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Dedicated to Mr. Joe Weider, who inspired me to become what I am and help teach the world about fitness.

What most people didn't known was that by the time I was 16 I had already been lifting for two years. Most of my early knowledge came from the Weider magazines. Obviously, it is difficult to pick up the science journals when you are not exposed to the base knowledge necessary to understand the terms and concepts.

I was blessed with a love for knowledge and lucky for me, a top notch education was available. I spent most of college time working side by side with the greatest names in exercise and experts in other branches of science. Just like you, I had tried almost everything and came to learn that common sense is the basis of any exercise program.

Today, you are probably confused by the exaggerated claims swirling around the fitness industry. The truth is, there are many ways to get big and many ways to get strong and many ways to get lean. Some general principles for exercise exist, and tha's what we are going to talk about here.

Unfortunately, there is such a multitude of opinions being forced onto the public - many of them are fueled by inappropriate marketing schemes made to convince your that a product is able to solve your training problems. Unfortunately, these misconceptions occur in science - one day we are told that beer stops heart attacks and the next study tells us that beer causes cancer. This confusion stops many individuals from participating with exercise at all.

The Surgeon General has estimated that we could save over 200,000 lives a year if we could just get more Americans off the couch and on to their feet. But all of the confusion prevents Americans from exercising in the first place. Chances are, you are a trainer or you work with some individuals who could use some type of motivation. I hope that this article will render some of the silly notions that people offer as objections about why they don't exercise. Reproduction of this article in part or as a whole is permissible with the inclusion of the authors name and the citing of bodybuilding.com.

EXERCISE MYTHS

STRENGTH TRAINING WILL MAKE
WOMEN TOO MUSCULAR

It is a simple fact that women do not have testosterone available in their bodies to build large muscles. As many of you know, it takes a tremendous amount of effort, nutritional support and time to gain even small amounts of muscle. Women naturally have less bone and muscle than men and a need to take advantage of what little they do have. It is this lack of overall body mass that puts women at an increased risk of osteoporosis.

The benefits of strength training for women far outweigh the potential side-effects associated with lifting weights. Women are 30 times more likely to produce beneficial reactions to weightlifting than men. Simply put, lifting weights does not make women look like bodybuilders. In fact, the older you are the less likely it is for a female to gain muscle mass. For the most part, women only become more toned.

Strength training is very important since it improves bone density, decreases estrogen (lower chance of breast cancer by over 50%), reduces depression and other anxieties, and increases your metabolism.

EXERCISE BURNS LOTS OF CALORIES

I often use this statement to show the importance of diet with exercise: "You could break out into a dead run, from here until a place (1 mile away) and run back. You will have likely to burn off only 200 calories-THAT IS HALF A BAGEL."

People have a preconceived notion that if they just exercise, they will lose weight – just because they burn calories with movement. Then, others think that they can exercise and eat whatever they want.

The truth is that exercise is only part of the key to success. In my article, "Facts about Aerobic Response" the science clearly indicates that aerobic exercise is best done at a moderate level to burn fat. The primary result of doing aerobic exercise within the 60-70% of your target heart rate, result in a decrease in Cortisol.

Many people think that they can eat whatever they want and then just go exercise, and that this will make up for the lack of dietary discretion. But, you cannot make poor dietary choices and just do additional exercise because while you may not appear fat on the outside, but your body chemistry will lead you to heart disease. There are plenty of skinny people who have heart attacks too, and most of the time it is due to poor dietary habits. I've done the blood work on lots of patients and they may look fit on the outside, but they are slowly dying on the inside.

IF FOOD TASTES GOOD IT MUST NOT BE GOOD FOR ME

I often see individuals eating cardboard out of plastic bags. They search around for the best tasting protein, yet they will eat something with the consistency of leathery cardboard.

There are plenty of spices, herbs and artificial sweeteners available to allow for improved flavor and taste to aid with dietary restrictions – and artificial sweeteners have been cleared by the National Institute of Health, American Cancer Society and the American Food and Drug Administration. Stevia is a natural alternative that offers literally no side effects. It is important to use many of these products because they decrease cravings.

Most of us were not born into military backgrounds, nor did most of our parents restrict sweet treats. As a result, our comfort foods produce a long-standing peptide release mechanism and craving those types of foods is a temptation that is almost impossible to avoid.

So please, use the artificial sweeteners,(Note: I do not recommend artificial sweeteners for children since they have such high metabolisms)use products like Mrs. Dash that have no sodium, but had lots of flavor, use cooking methods that benefit flavor and the eat as much raw food as you can. Review recipe articles from authors like Ginger Redeker and use her cooking methods to spice up your palate.

