By Staff
Question of the week: I have heard that you need to do many crunches to obtain a flat stomach. I do a couple hundred a night, but I do not see any difference. What am I doing wrong?
Myths in fitness. There are many of them that I still hear and see people doing everyday! Let's look at some of them!
Myth one: To have a flat stomach do crunches. If you are one of the lucky ones and have a flat stomach and just want to tone it, then crunches are the thing for you. But if you are like most of us, crunches will not touch the problem. Crunches will tone the muscles in your stomach; they will not do a thing for the flab. You could have the most muscular stomach, but never see it because you have not lost the fat. The way to lose the excess fat is to expend more fuel than you take in. Try cardiovascular workouts and cut back on the "couple hundred crunches". Just think, 50 sit-ups only burns about 10-15 calories. If you were to briskly walk for a half-hour, you could burn off 200 calories. This leads me to the next Myth:
Myth two: To lose weight in my hips just work on that area. Sorry guys, but that does not happen. You cannot determine were you will lose fat. It has been said that the first place you put it on is the last place it comes off. It also has to do with genetics. Miriam Nelson, an exercise scientist and author of Strong Women Stay Slim states clearly, "Try as you might, you simply can't direct your body to lose pounds in a specific area." I have heard it said before that if so called "spot-reduction" worked, people who eat too much would have thin faces. A person needs to stay with a balanced diet and an appropriate workout schedule!
Myth three: I only have to do cardiovascular exercise for my body to burn calories even after the workout. Aerobic exercise will keep burning calories only for a short while after the workout. To burn calories while you are resting you need to be on a weight lifting program. Two to three times of lifting a week could give you a pound of muscle every month or two. A pound of muscle will eat up 35 to 40 extra calories daily.
Myth Four: Strength training will make women too bulky. Women do not have enough testosterone to create big, bulky muscles. You would have to work really hard at it if that is how you wanted to look. A person would have to spend hours doing very specific workouts to achieve huge female bulk. A female will not necessarily bulk up they will actually get smaller. A pound of muscle is more dense then a pound of fat. "Fat is bulky and jiggly, muscle is sleek and trim," states Nelson. Nelson's studies show that women who lift weights, even those who lift vigorously, will gain three to five pounds of muscle and lose equal fat. Do not get discouraged if the scale does not drop, most women will still drop a dress size or two.
Myth Five: If you stop lifting weights, your muscle will turn to fat. If a person lifts weights and is toned then stops, yes they will lose that muscle. But their muscle does not turn into fat, nor does fat turn into muscle. Muscle cells are muscle cells and fat cells are fat cells. Take for instance a professional football player. After they retire you may see some of them loose their muscular bulk. Why is this? When people, like football players, stop using the muscles they have built, their muscle fibers start to shrink. This means that they are burning fewer calories at rest.
These are just a few of the myths that pertain to fitness. Before you believe what you hear, ask someone who knows about this subject! Look at all the women who have not been lifting weights because they thought they would become too bulky. Lifting weights is a great deterrent for osteoporosis, which is a huge problem for many women.
Thought of the week: Believe 10 percent of what you hear and 50 percent of what you see!
Do not forget to sign up for Adult Volley League and Kids for Spring Fling.