Exercise Myths

These are some of the exercise myths we hear most often at the Fitness Center:

1. "_________" is the best exercise. Claims like this are usually based on: marketing strategy, personal bias or the results of "research studies". Even when the claims are based on factual information, they have little practical value to the average exerciser.

   The most important thing is to choose an activity you like, and perform it properly and consistently—maintain your exercise heart rate for 30-60 minutes, 3-5 days per week. If you follow these guidelines, any aerobic activity should give you results.

2. Low-intensity exercise causes you to lose more fat. This common misconception is based on the fact that when you perform exercise at a 60% intensity for a longer amount of minutes (>45 minutes), your body burns more fat as fuel than carbohydrates. This fact has led to the idea that if you burn more fat as a fuel during exercise, you will burn more storage fat. In fact, the two are not synonymous.

   When the body burns fat as a fuel during exercise, it does not necessarily utilize stored body fat. Stored body fat is affected by the long-term balance between energy intake and energy expenditure. With exercise, the most important factor is the total amount of calories burned up during exercise, regardless of the type of activity. It does not matter if the activity is high- or low-intensity, if you burn a higher number of calories with exercise, you should lose fat in the long run.

   The only advantage that low-intensity exercise might have is if it allows you to exercise for a substantially greater number of minutes than you otherwise would be able.

3. Muscle turns into fat (and vice versa). Muscle cannot turn into fat—they are two separate and distinct tissues. Changes in muscle mass and changes in stored body fat are two separate processes. They can occur simultaneously, which is why some people think they are related.

4. You can "spot-reduce" areas of body fat. This myth has been very resilient over the years. The body stores fat throughout the body as a whole, according to its own genetic pattern. Fat cannot be "toned up" by weight training or calisthenic exercises. Stored body fat must be reduced by increasing calorie expenditure through aerobic exercise and controlling calorie intake. Underlying muscle can be strengthened and toned, and this is beneficial to overall physical fitness, but this will have no direct effect on fat.