate intensity aerobic exercise the stored glycogen provides approximately 50% of our energy needs. When performing high intensity aerobic exercise it provides nearly all of our energy needs. So don't automatically label all carbs as evil. Just make sure you're getting them from a good source such as brown rice, fruit, beans or whole grains.



4) I can't have "good food" when I'm on a diet.

Weight loss or gain is, in a sense, determined by calories consumed and calories burned not by what type of calories are consumed. Just being alive you're constantly burning calories. Calories are to our body as what gas it to our car and you can consider our fat stores as a reserve tank. Therefore as long as you're burning more calories than you're taking in you will lose body fat because it is being used for fuel. Now this doesn't mean that you can eat cheeseburgers and cake everyday for you're total calories, but it does mean that you can indulge a craving now and then.



5) I just started working out and I gained weight. I must be doing something wrong.

In the beginning of a workout program it is not uncommon for people to actually gain a few pounds simply because they are building new muscle and muscle weighs more than fat. On a positive note muscle requires more energy for your body to sustain it so the more muscle you have the more calories your will burn. So just stick with it and you will soon reap the rewards you've worked so hard for.