20 January 2011

The Two Great Myths of Exercises Busted

Join the conversation
8

Overall Canberrens are what I feel a fit city. Every day you see people riding push bikes to work, jogging around the lake or hitting one of the many fitness facility or services available to us. But what I also see are people doing the same thing over and over aging and not changing shape. The myths below may help you think a little more about what you are doing and why?

Myth number one: Spot training a body part to reduce its size. The number one reason why people do sit ups is to get a flat belly. Sit ups can in fact make your tummy protrude as the contracting muscle is a surface muscle. You need to address the inner workings of the whole core to strengthen this muscle in aiding it to pull tighter toward your spin giving you the appearance of a falter stomach. Where you lose weight from comes down to genetics.

Myth number two: High intensity cardio training is the most effective way to shed unwanted kilos. All good exercises regimes should include cardio, but it’s not the only factor when it comes to weight loss. Our body needs a variety of exercises. The online dictornay.com’s definition of cardiovascular is: adjective Anatomy. of, pertaining to, or affecting the heart and blood vessels. In a nut shell card training helps our heart to strengthen and become more affective at its job. Don’t get me wrong cardio does burn calories, but we need to include other methods of training, such as weight bearing exercises. The more muscle mass we have the more energy at rest we expend, as muscle requires more fuel throughout the day than fat.

So what can you do? Eat a balance diet of non process foods and exercise 3-5 times per week for 30-45 minutes, doing a mix of cardio and weights to improve muscle tone and all over body shape.

Tanya Gendle

Join the conversation

8
All Comments
  • All Comments
  • Website Comments
LatestOldest

and the most difficult task is to stop those delicious,attractive,yummy PIZZAs :p

I’m with Lin 🙂 For me it’s also about challenging myself in terms of speed, time endurance etc. I can now ride up all three hills on my way home from work without stopping at the bottom or halfway up on any of them. I conquered the last (and hardest one) yesterday so am feeling very pleased with myself 🙂

Don’t forget that Dr Rudi says, “Eat Less!” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-jy3OtZAss

The age old gym floor catch phrase comes to mind.

“Shut up and train”

I got another myth. That you can ‘tone’ muscle. Tone it to what? B sharp minor? Muscle can hypertrophy or atrophy, increase or decrease in mitochondrial number and density, increase or decrease in capillary profusion . . . all responses to either stimulus (exercise) or charteristics of reversability (watching Oprah eating corn chips). All of those peripheral adaptations (or reversals) have an impact on metabolic rate. Central adaptations such as increased left ventricular volume and ejection and increased avioli contributing to higher potential O2 saturations are a handy adjunct.

But, ‘tone’ for a muscle?

Er . . . Nup.

(Don’t start me on ‘upper’ and ‘lower’ abs either. Things will get unpretty when folk have a problem with A) the rules of the universe B) the manner of function of rubber bands C) human anatomy D) the parrallels demonstratable with A, B and C).

Umm, OK. Thanks for that.

Oh yeah, eat less fried chicken too.

Why do you assume that people excercise to change shape? I ride my bike to work to keep my cardiovascular system healthy so I can hopefully make it to my 80s. I’m trying to gain weight and couldn’t care less about muscle tone.

Daily Digest

Want the best Canberra news delivered daily? Every day we package the most popular Riotact stories and send them straight to your inbox. Sign-up now for trusted local news that will never be behind a paywall.

By submitting your email address you are agreeing to Region Group's terms and conditions and privacy policy.