No matter how many times they’re debunked some fitness myths just refuse to go away. Here are five of the most stubborn ones you can dismiss immediately.
1. Sweat
The myth: the more you sweat, the more calories you burn.
Wrong.
If you want to burn more calories, you have to work harder, not sweat more. Instead of sweat, focus on increasing your heartbeat and breathing rate.
2. Lift Weights to Tone
The myth: If you lift heavy weights, you’ll gain too much muscle.
Actually, you’d have to spend hours upon hours lifting heavy weights to gain the kind of muscle most women covet. Even then, most women don’t have the endocrine support to gain that much muscle.
3. Flat Abs
The myth: If you want flat abs, you need to work your abs daily.
Abs need to recover just as much as any other muscle in your body. A balanced diet will do much more for your abs than hundreds of crunches every day.
4. Pilates
The myth: Pilates makes muscles longer.
Actually, nothing makes muscles “longer” without also extending your skeleton. But that doesn’t mean you can’t make your muscles leaner with things like Pilates and yoga.
5. Fat Burning Zone
The myth: There’s a magic heart rate zone that causes you to lose more fat per unit of time.
If you’re dead set on burning calories, you need to work harder. There’s no magic to it. Mix up endurance training with high-intensity cardio for best results.