You will be less likely to cheat and eat junk if you eat foods that are good for you, yet attractive and seasoned for better taste.

YOU CAN GAIN MUSCLE AND GET LEAN
AT THE SAME TIME

Your body has to be in one of two states: you can either be catabolic and losing weight or you can be anabolic and gaining weight. You are not going to be doing both at the same time TO ANY APPRECIABLE DEGREE. The entire setup of your hormonal system can only travel in one direction at a time – so while it is possible to maintain body mass and loose fat, you cannot build muscle and loose fat at the same time.

Bodybuilder's utilize supplements and drink approximately 2 gallons of water a day to maintain their muscle mass. The training required to become lean like a bodybuilder is completely different than the training required to build large amounts of muscle mass.

SWEATING GIVES ME ACNE

When your body sweats it produces fluid through your pours that contains the byproducts of metabolism. Many of these products

increase the skins pH, which can result in acne. Several factors cause acne and other skin conditions that can lead to outbreaks. Keeping your skin clean after you exercise with just simple mild soap and warm water will wash these residues away.

Most exercise enthusiast will often lift weights, sweat slightly and then wait until they get home to shower - in the time that it takes for you to get home, your body begins a process of chemical change that often results in acne or more likely an infection of Tenia Versicolor (a sub dermal fungal infection that eats away at the Milan of your skin). Maintaining a healthy diet will prevent many of the toxins from building up and being extricated while exercising. Drinking large amounts of fresh water will help with toxic removal through the urinary tract and not through your skin.

I MUST WORKOUT EVERY DAY

For most fitness enthusiast a workout 3 times a week with a daily cardio program of approximately 20 minutes is substantial. Being a competitive bodybuilder or figure competitor requires daily exercise programs that total over an hour.

Some people feel that they must exercise for several hours a day, which results in increased Cortisol levels in your body and your body storing more fat.

Unfortunately, many people exercise too long and then quickly become over trained. Irritability, insomnia, addictions to various stimulants, mood swings, constipation, diarrhea, general body aches, lack of concentration, inability to get a "pump", increased resting heart rate, feeling tired all the time, and other symptoms can all be related to someone who is exercising too much and not allowing for recovery.

Doing full range of motion exercises is a great idea for maintaining mobility. As you age, you lose flexibility before you lose strength. By the time you are 60; most people have lost 65% of their normal flexibility. Stretching is indeed a necessary thing for people participating in any sport, and it becomes more important as you age.

Stretching is important because it maintains normal tissue mobility and circulation - losing mobility results in hypo-coordination, which means that your reflexes will not work as fast and you will become unbalanced. The most significant thing about losing flexibility is that it will result in chronic pain. Trigger points are a prime example of muscle areas that have lost their elasticity and result in pain. Maintaining flexibility at a young age will help maintaining your flexibility as you get older.

It takes six to ten times longer to increase lost flexibility than it takes to maintain it.

YOGA AND PILATES ARE A WASTE OF TIME

Yoga and Pilates are two different forms of exercise. Yoga is primarily directed towards flexibility and Pilates is directed towards holding a slow controlled exercise movement. Pilates is best defined by Windsor Pilates, but it is really very slow calisthenics. For example, imagine taking 30 seconds to do a sit up - try it some time.

The primary benefits of yoga from the physiological standpoint includes an increase of thrombin production, which results in vasodilatation. In other words, it helps remove a lot of toxins from your body. Some forms of yoga are done in rooms that are heated to 105F – but I wouldn’t recommend this – I’ve tried it and most of my energy was expended on just fighting the heat.

Pilates is an excellent form of training that helps any athlete in any sport. Jay Cutler has his own Pilates exercise machine called a reformer, which just shows how important they are to top athletes. Consider that a good Stott Pilates reformer cost about $3000.00, and it is excellent on strengthening the individual muscles that connect the spinal segments and also the muscles that help stabilize the body to remain in proper posture. This results in less mechanical stress on our bodies as a whole and also results in improved athletic function, due to the improved stabilization and posture. Just for the record, I own a Pilates reformer and Cadillac (the apparatus that connects to the reformer).

I TAKE A THERMOGENIC SO I CAN
EAT WHATEVER I WANT

Thermogenics are primarily designed to increase your body's heart rate. I've written articles and reviewed the research that proves that just wearing additional clothing will increase your body's core temperature and result in a faster heart rate.

Taking thermogenics can become addictive. Thermogenics should be used only when cycling in for any particular competition. It should be noted that just drinking coffee 30 minutes prior to working out has proved to increase your exercise heart rate by a similar amount than any thermogenic on the market.

