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Daily Fit Tip: Don't fall for the myths

Posted on Apr 7th 2008 6:00AM by Maggie Vink

Filed Under: Daily Fit Tip, Fitness

I remember doing the Jane Fonda aerobic workout with my mom when I was a kid. It was on a record. (Wow... I'm really aging myself here.) My mom's ideas of fitness are still roughly from that era. Every once in a while, when I talk to her about exercising she'll pull out a gem like "crunches will do away with belly fat." Umm... no. AOL Body has a slideshow debunking some fitness myths such as:

Muscle turns into fat. Fat and muscle are two completely different tissues and one doesn't turn into the other.
Crunch away ab fat. There's no such thing as spot reducing. Crunches will work your abdominal muscles, but it won't burn away the fat just in your belly area.
High reps rule. When you're trying to lose weight and tone muscles, it is good to choose a weight that's light enough to do higher repetitions. However, if you're picking a weight that's so light you can lift it more than 15 reps, you're probably not getting much benefit from the weight at all.

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Tags: crunches, fitness, myths, spot reducing, SpotReducing, weight lift, WeightLift

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Vishaal 4-07-2008 @ 12:15PM

Well, Madonna's trainer says to never lift anything higher than 3lbs! She said to do a 100 reps everyday of arm exercises and plies (sp?), the ballet squats, and not to use heavy weights...this is how Madonna gets her body (well, partly). I've started doing this, with 10lb weights, for my shoulders and I already see results. Although, it burns like a mother!! haha.

Judy 4-07-2008 @ 11:53AM

As for the first one, I know that's not how it works. At the same time, though, if you are doing cardio and eating better you are probably burning fat, and if you are strength training you are building muscle, and if you are doing both it will be happening at the same time, so it seems accurate. The fat will be disappearing and the muscle appearing. So, not technically accurate, but still, kind of, it makes sense?