Workout Mythbusters

You may have heard a few of these throughout the years, but not everything everyone tells you is true. Here are some simple explanations for these workout myths:

1. Working out in the morning burns more calories. A calorie burned is a calorie burned and it doesn’t matter if it is done at 5am or 5pm. What is more likely is that if you workout before you head to the office, you will be more apt to workout. Once you get home, you get tired or busy and find yourself coming up with excuses not to head to the gym or go for a run. But if you run 3 miles in the morning or 3 miles in the evening at the exact same pace on the exact same course, you will burn the same calories.

2. Eating junk food makes you fat. Calories make you fat, not the food you consume. If you eat a lot of calories and do not burn it off, you will gain weight. Weight gain comes from more calories in than more calories out—it’s simple math. However, eating junk food is empty calories and will not make you feel full like an apple chock full of fiber. When you eat junk food, you are not satisfying your appetite, so you will eat more. But truthfully, eating junk food isn’t what causes you to balloon a size, it’s simply eating too much—even eating too much healthy food will cause you to gain weight.

3. Lifting weights will cause me to have big muscles (females). Females need to lift excessive amounts of weight for muscles to increase in mass. The typical female will not lift this much doing resistance training. Rather, it is important to incorporate resistance training into your daily workout—you burn more calories and muscle is more compact than fat. So, by lifting weights you can actually decrease your size.

4. Spot training my thighs will cause them to shrink. Spot training isn’t an acceptable means to causing any part of the body to look more “cut” or shapely or become smaller. You must train your entire body through all over resistance training and cardio.

These are just a few of the myths floating out there in the fitness world. Remember that proper training and diet are the best modes possible for getting your body and mind into great shape.