Some people will use thermogenics to increase the resting heart rate. This takes us to a whole new level and brings up the topic of catabolic versus anabolic. You cannot take thermogenics and expect to gain solid muscle mass because thermogenics gear your body towards a catabolic state. There is a time and a place for thermogenics, and products like Ventilean have proven to be extremely successful with female figure competitors.

YOU CAN SPOT REDUCE

For the most part, it is impossible to reduce one specific part of your body. Genetically your body has a particular amount of fat cells for any given area. If you have 100,000 fat cells in your stomach and 500,000 fat cells on the back of your arm, you will have to do a

significant amount of loss to your abdomen before you will notice the weight on the back of your arms coming off. Some trainers will recommend that you use various stimulants and apply them to the skin over an area that you are trying to reduce specifically but the science does not support the use of these products. It goes to logic that just applying these products to a particular area will not reduce fat cells in an area, but watching various athletes prepare for competition does show some isolated success. It will obviously take more personal testing on your part to show if it works for you. Just do yourself a favor and keep the diet honest first.

DOING INCLINE PRESSES WILL LIFT A WOMAN'S BREAST

Exercising your pectoralis muscles results in increased blood supply to the mamillary glands. If you exercise vigorously enough, it will result in a decreased overall mamillary size. Along the way of reduction, it may result in some improved breast angulations. For the most part, the muscles that are primarily associated with nipple angulations and general breast shape are damaged during lactation and also diminish with gravity and normal aging. Slight improvements may be noted with exercise, but the genetic factors will predispose the female to limited success.

IF I EAT HIGH CALORIE FOODS, I WILL BE
OKAY IF THEY ARE HIGH IN FIBER

Fiber only provides a slowing down of digestion, which results in your body increasing in its caloric burn, but the change is so small it does not affect the overall impact of caloric intake. Consider the individual who eats popcorn loaded down with butter, lots of fiber, but lots of calories from fat too. Those individuals are still taking and calories and will still gain weight.

Fiber does not change a trans-fat into a soluble fat. For the most part, fiber is necessary in your diet, but it does not affect the overall caloric intake to any appreciable degree. Weight Watchers is very well-known and they are quick to point out to their clients that high fiber intake diets can mean more calories. This is misleading. If high-fiber diets worked, bodybuilder's and competitive wrestlers would all be taking high amounts of fiber and watching the pounds shed off their bodies. The truth is, fiber helps stabilize the insulin response, but does not affect the overall caloric intake.

THE ATKINS DIET IS SAFE

High Protein-Low Carb-High Fat diets result in coronary artery disease. You cannot have fat circulating around in your bloodstream and not expect significant plaguing to occur on the lining of the arterial walls. If you maintain high levels of sugar floating around in your bloodstream, you will weaken the blood vessel walls, causing an aneurysm or stroke. The most toxic affect of the Atkins diet is that it results in toxic ammonia floating around in your bloodstream and this eventually affects your nervous system. Medical schools do not teach nutrition as part of their curriculum, so medical doctors are not nutritional experts; they rely on the gainful knowledge of the registered dieticians.

SKIPPING MEALS WILL MAKE ME LOSE WEIGHT

Individuals who eat only a few meals per day have extremely slow metabolisms. When you don't eat frequently, your body realizes that your caloric intake occurs infrequently and it will gear itself towards converting almost everything you eat into fat. This may not happen right away, but over a period of time your body will produce millions of enzymes that will be gearing your body towards fat storage. Once you do this, it will take months to reverse.

Eating 6-8 small meals every day is the best diet modification that you can make to lose weight. You will also You will also absorb more nutrients with every meal, so you will need to eat less.

I DON'T LIFT WEIGHTS AND ONLY
USE CARDIO TO LOSE WEIGHT

Our bodies naturally lose muscle mass and our metabolisms slow as we age. While just doing cardiovascular exercise is better than doing nothing, lifting weights and building muscle mass, even to a small degree, results in significant changes and improvements in our fat storage.

Alcohol is toxic to your muscles and will force your liver to work overtime to remove the toxins from you system.

An occasional drink will not harm you like binge drinking, but the effects of alcohol on brain function and hormonal production should give you enough of a reason to just stay away. Finally, the fastest absorbed calories are those associated with the alcohol. If you

drink beer, all of those calories will be in your blood stream in only minutes from drinking it. Last time I checked, most people don’t carb up for a workout with Beer or a shot of Vodka.

IS SMOKING REALLY THAT BAD

Honestly, if you have to ask this question at this point of our existence on this planet, then you have little to no common sense. Just don't smoke and if someone around you smoking, avoid being around them. Every cigarette removes 25mg of calcium from your body.