Article

Still More Fitness Myths

Topic: Health EducationFeaturing Janet MartinPublished October 10, 2012
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Here is the third and last part of our series on fitness myths that can affect your exercise routine. The next time you hear them, ignore them if you’re serious about keeping fit and losing weight.

‘Women who exercise will develop bulging muscles.’

Some women are afraid of ...Here is the third and last part of our series on fitness myths that can affect your exercise routine. The next time you hear them, ignore them if you’re serious about keeping fit and losing weight.

‘Women who exercise will develop bulging muscles.’

Some women are afraid of exercising since they’re afraid it will make them look like the Amazon queen or a wrestler. You’ll probably become one only if you spend hours in a gym lifting heavy weights. Others do this by taking steroids that are dangerous.

However, most women won’t end up that way since they don’t have the genetic potential for big muscles or enough testosterone that promotes muscle growth. That’s found primarily in men.

“Both men and women have male hormones and female hormones, but men have more testosterone, the male hormone that encourages muscle growth, while women have more estrogen, which inhibits the growth of thick ropy muscles. A woman who has a typical pear-shaped feminine body with narrow shoulders and broad hips will never develop muscles as bulgy as a man no matter how much she exercises. Even a well-muscled female body builder is always smoother and more compact than her male counterpart,” said Carol A

Rinzler in “Feed a Cold, Starve a Fever: A Dictionary of Medical Folklore.”

‘If you stop exercising, your muscles will turn to fat.’

Fat and muscles are two different things. One won’t turn into the other. What happens is that muscles shrink if you stop lifting weights. If you become fat after that, it’s probably because you’re overeating.

“We think this myth started because so many former football stars gain weight later in life. Basically, they eat too much and don’t get enough exercise. If for some reason, you do stop lifting weights, your muscles will just shrink,” said Suzanne Schlosberg and Liza Neporent in “Fitness for Dummies.”

‘Women who exercise will have trouble delivering babies.’

Years ago, you won’t find pregnant women at the gym or health club. Doctors then treated pregnancy as a disease and they were afraid that exercise would lead to birth defects or encourage a miscarriage.

Today, it’s a different ballgame. More and more women are going to the gym. And if you happen to be pregnant, the right exercise can be good for your baby and will make childbirth easy.

“Not only is moderate exercise safe for your baby, but it’s also been shown to have tremendous benefits for mom. Compared to unfit pregnant women, regular exercisers tend to have fewer aches and pains, more self-esteem, and more energy and stamina, especially in the third trimester. Regular exercisers also have more confidence - and perhaps strength - during labor, and they seem to tolerate the pain better,” revealed Schlosberg and Neporent.

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Article author

About the Author

Janet Martin is an avid health and fitness enthusiast and published author. Many of her insightful articles can be found at the premiere online news magazine www.thearticleinsiders.com.

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