| Fitness myths are a real pain in the butt. They | | | | The Truth: |
| waste your time by leading you to use ineffective | | | | This is another of the biggest misconceptions and |
| and inefficient exercise and nutrition techniques. | | | | most often quoted myths in fitness articles. |
| Here's one of my myth busters from Men's | | | | Unfortunately, it is just not possible for each |
| Fitness magazine. That column gives you the truth | | | | pound of new muscle to burn 50 extra calories |
| on how to lose fat and gain muscle. | | | | per day. Just think about this number in the big |
| Myth: You can turn fat into muscle | | | | picture. If I put on 10 pounds of muscle, it is |
| The Truth: | | | | wishful thinking to believe that my metabolic rate |
| You have a better chance of turning straw into | | | | will go up 500 calories. That would be a huge |
| gold than converting fat cells to muscle-the two | | | | jump, and would make it difficult to keep the new |
| are completely different kinds of tissue. For one | | | | muscle on my body if my metabolism jumped up |
| thing, fat can't be flexed, whereas muscles control | | | | that much. |
| all your body's movement. Nevertheless, when | | | | I'm the first person to recommend strength |
| people see a guy who's made a successful body | | | | training to people, but we can't use this myth any |
| transformation, they tend to assume he actually | | | | more as justification. But not to worry, there are |
| swapped one for the other. At first thought, it | | | | plenty of other reasons to strength train when |
| seems to make sense-the muscle he built is | | | | your goal is a better body (increased bone mineral |
| exactly where the fat used to be. | | | | density, increased real-life strength, and improved |
| In reality, though, the only way anybody ever | | | | bodysculpting are just three reasons to use |
| turned flab into abs is by losing fat and building up | | | | strength training). |
| the muscle that was lying beneath it. Your best | | | | You have permission to publish this article in your |
| strategy for doing that: a high-protein diet; regular, | | | | web sites, ezines or electronic publication, as long |
| intense strength training; and cardio-especially fat- | | | | as the piece is used in its entirety including the |
| and calorie-incinerating intervals. | | | | resource box, all hyperlinks (HTML clickable) and |
| Here's another popular myth: | | | | references and copyright info. |
| Myth: 1 pound of muscle burns 50 calories per day | | | | |