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Indianapolis Star Are you myth-informed November 29, 2005 The TV ad claims this one machine can firm up your flabby abdomen in just a few weeks -- for $29.99 a month. A health-related Web site says stretching will help prevent sore muscles during exercise. Your personal trainer keeps telling you to push harder because "no pain, no gain." With so much health and fitness information flooding the Web and media, it's easy to get confused and disillusioned when false claims don't prove true. The American Council on Exercise polled its 1,500 members and asked them the most pervasive myths about exercise. Their top six responses were: Women who lift weights will get bulky muscles. Spot reducing is possible. No pain, no gain. Exercise requires a hefty time commitment. If you exercise, you can eat whatever you want. There's a magic bullet or quick fix out there somewhere. We've polled some university experts in health and kinesiology in Indiana, as well as others from nationally respected health and fitness groups to debunk some of those myths and others. Here is some of their wisdom: Myth: No pain, no gain. Reality: If there is pain, there will be little gain. Many people used to believe exercise had to hurt in order to be beneficial. We now know that people need to enjoy exercise and/or feel its benefits in order to become regular lifetime exercisers. Feeling a little discomfort is normal when first starting a regimen. However, if you feel "pain" each time you exercise, you will be less likely to make exercise a lifestyle habit. Source: Carol Ann Kennedy, Indiana University Department of Kinesiology lecturer Myth: You can spot-train specific areas of your body to "melt the fat away." Reality: Spot-reducing is impossible. Reducing body fat requires total body exercise to burn a lot of calories. For example, if you do lots of sit-ups, you will get strong abdominal muscles. However, this will do little to reduce the fat on your abdomen. Source: Michael Bracko, exercise physiologist and director at the Institute for HockeyResearch, Calgary, Canada, and fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine, Indianapolis Myth: The fastest way to lose weight is to exercise. Reality: The most effective and fastest way to lose weight is caloric restriction. However, it is best to do both for the cardiovascular effects. Source: David Pearson, Ball State University professor and director of its Strength Research Laboratory Myth: Women who weight-train will get big, bulky muscles. Reality: Women do not have the right hormones, specifically testosterone, to get big muscles. A woman with normal hormone levels would have to spend four to six hours a day weight-training to look like women in fitness magazines. But the good news is, women who weight-train are doing the best exercise to improve bone strength and prevent osteoporosis. Source: Michael Bracko, American College of Sports Medicine Myth: Little or no fat is burned until you have been exercising for at least 40 minutes. Reality: We generally burn a mixture of fat and carbohydrates during exercise. We burn more fat when we have fasted or when we have been exercising for a prolonged period, but situations in which we burn carbohydrates or fat exclusively are rare during typical training sessions. Source: Michael Flynn, Purdue University professor of health and kinesiology and director of the Max E. Wastl Human Performance Laboratory Myth: I'll lose body fat more efficiently by performing aerobic workouts at a low, rather than high, intensity. Reality: Many aerobic exercise programs and videos feature low-intensity workouts that purport to maximize fat burning. The theory is that low-intensity aerobic training will allow your body to use more fat as an energy source, accelerating body fat loss. It is true that a higher proportion of calories burned during low-intensity exercise come from fat, yet high-intensity exercise still burns more calories from fat in the final analysis. Source: Cedric X. Bryant, chief exercise physiologist, American Council on Exercise, San Diego Myth: Stretching will help prevent muscle soreness associated with exercise. Reality: Stretching after exercise will do nothing to prevent soreness the next day. The damage to muscles already has been done during the exercise. Stretching the next day, when muscles are sore, will help reduce the pain a little, but it does not repair the damage done to the muscle from heavy exercise or movements you're not accustomed to. Source: Michael Bracko, American College of Sports Medicine
Reality : Not exercising is dangerous for older adults. There are many more risks associated with physical inactivity than with physical activity. People with hypertension, type 2 diabetes or cardiovascular disease can exercise safely if their diseases are under control. Source: Michael Flynn, director, Purdue Human Performance Laboratory Myth: It's best to exercise in the morning. Reality: Some research shows that people who exercise in the morning stick to their exercise routine better. But the bottom line is that the best time to exercise is the time that best fits into your day. Source: Michael Bracko, American College of Sports Medicine Myth: Delayed muscle soreness is caused by a build-up of lactic acid after exercise. Reality: Immediate discomfort may be caused by lactic acid (a metabolic substance produced in higher quantities during high intensity activities), but the real muscle soreness that peaks 24 to 48 hours after exercise results from micro-trauma to the muscle tissue. You can nearly always work through this without damaging muscles. Source: David Pearson, Ball State professor
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