Exercise Mythbusters
1. I am skinny, so I don’t need to exercise.
Skinny people may have just as much fat (or more) than overweight or average people. Fat can be stored on organs throughout the body, including the liver, kidneys, heart and more.
Therefore, just because you may appear to be skinny on the outside does not necessarily mean that you are skinny on the inside. Hydrostatic density testing is the most accurate way to measure your body fat. In this process, you will be submerged in a pool of water. The amount of displaced water will help to accurately determine your overall body fat.
2. Drinking coffee raises my metabolism enough – so why exercise?
Coffee raises the metabolism by about 11.4%. However, in order for coffee to have an impact on your metabolism to the degree that it would impact your weight-loss, you would have to drink coffee constantly throughout the day. The negative effects of so much caffeine in your system would outweigh any possible weight loss effects. Plus, you would not improve your muscle strength, endurance, or cardiovascular health simply by drinking coffee.
3. I walk for thirty minutes every day. That’s all the exercise I need.
Walking for thirty minutes every day is a great way to get physical activity. Physical activity, of any sort, will help to increase your circulation and burn calories. However, if you only walk for thirty minutes a day, you are most likely not building fat-burning muscle or improving your endurance.
Therefore, you may not actually be getting the kind of exercise that would help you lose weight and improve your overall health in a substantial way. However, if the only kind of exercise that you can do now is a thirty-minute walk, then do it, but have plans to increase your regimen to include weight lifting and something that gets your heart rate up, such as biking or jogging.
4. I don’t go to the gym, so it’s hard to get a weighted workout.
Even without the gym, you can get a weighted workout. Not having a gym membership (or not wanting to go to the gym) is not an excuse to skip the weighted workout. Weighted workouts are important because when you work with weights, you build muscle, which helps to increase your strength and raise your metabolism.
A weighted workout is any kind of workout that requires you to actually put stress on your muscles, such as squats, pushups, sit-ups, and calf raises. In order to improve overall strength, it is important to do a weighted workout at least three times a week for about thirty minutes (or for the duration of your favorite evening sitcom).
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