The Top 5 Fitness Myths

There are so many myths about fitness – untruths that seem to continue to get buzz no matter how often they are debunked. In the spirit of ditching the fiction in order to drop the weight, I’ve isolated 5 of the most stubborn fitness myths still making the circuit, along with advice that’ll get your workout on track for success. Each myth has been around as long as I can remember. Each myth has also been debunked for as long as I can remember, yet, myth by myth – each one prevails.

Spot Reduction Myth The plain truth is there is no way to spot-reduce body fat from a specific area. Fat is burned from body areas in genetically pre-determined patterns that have no relationship to the exercises or muscles being used. So no matter how many crunches or triceps kickbacks you do, the excess body fat in your abdomen or upper arms may not budge.

Muscle Turns to Fat Myth This is one of my favorites. The idea that one type of biological tissue (aka muscle) can miraculously turn into a completely different type of biological tissue (aka fat) is far fetched to say the least. Nevertheless, there are still a lot of people who believe this can happen. Muscle does not turn to fat, nor does fat turn to muscle. However the saying “use it or lose it” is very true when it comes to muscle. If you are not engaging in some sort of physical activity to prevent this It will atrophy, and usually as a result you will gain some body fat.

Sweating Equals Weight Loss Sweating is your body’s way of regulating its temperature. As the water evaporates from your skin it creates a cooling effect. This has nothing to do with weight loss especially body fat loss. It may contribute slightly to weight loss in the form of losing water weight, but this is usually reversed when you re-hydrate after a workout. Excessive sweating while working out can actually be dangerous due to the possibility of dehydration. Some people will start to sweat with just a mention of working out while others can go crazy in the gym without a sign of the slightest bead. It does not impact weight loss one way or the other. Another very important note on this is that sitting in a sauna or steam room not only won’t help you lose weight but it is not a form of exercise.

Cardio For Weight Loss More and more professionals are coming around to the idea that long duration steady-state cardio or as I like to call it, the “hamster on the wheel” type workouts, are really not that efficient. As an alternative, higher intensity intervals are a great way to reduce the time while cranking up the caloric burn. Another terrific option is strength/cardio cross-training where you are performing bouts of weight lifting with cardio-esque bodyweight moves like jumping jacks and squat thrusts. Yet another change-up is trading in your boring 60-min treadmill trek for 20 minutes of a high-energy game of soccer, volleyball, or basketball. Take your pick and start seeing results.

Fat Burning Zones Step on any piece of cardiovascular equipment, and once you have figured how to turn it on, you will most likely be asked to choose the type of program you want to perform. A standard choice has always been something called the “fat burning zone.” You may also see a diagram telling you the spectrum of intensity where your specific fat burning zone is, giving you the impression that fat is only burned when you are exercising in this magical zone. Truth is, you are burning fat all the time, even while you sit and watch TV. The concept behind these fat burning zones is that you will burn more fat calories by staying at a lower intensity – something these machines profess to help you carefully dial in.

Although the principle might be true, the part most people don’t understand is that the total number of calories is more important, even if a higher amount comes from carbs. Ultimately, you will burn both more calories in total and more calories from fat, with a higher intensity, and most likely this can happen at a shorter duration. So forget the fat burning zones and go for the great overall caloric burn.

EPOC- Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption

Do you know how many calories you burn during a workout? How about after your workout? After a tough workout instead of being tired have you ever felt totally energised? Maybe you are still sweating a little (or a lot) even after a shower. Why is this?

Some people call it the after-burn or a workout high. It’s actually called the Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption or EPOC. Technically EPOC is the increased oxygen consumed after strenuous exercise or activity to reduce the oxygen debt created by said exercise or activity resulting in caloric expenditure. In layman’s terms this means the additional calories you burn after exercise while your body is recovering back to it’s normal resting state.

Due to these extra calories being burned because of this “after-burn”, your EPOC can play a very significant role in weight loss.

When we exercise we are utilizing a massive amount more of oxygen than normal, our heart rate and body temperature can greatly increase, we are burning a lot more glycogen from both the muscle cells and blood stores, and we are producing more by-products. So after exercise we need to stock back up on the oxygen and glycogen we have used, reduce our body temp and heart rate, and deal with those by-products. All of this post-exercise work requires energy and this is where EPOC comes in.

The amount of calories burned post-exercise depends on the amount of oxygen consumed during EPOC and how long it lasts. The research is a little vague with studies showing it can last as long as 24 hours or as little as 90 minutes. The amount of post-exercise oxygen consumed can also vary greatly from person to person and is dependent on a number of factors including the person’s level of fitness and type of training. We do know that EPOC is present after both cardiovascular exercise and strength or resistance training. We also know that one factor that can have a big effect on EPOC is workout intensity. The amount of EPOC is directly related to the intensity of your workout. Both heavy strength training workouts and high intensity interval style training have been shown to have the greatest effect on EPOC.

Here are some tips to help maximize your EPOC:

Add Some Intervals – instead of just aimlessly plodding away on the treadmill watching some reality TV show, shake up your cardio by throwing in some high intensity intervals. Not only will they help you burn more calories while you are performing them, they can also crank up your EPOC levels, not to mention make running on a treadmill just a little less boring.

Lift Heavy – put down those pink neoprene hands weights and start lifting some real iron. Choose weights that make it difficult (but not impossible) to complete 8-10 reps. For the women who are afraid they will turn into a female Arnold Schwarzenegger overnight, don’t worry you won’t. For the guys who wish they could turn into Arnold overnight, sorry it isn’t that easy. Some studies have shown that heavy resistance training can have an even greater overall effect on EPOC than aerobic or cardiovascular exercise.

