How to weed out exercise myths

Weed out the constant influx of lies and fallacies surrounding exercise and fitness goals. Please rate this article when you are finished reading, thanks!

Instructions

Difficulty: Challenging

Things You’ll Need:

• common sense
• pencil and paper if you'd like to take notes
• focus to steer clear of the myths as your new knowledge will constantly be challenged by the ignorant gym goers and constant advertisements to sell you something

1. Search yourself to simplify your goals according to what's important to YOU (not others). Make sure your goals are realistic and attainable. Make just one goal the priority.
   
   For example: Begin to build a noticeable amount of muscle in the next 2-3 months. This is my priority, my secondary goal is to begin to shed bodyfat but I know I will increase my resting metabolism by the just adding a little muscle. As the warmer weather approaches a reduction in body fat will become my primary goal while I will continue to add muscle as a secondary goal.
2. Identify what you have heard or read that pertains to your goals.
3. Identify credible and non-credible sources of facts and research. Non-credible sources are almost ALWAYS trying to sell you something (directly or indirectly).
   
   Some credible sources are as follows:
   1) National Strength and Conditioning Association (nsca-lift.org)
   2) American College of Sports Medicine (acsm.org)
   3) Training and Conditioning (they offer free subscriptions to their journal) (training-conditioning.com)
   4) American Council on Exercise (acefitness.org)
   5) National Academy of Sports Medicine (nasm.org)
   6) American Heart Association (americanheart.org)
4. Keep reminding yourself that if it sounds too good to be true...it probably is! With this in mind stay away from the headlines promoting quick weight loss like 10 lbs in 10 days! Just say no to fat burning or blocking pills, they don't work and usually cause serious side effects, sometimes death!
5. Teach yourself that the human body works as a WHOLE. This means that you have to attack your goals from every angle. Devote yourself to strength training as well as cardiovascular work. Embrace good nutrition, create regular sleeping patterns, de-stress. Don't listen to personal trainers or people selling you a product promoting "spot reduction". We have NO CONTROL over WHERE we shed bodyfat. This means that you can do all the ab work in the world to build the underlying muscle but will not directly burn the fat covering it up! You have to be patient where the fat begins to shed, for the most part it will come the fastest from where you have the most.
6. Make sure you have a proper support system of friends and family...and have fun making the BEST YOU!