Common Fitness Myths for Women Exposed

Everywhere you look there is conflicting advice on fitness for women. Here are the facts tired and true.

1. MYTH: Weight training causes women to get bulky and bigger.

TRUTH: Women actually lack the body chemistry, (enough testosterone) to produce huge and bulky muscles naturally like men do. Lifting weights will actually help women to burn fat faster and tone their muscles to get that sleek and fit physique. Weight lifting along with cardio exercises are a great way for women to get into shape and lose weight.

2. MYTH: Doing sit-ups alone will give a woman a flat and toned stomach.

TRUTH: Spot training does not work, and this includes sit-ups and crunches. Sit-ups help work the abdominal muscles but you must get rid of the layer of fat above the abdominal muscles before you will see a flat stomach. Abdominal exercise, along with a healthy diet and cardiovascular workouts are the only ways to get rid of the belly flat and get the toned and flat stomach that women want.

3. MYTH: You can change your body shape.

TRUTH: No matter what exercises you perform or what diet you follow, your body is always going to have a specific shape to it. If you naturally gain more weight in your stomach or in your hips, then nothing you can do will change that. The only way to get rid of fat all over your body is to workout regularly and eat healthy. You can't pick and choose where you lose fat from on your body. Now, you can tone and tighten those areas with weight exercises, but you will never change the shape of your body. You just have to embrace it and love it.

4. MYTH: You can lose weight by and keep it off with a "quick diet."

TRUTH: Even though you may be able to lose some weight off those "quick diet" trends that you see everywhere, you will not be able to keep it off. Most of the "quick diets" consists of starving yourself or only eating certain foods. You absolutely will not be able to follow one of those diets for the rest of your life. And you know what happens when you get off the "quick diet", you regain all of the weight back and possibly more. The only way to lose weight efficiently is to eat healthy and workout on a regular basis and lose the weight at a slower pace, which is 1-3 pounds a week.

MYTH: You have to be a size 2 to be in shape and healthy.

TRUTH: Women can be a size 12 and be healthy. It all depends on your body shape and composition. Just because someone is a size 2 doesn't necessarily mean that they are fit and healthy. Some women just have naturally bigger bodies although they may have healthier bodies than women who look smaller than them. Look at women professional athletes, some of them may look like they are bigger than celebrities or other famous women, but the professional athlete is going to be healthier because they are active and eat healthy. So, if you are trying to be a size 2, why not make your fitness goal to be healthy and fit.