There are so many fat loss myths out there in "exercise-land" that I was
hired by Men's Fitness magazine to write about one myth each month.
After all, by now you've probably heard that if you don't do 60-minutes of cardio
in your fat burning zone on an empty stomach while Venus is in line with Jupiter,
you'll never burn fat.
The problem with myths is that not only are they wrong and give false hope to millions
of people trying to lose weight, but they also waste your time and mental effort.
I have also seen these myths used as justification for cheating on a diet, watching
countless men and women justify their "treats" because they believe they
are on some type of magical exercise program or nutrition plan.
I could go on for days about fitness myths, but I cut my list from 30 down to the
Top 5 Fat Loss Workout Myths today. I'll save the other 25 for future newsletters.
Myth #1: You have to do cardio first thing in the morning on an
empty stomach.
Relax. You don't have to hop on the treadmill at 4:30am every morning. Let's allow
common sense to dictate when and how you exercise.
If you want to work out first thing in the morning, and I know that is the best
time for many TT readers, by all means, go ahead and do it. There's nothing magical
about this time - although it is often the only time many of day many people have
to themselves.
We need to think "outside of the hour" of exercise and realize that calorie
burning and fat burning goes on for 24-hours. Forget about the theories and look
at the big picture.
It doesn't matter when you exercise - as long as you exercise intensely and consistently.
Focus on relatively high-intensity workouts to increase your metabolism for as many
hours after exercise as possible. That is best done with interval training and resistance
training.
Myth #2: You have to do your cardio in your "fat burning zone".
Again, nonsense.
While you might burn a larger proportion of total calories as fat when you exercise
in your fat burning zone, you burn fewer calories overall by exercising at such
a low intensity.
When you increase your workout intensity and get out of your so-called "fat
burning zone", you burn more total calories, and as a result, more fat.
In addition, the "fat burning zone" training doesn't put "turbulence"
on your muscles...so you don't burn many calories in the post-exercise time period.
But with interval training, you burn a significant amount of calories for hours
after training, and that leads to more fat loss.
I've worked with hundreds of people that have avoided the fat burning zone while
still managing to lose dozens of pounds of fat. The "fat burning zone"
is one of the biggest fitness myths of all time.
Myth #3: You have to do cardio for 20 minutes before you burn fat.
When I hear this, I picture a fat-burning switch in my body that turns on only after
I've been doing "cardio" for 20 minutes. But what if I only exercise for
19 minutes and 59 seconds? Are you telling me that I won't have burned any fat?
That's ridiculous.