10 Things People Get Wrong About Fitness

1. Lifting Weights Makes You Bulky. Yet the fact is, weightlifting on its own does not lead to bodybuilder muscles. Particularly for women, female hormones prevent excess muscle mass. Lifting actually offers several health benefits for your heart, joints and ligaments, metabolism, posture and balance. It also helps increase strength and energy.

2. Longer Workouts Are More Meaningful. Working out harder doesn’t always mean you're working out smarter. Spending hours on the treadmill or lifting weights can cause muscle strain or an overuse injury. This also doesn’t factor in poor form or insufficient equipment, which could lead to injury before you reach your goal.

3. You Can Target Certain Areas. Plenty of workouts claim to target one area of your body. While these routines help build muscle, they likely won’t transform that area in a drastic way. At the same time, focusing strictly on one spot at the expense of other areas does not drive overall change. Target your whole body during a fitness routine. Doing so can help strengthen your muscles and encourage weight loss to produce better overall results.

4. Exercise to Burn Off Food. You can't out-exercise your food choices. For one, exercise accounts for about 15 to 30% of your daily energy expenditure compared to your resting metabolic rate, which uses up to 60 to 75% of energy. Everyone's body varies when it comes to how they burn calories, because it depends on factors such as your weight, lean muscle mass and your activities. Even the time of day can affect how many calories we burn. So it would be hard to even pinpoint how long you would have to work out to burn off a chocolate bar.

5. No Pain No Gain. Pain and soreness should not be used to measure whether you’ve had an effective workout. It can indicate delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS). On the other hand, it could be a sign your muscle tissue has torn. DOMS can last up to 48 hours after you’ve completed a routine and your body eventually adjusts. Yet, if you routinely ignore or push through pain, your muscles regularly feel tight or you’re experiencing mobility issues, you may need to stop or seek medical attention.

6. Morning Workouts Increase Metabolism. Although some people might start their day with a morning workout to feel more alert and increase energy levels, fitness at anytime of day offers the same benefit. In fact, studies have shown that if you’re not a morning person, waking up early to work out can throw off your circadian rhythm, causing you to feel tired and sluggish throughout the day and your metabolism to slow.

7. Pre & Post Workout Snacks. While protein provides energy and helps with muscle recovery, a standard 30-minute workout doesn’t always necessitate snacks before and after. If you notice your stomach grumbling, have a small protein-based snack. Yet a meal from earlier in the day is likely to be sufficient, otherwise you risk consuming extra calories that can contribute to weight gain or cause a plateau.

8. Women Should Lift Lower Weights and do Higher Repetitions than Men. Women worry that lifting weights will bulk them up. But, due to women’s testosterone being lower, without chemical assistance, women cannot achieve extraordinary muscle growth. The typical three-pound lady dumbbells won’t work because the resistance is too low to create a change in the muscle.

9. You Should Stretch Before Exercise. Stretching is something many people just do because they feel they should or someone told them. The conventional wisdom is that stretching elongates the muscle and helps prevent injury. Conversely, stretching before a workout will weaken the muscle by 30%, and the reduced tension may increase the risk of injury. Warm up by walking instead or doing light weights before intense training, and do the stretching after.

10. I Can Reduce Fat in One Area. Spot reduction does not work unfortunately. It all comes down to that pesky layer of fat obscuring those perfectly toned muscles. No matter how many crunches you do, someone with 20% body fat will never have abs like someone with 8% body fat. To lose weight quickly, you’ll need to burn as much fuel as you can with intense exercises like squats, dips, dead lifts and shoulder presses while following a strict diet.