10 sports myths that have hard life:
"No Pain No Gain", "you will not get anything without supplements", "doing abdominals is essential for having the chocolate bar on your stomach". There seem to be more questions and half-truths in the market about sport and physical exercise for health than there are definitive facts, clear and verified. But the world of sports is a multi-billion dollar business, partly built on the sale of gadgets, DVDs or advice with incredible testimonials of people who would have lost their pounds and become canons.
Instead, good practices and simple truths remain prostrate, hidden, waiting to be brought to light. The result is a tone of misinformation about sport and exercise in general, and while the reality is different for everyone, we hold true for some of these myths about exercise. It's time to do the housework.
1- No Pain, No Gain (We have nothing without nothing or pain)
While it is absolutely true that you have to push yourself and try to push the (temporary) limits of your endurance when you play sports, it is not true that the best workouts are those that leave you terribly exhausted , Sweating and on the knees the next day. The discomfort is natural, but the pain in no way. The idea that exercise should hurt is simply wrong, muscle pain during or after exercise usually suggests an injury, trauma. However, some muscle aches are inevitable, especially when you do an unusual and new exercise.
This myth has been refuted by doctors, physiotherapists and researchers, but it still persists because most people associate the idea of pushing yourself to train harder with pain. It is important to remember that your workouts should always be a challenge, but that if you are experiencing pain, you should stop. In fact, if your workouts are hurting you, you probably will not be motivated to continue, which is exactly the opposite as what your training should be.
2 - Aches after sports are caused by lactic acid in the muscles
Where do these muscle pains come from the next day or the day after your training? These are muscle aches, and the belief that they are caused by the lactic acid that is produced in the muscles while exercising is false. This belief comes from the fact that during intense exercise, as when muscle building, muscles produce energy for anaerobic contraction (without oxygen), which causes lactic acid production. It's the opposite of aerobic exercises like walking or jogging that produce energy using oxygen, with little lactic acid making. This belief that lactic acid is the cause of body aches has shown its falsehood because lactic acid, which is produced during exercise, is eliminated shortly after you finish, long before the muscles are bent.
These pains are actually caused by micro-destructions / tears in the muscles that occur while you exercise, especially if you start a training program. These lead to inflammation and pain. This seems harmful, but muscle damage is an important step to make a muscle grow and make it stronger. The muscles are made up of protein filaments and become shorter, leading to contraction. When your body repairs these microscopic tears, you build new and stronger muscle tissues.
This is also why fitness and fitness programs encourage you to increase resistance or weights to wear as soon as you are used to a certain level, it is only through this process that you can be stronger and Make more muscle.
If you want to avoid aches, it is best to start slowly and intensify with time, do not do too much before the body is ready, and do not hesitate to take a rest day between each training to recover In case of fatigue.
3- Sport takes long hours and is useless if it is not regular
Getting back in shape (not to be confused with losing weight) does not mean it will take a lot of time. However, the fact that this is the case for most people is probably a good thing. Let's be clear: There is no quick fix, no magic ingredient to get back into shape quickly, but there's a lot of research that shows that a healthy exercise program does not mean spending long hours Gym every day. A study published in the Journal of Physiology [1] showed that even 20 minutes a day were enough.
There is a simpler way to do sport, which requires less time, but you will need to increase the intensity of your training in order to benefit from it. The process consists of high intensity training. Of course, it takes less time, but much more effort. You can get a good training in just 15 minutes each day, but most people drop out after a few days. Of course, everything is a matter of measurement. If you have one hour a day, it is better to use them than to run out in 30 minutes.
On the other hand, it is true that regular and repetitive sport brings great benefits to health, but if you know that you will not play sports every day you have to live, this is not a reason Not to walk a little. Even half an hour's walk can make a difference. Any activity is a good activity, we must not let it fall under the pretext that we can not do it tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.
4- take sports drinks to reconstitute minerals / electrolytes / etc. Of your body
This is one of those myths that has moved away from its original content, which rather said that sports drinks are important for improving performance in high intensity exercises and lasting over an hour , Such as marathons or triathlons. Because these drinks bring the necessary water that replaces what is lost in perspiration, and sugar (glucose) which is the fuel that the muscles need during intense exercises.
But what about low-intensity exercises, or occasional athletes who make the treadmill for half an hour after work, or cycling in town on weekends? In this case, sports drinks are useless. For lower intensity and shorter exercises, these beverages are not required. In fact, if you do sports with the goal of losing weight, the calories in these drinks could even offset the calories burned during the sport.
Advertisements for these drinks ignore the fact that these drinks are high in sugar and therefore in calories, and the fact that they are fortified with vitamins and minerals can make you believe that you need them. These drinks are beneficial for those who really need them, but for most people who play sports moderately, they are not.
5- Stretching before playing sports prevents injuries
This myth is particularly controversial. There are pro and anti-stretching arguments, but the confusion about stretching often comes from the fact that there is an amalgam between "stretching" and "warm-up". It is very important to warm up before embarking on an exhausting exercise. Warming up can prevent injuries, but stretching has shown at best very little benefit and may at worst detract from performance.
So warming up before exercise is important, but not through stretching.
