Unfortunately, there are lots of fitness myths floating around. Below are four myths that keep persisting and can possibly affect your workout adversely.
This is a fitness and weight loss myth that has been swimming around for quite a while.
Here’s why: After a full night’s rest, your muscles’ supply of fuel in the form of glycogen, which is stored glucose, is greatly depleted. Not only do your muscles run on glucose, but so does your brain. Working out on an empty stomach can impair muscle function, because after using up any glycogen, the body generally uses muscle tissue for energy. Since you’re working out to build lean muscle mass, you don’t want to use it as fuel. Eat a banana before your morning workout so you don’t “hit the wall.”
Myth #2: You burn significantly more calories if you walk or run holding hand weights.
This is a piece of fitness fiction as well.
Here’s why: Moving your own body weight through space when running and walking will create enough effort to burn calories. Holding weights will only slow you down, decreasing your aerobic output and calories burned. Plus, holding weights can put you at risk for upper body injury and could affect your gait, leading to an overuse injury caused by improper form. If you want a more intense workout, run or walk faster or go for a longer period of time.
Myth #3: You should always stretch before cardio and weight training.
Here’s why: A cold muscle will tear much more easily than a warm one. Warming up for any fitness activity is important — try a dynamic warmup, but stretching is best saved for after your workout when your muscles are primed for flexibility training.
This is unfortunately fiction.
Here’s why: When you work out, your cells are essentially working out too. Post exercise, the cells need to restore their functioning to pre-exercise levels and that requires oxygen, which takes energy, aka calories. This cell restoration burns calories, but at the most the amount is 15 percent of the total amount of calories burned. So if you burned 300 calories actively exercising at the gym, you will burn about an extra 45 calories over the next two hours.
[via Fitsugar]
