Myths abound in the exercise and fitness worlds. Some of these are simple misconceptions while others can discourage people from being active. Many of these myths are perpetuated by members in the health and fitness industry themselves. So to follow-up on my previous post of busting nine common exercise myths, here are five more.
1. It Has to be Complicated
Training apps. Tracking watches. Ten-week programs. Food planning. Protein shakes. Gym memberships. Running groups. Fitness influencers giving advice. There’s lots you can do to support your exercise program. Or you could do none of these things and still enjoy being active and improve your health and wellbeing.
There are many people who enjoy these things. It can give them focus and help them achieve their goals, and that’s great. But for some people, that tracking watch gets used for a few weeks and then sits in a drawer after that. The great thing about exercise is its simplicity. You don’t need fancy equipment. A walk around the neighbourhood is an easy and accessible way to get your activity in. For strength training, you can go to the gym or, your can use things such as resistance bands and your own bodyweight for push-ups, squats, etc. You can even use jars of spaghetti sauce, a bag of potatoes or rice, or a milk jug.
Of course, it you like tennis, you’ll need some equipment and planning to play with someone. And if you like going to the gym and the social aspect it provides, go for it. But it doesn’t need to be overly complicated if you don’t want it to be.
2. You Have to Exercise Every Day
It’s true that regular exercise is associated with reducing your chances for diseases such as heart disease, certain cancers and dementia. But what does “regular” mean? Does it need to be every day, or most days, or can you get away with some other sort of routine?
It’s recommended you get at least 150-300 minutes of moderate activity per week or 75-150 minutes of vigorous activity per week, or a combination of the two. But the recommendations don’t say how often you need to do that. That’s because it’s more important how much you exercise, not how often you do it. From a health perspective, getting in all your week’s activity in one or two sessions may be just as good as spreading it out over the week. So if you aren’t able to be active everyday, yes, you can make up for it on other days.
3. You Need to Reach a Target Heart Rate
Early guidelines stated exercising three times per week for 20-60 minutes each time at 50% to 85% maximum heart rate. And despite current guidelines having no intensity requirement, many fitness influencers and organizations still promote a target heart rate. This target is the range at which some believe your heart rate should be in while exercising.
The whole premise of a target heart rate is to have you exercising at an intensity to work your cardiorespiratory system and increase your fitness. This target is usually 50% to 85% of your maximum heart rate, with the lower end being a moderate pace and the upper end being vigorous. It’s not wrong to focus on a target heart rate, and indeed, a higher level of fitness is associated with better health and longer life.
But we know activity at any intensity provides both long-term and short-term benefits. And the benefits increase with increasing intensity. If you want to measure your exercise intensity but don’t want to buy a heart rate monitor, the sing-talk-gasp test can be used. Light activity is something you can do while singing. Moderate activity you can carry out a conversation, but you can’t sing. Whereas vigorous activity you can only get out a few words before gasping.
4. There is One Exercise Routine That Works for Everyone
The Internet is flooded with people telling you what the best training and exercise routine is. Whether it’s for weight loss, building muscle or getting in shape; there exists the so-called best one for you and everyone else. But that’s just not true. While these training programs may work (though some are questionable), they won’t work for everyone in the same way.
First off, for a training program to work, you have to like it. If you don’t like it, then you won’t do it, and a program won’t work if you don’t do it. What this means is for you to do what you like doing, not what someone else says you should do.
Secondly, we’re all different. We’re different physiologically and those differences can determine how we respond to exercise. Every exercise study reports the average effect of all the people in the study. For example, in this study of sedentary adults who exercised five times per week for 24 weeks, most people experienced increased fitness. But there was a wide variation, and some people didn’t experience any change in fitness. This was a supervised exercise study, so the variation wasn’t due to people not adhering. It could be due to differences in initial fitness levels as well as physiological adaptations.
5. Running is Bad for Your Knees
Running is one of the most popular activities around. It’s estimated close to 50 million people in the US run, while upwards of 620 million worldwide run. Despite its popularity, running gets a bad reputation for causing injuries. In particularly to the knee. Due to running (and related sports) being weight-bearing, it’s believed the repetitive pounding causes wear and tear on the joints. But golf and swimming can lead to knee injuries, yet neither of these activities are weight-bearing.
Evolutionary scientists contend the human body is uniquely adapted to run for long periods compared to other animals. This consists of our bone, tendon and ligaments structures, as well as how the head can maintain balance during running. The notion that running is bad for your knees is based on an outdated belief that joints wear out over time leading to arthritis, when in fact arthritis is a disease involving many factors. Indeed, runners are less likely to experience knee pain. The knee joint might actually adapt to the stress of running in order to protect the knee to result in less chance for arthritis.
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