"No Pain No Gain", "you will not get anything without supplements", "doing abdominals is essential for having the chocolate bar on your stomach". There seem to be more questions and half-truths in the market about sport and physical exercise for health than there are definitive facts, clear and verified. But the world of sports is a multi-billion dollar business, partly built on the sale of gadgets, DVDs or advice with incredible testimonials of people who would have lost their pounds and become canons.
Instead, good practices and simple truths remain prostrate, hidden, waiting to be brought to light. The result is a tone of misinformation about sport and exercise in general, and while the reality is different for everyone, we hold true for some of these myths about exercise. It's time to do the housework.
1- No Pain, No Gain (We have nothing without nothing or pain)
While it is absolutely true that you have to push yourself and try to push the (temporary) limits of your endurance when you play sports, it is not true that the best workouts are those that leave you terribly exhausted , Sweating and on the knees the next day. The discomfort is natural, but the pain in no way. The idea that exercise should hurt is simply wrong, muscle pain during or after exercise usually suggests an injury, trauma. However, some muscle aches are inevitable, especially when you do an unusual and new exercise.
This myth has been refuted by doctors, physiotherapists and researchers, but it still persists because most people associate the idea of pushing yourself to train harder with pain. It is important to remember that your workouts should always be a challenge, but that if you are experiencing pain, you should stop. In fact, if your workouts are hurting you, you probably will not be motivated to continue, which is exactly the opposite as what your training should be.
2 - Aches after sports are caused by lactic acid in the muscles
Where do these muscle pains come from the next day or the day after your training? These are muscle aches, and the belief that they are caused by the lactic acid that is produced in the muscles while exercising is false. This belief comes from the fact that during intense exercise, as when muscle building, muscles produce energy for anaerobic contraction (without oxygen), which causes lactic acid production. It's the opposite of aerobic exercises like walking or jogging that produce energy using oxygen, with little lactic acid making. This belief that lactic acid is the cause of body aches has shown its falsehood because lactic acid, which is produced during exercise, is eliminated shortly after you finish, long before the muscles are bent.
These pains are actually caused by micro-destructions / tears in the muscles that occur while you exercise, especially if you start a training program. These lead to inflammation and pain. This seems harmful, but muscle damage is an important step to make a muscle grow and make it stronger. The muscles are made up of protein filaments and become shorter, leading to contraction. When your body repairs these microscopic tears, you build new and stronger muscle tissues.
This is also why fitness and fitness programs encourage you to increase resistance or weights to wear as soon as you are used to a certain level, it is only through this process that you can be stronger and Make more muscle.
If you want to avoid aches, it is best to start slowly and intensify with time, do not do too much before the body is ready, and do not hesitate to take a rest day between each training to recover In case of fatigue.
3- Sport takes long hours and is useless if it is not regular
Getting back in shape (not to be confused with losing weight) does not mean it will take a lot of time. However, the fact that this is the case for most people is probably a good thing. Let's be clear: There is no quick fix, no magic ingredient to get back into shape quickly, but there's a lot of research that shows that a healthy exercise program does not mean spending long hours Gym every day. A study published in the Journal of Physiology [1] showed that even 20 minutes a day were enough.
There is a simpler way to do sport, which requires less time, but you will need to increase the intensity of your training in order to benefit from it. The process consists of high intensity training. Of course, it takes less time, but much more effort. You can get a good training in just 15 minutes each day, but most people drop out after a few days. Of course, everything is a matter of measurement. If you have one hour a day, it is better to use them than to run out in 30 minutes.
On the other hand, it is true that regular and repetitive sport brings great benefits to health, but if you know that you will not play sports every day you have to live, this is not a reason Not to walk a little. Even half an hour's walk can make a difference. Any activity is a good activity, we must not let it fall under the pretext that we can not do it tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.
4- take sports drinks to reconstitute minerals / electrolytes / etc. Of your body
This is one of those myths that has moved away from its original content, which rather said that sports drinks are important for improving performance in high intensity exercises and lasting over an hour , Such as marathons or triathlons. Because these drinks bring the necessary water that replaces what is lost in perspiration, and sugar (glucose) which is the fuel that the muscles need during intense exercises.
But what about low-intensity exercises, or occasional athletes who make the treadmill for half an hour after work, or cycling in town on weekends? In this case, sports drinks are useless. For lower intensity and shorter exercises, these beverages are not required. In fact, if you do sports with the goal of losing weight, the calories in these drinks could even offset the calories burned during the sport.
Advertisements for these drinks ignore the fact that these drinks are high in sugar and therefore in calories, and the fact that they are fortified with vitamins and minerals can make you believe that you need them. These drinks are beneficial for those who really need them, but for most people who play sports moderately, they are not.
5- Stretching before playing sports prevents injuries
This myth is particularly controversial. There are pro and anti-stretching arguments, but the confusion about stretching often comes from the fact that there is an amalgam between "stretching" and "warm-up". It is very important to warm up before embarking on an exhausting exercise. Warming up can prevent injuries, but stretching has shown at best very little benefit and may at worst detract from performance.
So warming up before exercise is important, but not through stretching.
