The Vitality monthly newsletter is a publication of Heart and Soul Fitness incorporated. This newsletter is designed to present pertinent health and fitness information to enhance your mind and your body.

Exploring Common Fallacies in Exercise and Health

The good news about exercise and health information is that it is easily accessible and abundantly available in our news media. The bad news is that not everyone who presents health and fitness information has a vested interest in presenting scientifically investigated and peer reviewed research. This results in pervasive fitness and health fallacies that leave the participant with less-chance to permanently improve their health and well being.

One of the most common misconceptions is that you can turn fat into muscle. The truth is that fat is fat and muscle is muscle; you can lose fat and gain muscle but there is not an exchange of these tissues one for the another. The way to lose fat is to burn more calories through activity than you ingest. Watching food intake and expending energy (calories) through activity will create a deficit in your energy system and will result in a reduction of weight. Weight loss is a combination of the loss of fat, water and in small measure muscle tissue. When an individual fasts, the body weight loss is approximately 50% fat and 50% fat free mass. On the other hand, on a calorie restricted diet the proportions switch to approximately 90% fat and 10% fat free mass. Imagine that one pound of fat requires a 3,500 calorie deficit to lose. In a weeks time, if you reduce your caloric intake by 300 calories per day and you expend an extra 300 calories through aerobic activity it will result in at least one pound of weigh lost per week. Another common fallacy is that there is a fat-burning zone and if you exercise at specific intensity you will use predominately fat as a fuel (or substrate). The truth is that we use fat as fuel the most when we are at complete rest. If the substrate that we use to fuel our body were the determining factor in weight loss, then merely resting would be sufficient. The determining factor in weight loss is the amount of calories being utilized in exercise, not the substrate being used to fuel your body. Working aerobically at a moderate to high intensity for a long duration is the best way to lose fat—-leave the idea of fat burning zone to the tabloids.

How about the idea that high repetition weight training is preferable to overloading the muscles with heavier weight and less repetition? The reason we overload our muscles with weight is to cause a training effect that results in the improvement of muscular fitness. As the muscles pull on the bones to creative movement we also accomplish mechanical stress on the bones which leads to the maintenance and possible improvement of bone mineral density. The American College of Sports Medicine recommends performing at least one set of exercises for all of the major muscle groups-with each set consisting of 10 to 15 repetitions. The perceived intensity for weight-training should be somewhat hard. If you are lifting a weight 20 to 30 times, the weight is too light and you are not accomplishing the overload necessary for the desired effects.

When you run into statements or fads promoted in the media pertaining to health and fitness, always find out where the information originated and if scientific investigation is behind the report. Keep a discerning ear open for the references and consult a fitness professional before you adopt any new training routine.

 Overtraing Children

Years ago children primarily played outside for physical activity and if they were involved in organized athletics they certainly had seasons of play and seasons of rest. Our culture has evolved into one in which the children do not have much outside play time and organized athletics are run by not only coaches with an educational background in physical fitness, but by parents who have little or no formal training in the areas of exercise science. The good news is that the parents volunteer their time and children have more opportunities to engage in healthy forms of movement. The bad news is that the principles of physical training are often overlooked and the children are exposed to extensive overtraining that leads to injury and burn out. Overuse is the most common factor leading to injury in the pediatric and adolescent athlete. In addition, children experience undue pressure from adults, both parental and otherwise, that creates a stressful combination of physical and emotional strain.

Governing bodies such as the American Academy of Pediatrics have written policy statements concerning intensive training and sports specialization for youth athletes. The American Academy of Pediatrics Council on Sports Medicine and Fitness recommend that a sport played by a young athlete should be limited to 5 days out of 7 in a week and that 1 day per week should be free of organized physical activity altogether. They also recommend that the athletes should have 2 to 3 months off from a particular sport to prevent both physical injury and emotional burn out.

Currently, young athletes are often driven by coaches and parents to play a particular sport year round. In addition, some athletes are playing on more than one team for their sport at any given time. Following that period of intensive overtraining, the athletes begin another sport with no off-season rest-period to speak of. Young athletes who participate in multiple sports throughout the season should ideally choose sports that emphasize different bodily movements such as soccer and baseball. Those who repeat the same patterns of movement all year long are at risk for overuse injuries.

Youth sports should foster a life-long love of fitness; parents and coaches may need to reassess their philosophy on training young athletes to insure a life time of physical activity.

Quote of the Month:

Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed.

Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace and gratitude.