Five Surprising Truths About Exercise
You’ve heard it time and time again since you were a child in 
school: you need to exercise. Not only is exercise important for losing – or staying at – a healthy weight, but it’s also essential for keeping your body’s systems in good working order. Don’t try to be a bodybuilding factory. Balancing your health, exercise and diet are all essential.
The thing is that for as many people telling you that exercise is good for you and you really need to get at least a few sweat sessions in each week, there are as many misconceptions about working out. From how much is really to what the best exercises to do might be, there is just too much incorrect information and misconceptions flying around, that you might not know what’s valid information.
Need proof? Consider whether you’ve ever heard any of these myths about exercise:
Myth: If you exercise, you can eat whatever you want.
Truth: Just because you work out doesn’t mean you can indulge in greasy hamburgers and ice cream sundaes every day. The human body only needs a certain number of calories each day to function properly; that number depends on your weight and activity level and the more active you are, in theory, the more calories your body needs.
But calories are only part of the story. You need to eat a balanced diet of healthy foodsto stay healthy. So while running several miles each day or hitting an exercise class a few times a week allows you to eat more food, if you eat the wrong foo
ds, you’ll still gain weight.
Myth: You burn the number of calories the machine says you burn.
Truth: We’ve all seen them: the commercials that claim you’ll burn 800, 900, even 1,000 calories in an hour, or huffed and puffed through an hour on the elliptical machine, observing the calories burned count creep higher. And you might complete a workout thinking “I burned 500 calories; I am unstoppable!” Hang on there, champ. While some estimates may be somewhat accurate, the calorie counters on exercise machines aren’t always 100 percent accurate – and the claims made on exercise program promotions are made using very specific circumstances. The actual number of calories you burn depends on your weight, your exertion level and other factors, so use the calorie meters as a guide, not as a splurging license.
Myth: You have to work out for at least an hour to make it count.
Truth: This might be one of the most pervasive – and damaging – myths about exercise. For years doctors have advised patients to get at least 30 minutes of exercise each day. However, what many people fail to realize is that one 30 minute workout does not make up for being sedentary during the rest of the day. In fact, it’s better for you to break up your workouts throughout the day. Take a ten minute walk in the morning and another in the evening with a bit of dancing in the middle. In fact, by breaking up your exercise throughout the day, you might actually squeeze more in!
Myth: There’s no such thing as too much exercise.
Truth: There is such a thing as too much of a good thing when it comes to exercise. Studies have shown that those who train for extreme events, like marathons, for several years, can actually damage their hearts. If you exercise several hou
rs a day for several years, it can truly harm you. Instead, moderate exercise – up to an hour, several days a week – is enough to keep you in shape when combined with an overall healthy lifestyle.
Myth: Once I reach my goal, I can ease up.
Truth: Sadly, the only way to stay fit and healthy is to stay on top of your exercise routine. You can start to lose endurance and strength after just two days of rest and it’s always faster to gain weight than it is to lose it. That means that even after you’ve reached your goal, you need to keep working out – and you’ll probably need to increase the intensity as well to continue to reap the benefits.
The good news is that’s it’s never too late to start exercising. Start easy, pick an activity you enjoy and try to engage in it at least five days a week. Remember to eat healthy, if you are a female look into femnutrition. Avoid believing the myths about exercise and you’ll find yourself feeling healthy and stronger in no time.
This post was written and contributed by Jackson Morrows. Jackson has been bodybuilding naturally for over ten years. As an all-natural athlete Jackson carefully looks for the most natural supplements to assist in shaping up.
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