Fitness Myths Busted

None — Exercise for Health

Health experts say adults should aim for 30 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise a day. These are defined as activities that make us work hard enough to breathe faster and raise the heart rate, like walking fast, pushing a lawn mower or riding a bike. In addition, adults should perform some type of muscle-strengthening activity two or more days a week.

A regular exercise program helps the heart and lungs work more efficiently and improves strength, endurance and flexibility. It can help a person lose weight or maintain a healthy weight. Exercise also reduces the risk for many types of chronic health problems, like heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis, arthritis and certain types of cancer.

Exercise Myths

With the ringing in of the New Year, many Americans are making resolutions to embark on a healthy lifestyle and regular exercise program. Karin Richards, M.S., Exercise Science Professor with the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, says there are a lot of misconceptions about exercise. Here are some common exercise myths and realities:

• Muscle turns to fat when you stop working out. Muscle and fat are two different types of tissue and one can't turn into another. When you work out, you gain muscle and burn calories, thus, losing fat. In reality, if you stop exercising, muscles begin to shrink. Any floppy areas and bulges are likely to be enlarging deposits of fat.

• Women who pump iron will bulk up like a man. Men who lift weights bulk up because they have high levels of the hormone, testosterone. Women have some testosterone, but, under normal circumstances, not enough to build a "he-man" body. Weight lifting is an important part of any exercise program. It builds strength and muscles, and muscles help the body burn calories more efficiently. Weight bearing exercises also build strong bones and help women reduce their risk for osteoporosis.

• The calorie readings on cardio-machines aren't always accurate. Richards says, in reality, most machines don't give an accurate estimate of calorie burn. In fact, they can be off by 25 to 30 percent or more, meaning you're burning far fewer calories than you think. That's because the equipment is usually only designed to provide an estimate based on age and weight, not fitness level and gender (men tend to burn more calories during exercise than women). Generally, the older the machine, the less accurate it is likely to be. For a more reliable estimate of calories burned, subtract 10 to 15 pounds from your real weight and enter that figure into the calorie estimator. Better yet, look for a machine that uses a heart rate monitor to estimate calorie burning.

• You can exercise for 10 minutes at a time. Actually, this one's not a myth. Health experts say it's okay to break up exercise into 10 minute intervals, as long as those time frames add up to at least 30 minutes a day. Richards says the key is to make sure you are maintaining exercise intensity for those ten minutes.

• Stretch before you exercise. Stretching helps improve flexibility. But, Richards recommends holding off the stretches until after exercise. She says that stretching cold muscles may increase the risk for injury, so it's better to wait until the muscles have warned up with activity. Don't skip out on this step because stretching helps improve flexibility and reduces the risk of delayed muscle soreness after exercise.

For information on exercise: American Council on Exercise Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

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