TRUTHS and MYTHS
by
Danial Samar
Myth #1: You can lose fat from specific parts
of your body by exercising those spots.
Truth: There is no such thing as "spot
reduction". When you exercise, you use energy produced by
burning fat in all parts of your body - not just around the muscles
that are doing most of the work. In fact, your genes may dictate
where that fat disappears from, say, your face or arms before
your belly, even if you do endless abdominal exercises. However,
working a specific region like the belly can have a benefit: Strengthening
the muscles can make you look thinner by helping you hold in your
gut.
Myth #2: While light exercise does yield some
benefits, it is not nearly as beneficial as strenuous exercise.
Truth: Strenuous workouts do improve aerobic
capacity far more than light or moderate workouts do. While they
may improve athletic performance, it does not necessarily translate
into a great health advantage. The death rates from coronary heart
disease, cancer, and all causes combined are much lower in moderate
exercisers than in non exercisers; but they're only a little lower
in heavy exercisers than in moderate exercisers. The same holds
true for the risk of developing type II diabetes, by far the most
common kind.
In addition, non strenuous exercise seems to reduce stress,
anxiety, and blood pressure as effectively as strenuous exercise
does. And moderate exercise like walking can do just as much to
control weight as vigorous exercise like jogging, since the number
of calories burned depends on how much ground you cover, not how
fast you cover it. In fact, moderate exercise is potentially more
effective than vigorous for most people, since they can walk much
further than they can run.
Myth #3: Sports drinks can help you exercise
more safely and effectively.
Truth: Sports drinks contain two main ingredients
that are theoretically beneficial for exercisers: Sodium, which
helps the body retain water, and sugar, which the body burns for
energy. But very few people exercise hard enough to sweat away
enough sodium or to use up their carbohydrate reserves, which
the body converts to sugar. You'd have to jog for at least two
hours, for example, before your carbohydrate stores would start
to run low. So unless you're doing a marathon or other exhaustive
exercise, plain water is all you need.
Myth #4: The more you sweat during exercise,
the more fat you lose.
Truth: The harder you work out, the more calories
you'll burn within a given period and thus the more fat you stand
to lose. But how much you sweat does not necessarily reflect how
hard you're working. Some people tend to sweat profusely due to
heavy body weight, poor conditioning, or heredity. And everyone
sweats more in hot, dry weather or dense clothing than in cool,
humid weather or porous clothing. (You may feel as if you're sweating
more in humid weather; but that's because moist air slows the
evaporation of sweat.) Exercising in extremely hot weather or
in a plastic "weight loss" suit will indeed make you
sweat heavily and lose weight immediately. But that lost weight
is almost entirely water; the pounds will return when you replenish
your fluids by drinking after the workout. Further, you could
develop heat exhaustion if you push yourself too hard in extreme
heat or in plastic clothes. Which prevents sweat from evaporating
and, in turn, cooling you off.
Myth #5: Strength training won't help you get
thinner, since it burns few calories and adds pounds of muscle.
Truth: Strength training, using either weights, machines, or
elastic bands, can substantially increase the number of calories
you burn. A typical session, in which you rest briefly after each
muscle building maneuver, uses up calories at least as fast as
walking does. Circuit training, in which you move quickly from
one strengthening maneuver to the next, burns calories faster
than walking does. And your body continues to burn calories for
hours after either type of strength training. More important,
the muscle you build consumes calories more rapidly, even when
you're not exercising.
In one study, three months of strength training boosted the average
calorie-burning rate by an average of 7 percent, burned off 4
pounds of fat, and added nearly that much muscle. Since muscle
is denser than fat, the volunteers presumably did become thinner.
Equally important, they burned off that fat despite a 15 percent
increase in their calorie content. If the researchers hadn't prodded
them to maintain their weight by eating more than they felt like
eating, the volunteers almost surely would have lost weight. Strength
training is particularly helpful as part of a comprehensive weight-loss
program that includes both aerobic exercise. Which burns lots
of calories during the workout and some calories after the workout
and a moderately low-calorie diet (forget crash diets, which almost
always never work and can be dangerous). A recent study found
that women who ate a moderately restrictive diet and did either
strength training or aerobic exercise lost more weight than those
who only dieted. But those who split their workout time between
strength training and aerobic exercise lost the most weight of
all.
Myth #6: Aerobic exercise tends to make you hungry,
so it actually undermines your efforts to lose weight.
Truth: Aerobic exercise, such as jogging or brisk walking, may
indeed increase your appetite - but only, it seems, if you need
extra calories. Studies suggest that lean individuals do get hungrier
after such exercise; that helps prevent them from getting too
thin. In contrast, working out does not seem to boost appetite
in obese individuals; so exercise should help them slim down.
Myth #7: When you stop exercising, your muscles
turn to fat.
Truth: Lack of exercise does make the muscles shrink, reducing
the body's calorie-burning rate. The lack of activity itself further
reduces the number of calories you burn. So people who stop working
out are indeed in danger of getting flabby. But that doesn't mean
that muscle actually turns to fat - they're totally different
types of tissue. Nor does it mean you're doomed to gain fat around
the muscles after you stop exercising; you just need to cut back
on the calories you consume (Of course, the best way to stay slim
is to eat a lean diet and continue to exercise regularly).
Myth #8: Strength training builds muscle and
bone but does nothing for the heart.
Truth: Strength training plus aerobic exercise may be the ideal
exercise regimen not only for the waistline but also for the heart.
One analysis of 11 clinical trials found that strength training
can reduce levels of LDL cholesterol, the artery clogging kind
(though it has little effect on HDL cholesterol, the artery-clearing
kind). Aerobic exercise has a complimentary benefit: It improves
HDL but does little for LDL. Further, some studies suggest that
strength training, like aerobic exercise, may help reduce blood
pressure (But check with your doctor for guidance before starting
a muscle-building program if you have hypertension, since straining
can temporarily increase blood pressure). One final benefit: By
fortifying the muscles, strength training reduces the likelihood
that sudden or unaccustomed exertion, such as moving furniture
or shoveling snow, will trigger a heart attack.
Myth #9: Strength training tends to give women
a bulky, masculine physique.
Truth: It's very difficult for most women to build large muscles.
That's because women have relatively low levels of the hormone
testosterone, which influences muscle growth. Both men and women
can build firmer rather than bulkier muscles by working against
lighter resistance more than 25 times rather than heavier resistance
fewer times.
Myth #10: Building muscles reduces flexibility.
Truth: If you strength train without moving your joints through
their full range of motion, you can indeed lose flexibility. But
strength training can actually improve flexibility if you do move
your joints fully. Stretch after a muscle-building workout to
help keep yourself limber (stretch before as well as after an
aerobic workout).
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