In
a recent Op-Ed piece in The New York Times, Martina Navratilova decried one
of sport's most persistent myths - that women lack stamina and endurance.
That's why their tennis matches are limited to three sets, while men's
matches can go five sets. Actually, the physiological differences that make
men more muscular than women confer no edge in endurance. Women can exercise
at least as hard and long as men can. And they recover from a grueling
workout significantly faster than men do.
While scientists and female
athletes are finally laying that myth to rest, other antiquated notions
about exercise have stubbornly persisted - and new misconceptions keep
popping up. Such incorrect notions can discourage you from exercising or
lead you to waste time, effort, or money on workouts that don't really work.
They can even harm your health. Here are the facts about 10 unfounded fears,
negative notions, and false hopes about working out.
Myth
#1: While light exercise does yield some
benefits, it's not nearly as beneficial as strenuous exercise.
Truth:
Strenuous workouts do improve aerobic capacity far more than light or
moderate workouts do. While that 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
#2: You can lose fat from specific parts of
your body by exercising those spots.
look thinner by helping you hold in your gut.
Myth
#3: 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 prevent sweat
from evaporating and, in turn, cooling you off.
Myth
#4: 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 much 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
#5: Aerobic exercise tends to make you hungry,
so it actually undermines your efforts to lose weight.
Myth
#6: 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
#7: 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
#8: 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
#9: 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.)
Myth
#10: 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. |
