Exercise and common myths.
Overtime, great amount of information about exercise and in general  physical activity has been built up on the internet. Plenty of guidelines and articles are available in books and newspapers, since people are getting more sensitized to fitness and health issues. However, some pieces of information are not accurate or they may be contradicting to each other, causing confusion and misconceptions to the reader. In this page we will try to put things in order by making clear what is true and what a myth is, regarding exercise. Nowadays, a lot of sciences, like pathology, physiology and geriatrics, deal with issues related to physical activity and fitness. Thus, plenty of information is released quite often. The problem is that although in many cases this information is based on solid evidence, sometimes lacks adequate documentation and leads to premature conclusions.
We commit ourselves that this page will be updated as soon as new reliable announcements come to the surface of publicity. Now let’s
proceed to
the issues that follow.
 The best time for exercising is after meals. Perhaps some slow,
easy-going
walking is acceptable but nothing more demanding than that. After a meal, a lot of blood is required in the digestive system. In fact, the reason why many people get sleepy after a meal is that the brain does not get enough blood to be fully functional. Laborious physical activity after a meal will cause a lot of strain on your heart by increasing the blood demand in your muscles, when this amount of blood is needed for digestion in the gastrointestinal track.
Exercising certain parts of the body will reduce the topical fat in this area. This is not true. When our body gets more energy from foods than the needed amounts, fat accumulates in certain areas, like hips, neck and around the waist. When we consume more energy than we get, because of either increased physical activity, low caloric intake or both, the procedure works the other way around and the fat sheds equally from all of the parts of our body. There is no exercise whatsoever that affects just the local fat.
Drinking water just before a training session will cause muscle cramps. This is absolutely wrong. If you do not drink enough water, you get dehydrated because of the perspiration and the muscle cramps are inevitable. Thus, you should drink plenty of water before, after and, if necessary, during the exercise session.
Only overweight or obese people need to consult their doctor, before starting an exercise plan. This is false. Only a physician can determine an individual's ability to be involved with a certain exercise program. Of course, it is very unlikely for a doctor to discourage somebody to exercise, unless there is a very serous and temporary reason. On the other hand, not all exercises are suitable for everyone. An exercise plan will be set, according to a person’s medical history, age and level of fitness. Even people who are considered healthy can experience problems, while training, if they have an undiagnosed medical condition, such as diabetes, and high blood pressure.
Stretching after exertion can prevent muscular soreness. This is not true. Stretching helps in maintaining the flexibility of muscules and joints but it cannot prevent delayed onset muscle soreness to occur. On the other hand, proper warming before and cooling down after exertion can help.
Any exercise can reduce body fat. This is true but if you really want to lose weight, you’d better choose to do aerobic exercise. However, anaerobic exercise will also help you to burn calories while exercising and increase the basal metabolic rate, as well. In general
and in a simplified way,
a well scheduled training plan must include 85% of aerobic and 15% of anaerobic activity.
Muscle tissue will convert progressively to fat, if a person stops regular exercising. Despite the fact that muscle and fat are two distinctive types of cells and transformation from one type to another cannot occur, this perception includes some traces of truth. This is because the biological material that participates in muscle structure, under certain circumstances can be metabolized and the new molecules can contribute to the formation of fat. For instance in cases of muscle atrophy, a great amount of the released protein will convert to glucose, which in turn, will be used for energy production. If not all of it is used, part of the remaining glucose will be turn to fat.
Of course, the mechanism can work the other way around. A fat cell will always remain as such and it will never turn to a muscle fiber. However, regular exercise contributes to reduction of fat in the relevant cells and increase of muscle volume.
Heat has a beneficial effect on injuries and contributes to faster healing. In general, this is false. Usually pain caused from injuries, such as a twisted ankle or an aching elbow, occurs because of internal bleeding and/or swelling. The pain occurs, due to the increased pressure applied on the nerves, located in the affected area. In such cases, heat will deteriorate the problem, because it will contribute to further swelling and increase of the internal pressure. On the contrary, ice along with taping is the required early treatment.
Exercising must be as much as possible. This is not correct. Excessive physical activity can sometimes be harmful, since our body needs time to rest and recover. In fact, the majority of health experts advise that regardless what the exercise is, it must be done no more often than every second day or three times a week. Otherwise, injuries may occur and the results will not be the expected ones. As a matter of fact, athletes that follow systematic training plans know that rest is equally important as diet and exercising.
Weight training is not appropriate for ladies, because it will result in bulky muscles. Not true. Increased muscularity is a result of combination of training and the action of testosterone which is a male hormone. In women, testosterone is present in very small quantities and by no means can lead to muscle growth, unless the hormone amounts increase beyond the normal levels due to anabolic steroids abuse.
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