By Alexas B

I can’t remember when health, fitness and exercise were not part of who I am. From representing my school in track and field to representing my country in field hockey, hiking for fun and challenge to working out in the gym, you name it, I might have done it.

One of the things I have also done in the name of health and fitness is to listen to the myriad of myths which many women believe and use to keep themselves fat, unhealthy and unfit. What is infuriating is that they hold these fallacies dear and would hear nothing to the contrary.

Today I share with you the 5 most common myths that are shared with me. Not only do I want to dispel them, but I also want to motivate women everywhere to free their minds and work their bodies. So here goes.

Exercise Myths # 1 – You can lose fat in a particular area without affecting the rest of the body.

Exercise Fact # 1- This is simply not true.

Understand how fat burning works. What rids the body of fat is to burn more calories than you take in. Moderate aerobic exercise performed for longer than 20 minutes burns up the glucose in the blood and forces the body to access its reserves. Once the glycogen reserves are used up, the body must metabolize fatty acids for energy. That’s when fat burning takes place.

Exercise Myths # 2 – When women lift weight as part of their fitness routine, they can become bulky like male body builders.

This myth is used by many women to avoid even passing by the weight room and to choose the “half-pound” weights if the Aerobic Instructor decides to add weights to the routine.

Exercise Fact # 2 – it is impossible for a woman to gain huge amounts of muscle mass by just lifting weights as part of a fitness routine.

What is responsible for the bulk in men is the male hormone testosterone. Since women do not, and cannot naturally produce as much of this as males do, it is impossible for a woman to gain huge amounts of muscle mass by merely routinely lifting some weights.

The problem is that for a significant amount of women, when they think “weight lifting” they think “female body builders.” Unfortunately, most of these women use anabolic steroids (synthetic testosterone) along with other drugs in order to achieve that high degree of muscularity. In addition, they have an incredible work programme in which they spend long hours in the gym lifting very heavy weight.

Exercise Myths # 3 – Exercising makes you hungry.

Exercise Fact # 3 -There is no definitive position on this.

Research seems to indicate that moderate exercise, the type that the average woman would engage in – walking, swimming, stationary cycling – does make you hungry. But research also indicates that intense workouts, especially running reduce your appetite because of a buildup of acids in the body due to metabolism. These acids affect the brain, reducing the appetite.

Exercise does tend to reduce my appetite but generally my approach to fitness includes sensible eating especially after a workout. Perhaps you would want to follow this approach.

Exercise Myths # 4 – To get any benefit from lifting weights you have to do it every day.

Exercise Fact # 4 – Lifting weights every day is counter-productive.

Again, understanding the fundamentals of weight lifting might help. When we lift weights, we do (when done correctly) a small amount of microtrauma (small injuries) to our muscle tissue.

The body responds by rebuilding the weakened or torn muscle fibers. When it does, it builds them even bigger and stronger than they were prior to the microtrauma so as to prevent repeat of the injury. In other words, muscle growth from weight lifting is basically a healing process.

It follows then that to get the most from weight lifting, you need to give the body time to heal. Therefore, lifting 2-3 days a week should be enough for you to see results.

Exercise Myths # 5 – You need a Personal Trainer to get results fast

Exercise Fact # 5 – Working with a Personal Trainer is NOT magic.

Personal training consists of one on one coaching from (usually) a certified personal fitness trainer. This trainer teaches you, motivates you, and gets you to work hard consistently while following a detailed fitness and nutrition plan. Each plan is developed for you based on YOU and YOUR goals.

At first this seems ideal but Marty Gallagher, a champion powerlifter and fitness expert is skeptical. In his words: “The thing about personal trainers is that in a way it’s a corrupt institution because the ideal candidate never graduates. He goes in to say that a trainer should provide a client with the tools to get and stay fit on his own instead of making him dependent on expensive hand-holding.

Speaking of a tool to help you get and stay fit on your own, such a tool does exist. Download it now at http://www.fat2trim.com and step by simple step, you will be transformed from fat to trim in just 49 days.

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