Reduce Your Rest – Another simple yet highly effective way to increase your EPOC is to reduce your rest intervals in between sets while working out. Instead of taking 1-2 mins between sets, cut it down to 45 secs, and use a timer to keep you on track. Shorter rest basically gives you less time for recovery thus requiring more time after the workout to replenish the overall oxygen consumed during the workout.

One very important point to remember is that while intensity is a key factor in determining the size or amount of EPOC, you still need to adhere to the basic principles of rest and recovery in between workouts. You can’t go all guns blazing every workout trying to rev up your EPOC and expect to see big results. There must be a balance between high intensity workouts and adequate rest and recovery.

Sweating the Weight Off or Not!

It is still a common misconception that sweating is a legitimate weight loss tactic. This is not only a very big myth but also a potentially dangerous one.

Sweating or perspiring is a thermoregulation process where the sweat glands produce fluid, mainly water and some dissolved solids, that appears on the skin. This fluid is then evaporated creating a cooling effect on body.

As a body gets warm, receptors in the skin send information to the hypothalamus in the brain which then activates sweat glands. Sweating is generally induced by an increase in body temperature due to either weather or activity. It can also be induced by nausea, fever and even nervousness.

The idea that you can lose weight simply by sweating has a small grain of truth. A person can lose about 1 liter of sweat per hour during exercise. A liter of water weighs approx. 2.2lbs, therefore it is technically possible to lose weight due to sweating. The caveat is that this is purely water weight and you will gain it all back once you rehydrate after exercise.

A number of sports such as wrestling and boxing have used extreme sweating as a way to “make weight” for competition. This is usually done just before a bout for the weigh-in. Fighters have been known to drop as much as 10lbs in a day. Then they show up to the bout after adding all this weight right back on. This type of severe weight fluctuation can be potentially dangerous and even fatal.

Saunas and steam rooms really gained popularity in gym facilities and spas in the 1980s. This led to a glut of people sitting around in pools of sweat (both their own and other people’s) thinking that they were amazingly shedding weight. Another popular weight loss fad were PVC sweat suits and the cheaper garbage bag or cling wrap versions. These gained a certain degree of prominence in some jogging circles. Thankfully both trends have mostly subsided, although you will still see the odd disillusioned sole plodding along in their rubber “sweatsuits.”

Another trend or fad, depending on how you look at it, has been Bikram yoga. This is a specific style of yoga practiced in a room heated to 105ºF. Although the founder of this yoga style has claimed performing it in this heated environment has many benefits, it is probably safe to say one of the main reasons for it’s rise in popularity is due to the fact that practitioners believe they are losing more weight during the class because they are sweating more.

If sweating really did help with weight loss, couldn’t a person just lie on the beach in the sun, sweating the pounds off without having to lift a finger? Or why couldn’t they exercise at a very low level in a very hot environment and sweat profusely? The answer is that the amount a person sweats has no real correlation with the amount of weight they can permanently lose.

If you are exercising, and sweating as a result of the exercise, and not a hot environment, then chances are you are doing a certain level of work and therefore you are burning some calories. But you do not have to be drenched in sweat to have performed a hard workout.

Excessive sweating can be a potentially dangerous situation especially if left untreated. The loss of a lot of fluid due to sweating can lead to dehydration, dizziness, heatstroke and even certain cardiovascular conditions. Along with the water loss there is also a loss of certain electrolytes which, if excessive can lead to kidney damage. Every year there are a few isolated cases of fatalities due massive water loss from sweating.

On a side note it has been shown that dehydration slows the use of fat as a fuel and inhibits weight loss.

Denmark imposes a “fat tax”

Although a number of other European countries already have higher tax rates for soft drinks, alcohol and tobacco products, this is thought to be the world’s first tax on fat. It targets foods that contain saturated fat with a surcharge of approximately $2.90 to be added each 2.2 lbs of fat in a product.

The tax is aimed at reducing the consumption of foods that contain high levels of saturated fat, which has been known to increase the risk of heart disease. But because the tax applies equally to any food containing saturated fat, several groups in the food industry are not happy. Certain industries like the country’s dairy farmers say their products are now being placed in the same category as fast food.

Other groups feel the government may have taken this one step too far. There is a sense from some Danes that “big brother” should not be interfering or telling them how much fat they can consume.

The government claims that this tax will not only help to increase general public health but will also reduce public health care costs. Denmark’s statistics show that only about 10% of the population is obese, compared to approximately 33% in the U.S. One of the reasons for this low obesity rate is that Denmark introduced a number of policies and regulations in their food industry over the years to curb such things as the amount of trans fats and sugars allowed in foods.

Would this “Fat Tax” work in the U.S.? Seeing that we have yet to pass a tax on soda or other sugary drinks, I guess the simple answer is –not a chance.

Fast-Food Linked to Depression

A recent study out of the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria shows that people who eat fast food are 51% more likely to develop depression.
The researchers studied 8,964 people over a six-month period. None of the participants had been previously diagnosed with depression or had taken anti-depressants. Yet at the end of the study, 493 were diagnosed with depression or had started taking anti-depressants.
The study showed that people who ate fast food were more likely to be single, with poor dietary habits and less likely to be active. They also tended to smoke and work longer hours per week. It also revealed that the more fast food a person ate, the higher their risk to develop depression.
This new study supports a similar one performed in 2011 where 12,059 people were also studied over a six-month period. In that study, a 42% increase in risk for depression was found.
While little is known about the relationship between diet and depression, studies such as these are revealing some of the effects of certain foods or diets on mental health.
Source
http://www.sciencedaily.com