Infographic: Busting the fitness myths for a better physical health

Posted on August 31, 2015

Our physical health is as important as everything else we do every day: go to work, eat breakfast on time, say hello to a friend…. Joseph Addison said: “Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.” This quote perfectly summarizes what we are about to discuss in this blog post. Today, we have so many different fitness programs and regimes available, and they can all help us have fun, relax, and shape the body perfectly, and improve our physical and mental health at the same time. But almost all fitness programs come along with many fitness myths that claim these programs as inappropriate or bad. People often tend to accept or believe these fitness myths easily, taking them to be facts, and that’s the reason they avoid working out.

“As an orthopedic surgeon and sports enthusiast, I often get asked about the pros and cons of different workout routines, programs, exercises… I always try to thoroughly explain what people should and shouldn’t avoid when working out. It is extremely important that I help them understand how they can properly do all physical activities without getting any knee injuries, shoulder injuries, or getting their muscles in a terrible pain,” says Dr. Armin Tehrany, leading orthopedic surgeon at Manhattan Orthopedic Care.

First, let’s see why do you need to have a fitness program on your daily menu. The list of benefits of regular physical activities is endless. But if we have to pick out the top 5, the list would look like this:

• Exercising helps you control your weight and boosts weight loss. By being physically active you burn calories, and the more intense your activity is, the more calories you burn.
• You improve your overall health. Regular physical actives reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and metabolic syndrome, or even some cancers.
• Being physically active improves your mood. When you exercise your brain is stimulated by endorphin, which creates feelings of happiness and euphoria.
• Your energy levels are hugely increased. When you exercise the oxygen and the nutrients are delivered to your tissues which helps your cardiovascular system work more efficiently.
• It’s a stress reliever. A quick workout can reduce the stress and boost your body’s ability to deal with mental tension.

Having all these benefits in mind can help you better understand the importance of fitness and help you overcome the most rumored fitness myths. The Infographic we share with you, created by Health Central has the greatest fitness myths busted. Read carefully!  

Fitness Myths: Busted

Myth #1. Running on a treadmill puts less stress on your knees than running on pavement. Running on a treadmill promotes muscle imbalances and hurts your ability to run on pavement. When you run on a treadmill, the rotating belt pulls your feet back as you run, and runners may subconsciously shift their strides which can put extra stress on their knees. Myth #2. If you are not sweating, you are not working hard enough. Sweating is your body’s way of regulating its temperature. If you’re not sweating during your workout, it may be because you just have fewer sweat glands than others. The best way to see if you’re working hard enough is by measuring your heart rate during your workout. Myth #3. No pain, no gain. Your body does not need to hurt for you to get a quality workout. The fact is the pain is not an indicator of success or results. The goal is to challenge your muscles, but not to the point that they hurt. You are not supposed to feel any pain during your workout; if this does happen you are either doing something wrong or pushing your body too hard or too quickly. Pain can often be a warning sign of a torn tendon or ligament. Myth #4. Lifting weights makes you ‘bulky’. Women will avoid lifting weights because they are afraid they will turn out looking like the Incredible Hulk. The fact is when it comes to increasing muscle size, testosterone is key. Those women with bulky muscles spend hours training for that kind of body and take hormone imbalance or enhancement supplements. Myth #5. Doing crunches and ab workouts will get rid of belly fat. You can do as many crunches as you want, but you still might not get a six-pack. If you have a high percentage of body fat, your abs will be covered with fat. In order to visibly get abs, you need to first reduce your overall body fat by increasing your cardio and adjusting your diet. Since we busted some of the most rumored fitness myths, we hope that we encouraged you to start your working out regularly. Make sure you don’t fall into the trap of these or any other fitness myths. Your body and your health will be thankful 🙂