There is a surplus of advice on how to get in the best shape of your life. The main issue here, however, is that said information can be quite bad.
Thus, without further ado, here are 6 exercise misconceptions that you have to know about:
1. Pumping yourself up is all in your head: Well, actually, having some type of pre workout ritual gets your adrenal medulla pumping adrenalin. Moreover, you can trigger the SA node on your heart with psychological anticipation.
2. You should drink a shake during exercise: For most people this is a waste of time and money. Unless you are exercising for more than an hour, which I don’t recommend, you do not need to drink diluted carbohydrates mixed with protein.
3. Your max heart rate can be manipulated: The only thing that can change your hearts maximum rate is how old you are. Other than this, you cannot change your max heart rate by an appreciable degree. But what you can change is your resting heart rate which is an indication of heart health.
4. Low carb diets are the best for fat loss: This is only true for a select minority of people, those with insulin resistance. And keep in mind that low carb within the medical community does not mean no carb. Thus, even if you are insulin resistant, you don’t have to eliminate all carbs from your diet for the best fat loss.
5. Cardio is the best modality for increasing heart health: Cardio definitely does a great job at increasing heart health by making the left ventricle more voluminous. However, strength training also does a great job at increasing the wall size of your heart’s chambers. So include both for maximum heart health.
6. You should not try to isolate specific muscles: If you want to achieve maximum tone is an area of your body, you have to target that specific area. Not only is this common sense, but research has shown that you can increase IGF-1 locally. Even better, reduce overall body fat in addition to your isolation exercises.
There are tomes of information on how to increase fitness and lose weight. Unfortunately, for the average person, separating the wheat from the chaff can be virtually impossible. So take action on this great information sooner rather than later!
