Exercise Myths: Burning Calories Does Not Make it Exercise

One of the most common misconceptions when it comes to weight loss and even weight gain is that exercise is necessary in order to lose weight. In an over-simplified fashion, this may be true. However, in order to believe it, you would have to believe that something so mundane as kissing is exercise. While I fully comprehend that kissing is not (for me at least) any type of true exercise, lest it be considered an exercise in love, it does in fact, burn calories. In order to make your exercise regimen work for you, the first thing you need to do, is to understand what types of exercises you need in order to gain the results you want.

Just because something burns calories, it does not automatically become an exercise. Likewise, just because you are doing exercises, does not make it something that will benefit you in the manner that you want or hope for. Different forms of exercise have very different benefits and rewards. Kissing certainly has rewards but that is not something that most people can schedule time for ... and if you did, it tends to remove some of the romance and the thrill of the moment. What you need to do is define your personal goals and establish a workout program that will work towards the goals that you want to achieve.

Statistically speaking, if you are a man, you are probably trying to lose some of that weight around your gut and maybe tighten up your chest as those dreaded "man-boobs" begin to develop. If you are a female, you are most likely going to want to find some exercises that will help you to firm up your gluteus and your thighs. However, you may have far different goals in mind but even if you want to bulk up, you are going to need to get in fairly good shape before you begin building up your muscle mass. The key will be in finding the exercises that do the job that you need to have done.

Sit-ups are great as they will help you to trim down that beer belly but they really do very little for the gluteus or buttocks and thighs. On the other hand, leg-lifts are great for the thighs, the butt and even those hard to reach lower abs. While a healthy dose of sit-ups and push-ups may help most men greatly, they are not going to be a major benefit to most women. Many women are very happy with their abs, their thighs and their buttocks but want to tighten or build up their chest muscles. For those women, absolutely none of these exercises are going to be of any real benefit.

Working out is great and it is an added benefit to most healthy diet plans, a great way of staying, younger and healthier and being able to enjoy a much longer and active lifestyle. However, if you are going to get the results you want, you need to select an exercise program that has your goals in mind. The best thing that you can do is to find a reliable source of information for a program that meets all of your personal needs. Once you have the proper information, the rest is as easy as pie ... and yes, you can have your pie and eat it too.