Debunking Common Fitness Myths

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Many of the tips we hear from the person at the gym or read on-line are not accurate or simply have no truth to them. Here are some of those myths debunked.

Many people are of the thinking that you can lose stomach fat by doing crunches on an abdominal machine but this isn’t true. A lot of this information people have obtained from watching those late night infomercials on 8 pack abs. Posture improvement is what one obtains from using an abdominal machine as well as muscle strengthening around the mid section of the stomach. Your abs can begin to take form and look better due to the body fat in the mid section decreasing.

A number of people believe that their metabolism will continue to be high for several hours after an aerobics or cardio work-out, and their thinking is correct. After a cardio work-out your metabolism level will continue to burn a bit higher than normal but not to the extent you have been made to believe.

Many people turn to the treadmill thinking that its easier on their knees than running on pavement or asphalt but this is not true. The same amount of strain is caused to the knees running on a treadmill due to the force of body weight being caused to the joints. Remember, it’s not what you are running on. Balancing your work-out routine with cardio exercises will give you complete results and reduce the amount of stress on your knee joints. The Lifecore rowing machine, for example, provides a low stress workout like this.

There are a number of people who think if they don’t break a sweat during a work-out then they have not benefited from it. This is not true since sweating is simply the body’s way of cooling off. Just taking a brisk walk can burn excess calories.

A lot of people believe that swimming will shed unwanted pounds. This is true to some degree but to really lose some credible weight one would need to swim for hours every day. Use swimming to tone your body and to relieve muscle tension. Swimming is also easy on the joints.

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