More Myths About Exercise

6. You should exercise less as you get older

The worry of falling usually scares people into exercising and moving around less. The problem with doing less with age is that the ability to move diminishes. Increasing exercise helps to maintain muscle mass, bone density, and keeps mobility in working order. It also decreases the risk of developing illness, heart disease, and diabetes.

7. Exercise will make you skinny

Unfortunately, exercise alone does not make you skinny. Lots of people exercise for years and are unable to lose weight. Interested in getting skinny? Good nutrition is the main battle. You can't chase a bad diet with exercise, because when it comes to losing weight, nutrition is 80 percent responsible.

8. Walking regularly will prevent osteoporosis in women

A lot of women engage in walking, gardening and other light physical activities with the impression that it prevents and stops the progression of osteoporosis. In reality, only weight bearing exercises have an effect on bone density. If you are considered high risk for developing osteoporosis, it is a good time to start lifting weights- and not those 3lbs- we're talking lifting challenging weights, with 8 to 10 repetitions to fully benefit.

9. People who exercise a lot can eat more junk and still look good

Again, this is a crazy myth which a lot of fit people have to deal with. Just because a person is fit, it doesn't mean they can get away with eating junk. Most people who exercise regularly and look fit are either genetically predisposed to having a fast metabolism, or in most cases, tend to eat very healthy foods, and are concerned with good nutrition.

That is to say that the process of getting fit goes hand in hand with eating clean foods, and eating healthy portion sizes.

10. The main benefit of exercise is weight loss 

This was touched upon above. Even if your motivation to hit the gym and exercise is to lose weight, this is not the most prominent benefit of exercise. The greatest benefits are the primary ones. Increased strength, balance, coordination, metabolism, libido, aerobic capacity, and decreased health risks, blood pressure, sleeping problems, and more.

Don't let these myths catch you off guard. There are many fantastic benefits of exercising which often get lost with people wanting to see their physical results before anything else. You are far better off knowing why you are exercising, the differences you'll see, and how to make the most of your exercise routine!