Here are a couple of thing that perhaps you didn’t already know and that will change your perception about working out.
- Doing targeted exercises like sit-ups and crunches will not get you a six-pack. They will strengthen your abs, but a six-pack is more about % body fat than about strength.
- As you improve your cardiovascular health, your resting heart rate becomes lower and lower. It's pretty easy to get your resting heart rate under 60 beats per minute. Lance Armstrong's heart beat at 32-34 bpm.
- If you work out at a high intensity for 45 minutes, your body's metabolism stays elevated for up to 14 hours. In addition to burning calories during the workout, your body will burn an extra 150-200 calories in the hours after a workout.
- It’s a general belief that cardiovascular exercises boost fat loss better than weight lifting exercises. In reality it’s opposite – lifting weights not just build muscles but plays a bigger and faster role in fat loss as well.
- Skipping meals = starving your body. Contrary to popular belief, this INCREASES your fat storage.
- To get the most out of your fitness you need to make sure you rest! You can't build muscles on activity alone. Your body needs the rest time to actually do the muscle building. Exercise is only the work order - not the construction process.
- Exercising actually helps your brain grow new brain cells.
- The results of a new study from the University of Alabama in Birmingham, that looked at the effects of exercise for women over the age of 60, suggests that women in this age range may only need to exercise once a week to gain significant benefits in their strength and endurance.
- Exercise releases endorphins, which create feelings of happiness and euphoria. Studies have shown that exercise can even alleviate symptoms among the clinically depressed. In some cases, exercise can be just as effective as antidepressant pills in treating depression.
- And then, there’s this.
So, is any of these facts new to you? There are many more things yet to be discovered that will surely prove to be as mind-blowing as the ones we just mentioned.