Common Weight Training Myths, By: Doug Walker
"Weight training has no aerobic or cardiovascular benefits."
In addition to the increase in strength, researchers found that weight lifting had a beneficial impact on the participants' cardiovascular system. Tests on an exercise treadmill showed that their bodies used oxygen more efficiently after weight training.
"I don't want to get 'too big'." & "Women shouldn't lift weights because they will look like men."
People don't suddenly become "huge" from lifting weights. It takes years of intense training and the proper genetics to become "huge". Lifting weights does not make a woman look like a man, male "androgenic" hormones, naturally occurring or otherwise determine that. Women can, however, develop a shapely and well proportioned physique by lifting weights.
"Doing ab/stomach exercises will trim unwanted pounds from your waist and give you a '6-pack'."
There is no such thing as spot weight reduction. Doing abdominal exercises only strengthens the muscle; it doesn't make fat magically disappear. Too much ab work will only lead to a larger waist. The only way to trim unwanted pounds from your waist (or any other part of your body) is to expend more calories per day through activity than you consume through food.
"Muscle turns to fat when you stop working out. & I want to turn my fat into muscle."
Muscle and fat are two different types of tissues and can no more turn into one another than wood and glass. When muscle tissue is not used it will atrophy, or shrink in size. Typically the neglected muscle becomes surrounded by fat, giving the illusion of turning into fat.
"I want to build long lean muscles."
I give credit to the "info-mercials" for this one. All muscle is lean, and the length is determined by your bone structure and genetics.
"Some exercises are good for "shaping" and some are good for "building mass".
It's not the exercise which determines the type of muscular adaptation. All exercises have the potential to do both. Your diet and training intensity play a role, but genetics are the determining factor in the shape and size of your muscles.
"I have to workout for hours a day."
These workout routines lead to over training; the body cannot recover sufficiently between workouts for real muscular growth to occur. These routines will only work for steroid users. Workouts should last 45 minutes maximum.
"Too old to start lifting weights."
Studies reported in Science News showed that people in their seventies and eighties who began a weight training program showed significant gains in muscle size and strength. Some of the participants in the study who could scarcely walk before the program began could walk easily after the program.
"Short people are stronger, because they don't have as far to go."
The muscle and bones of a taller person or a shorter person are proportional with each other. It is a ignorant idea to think a shorter person has the same size and length muscle as a taller person crammed on their shorter frame.
