Fitness Myths
1. Crunches are the best way to burn belly fats
REALITY: The best way is through combining cardio with ab-strengthening exercises, and a healthy diet.
2. All you need is cardio and weights
REALITY: Exercise has 5 dimensions: strength, speed, agility, endurance, and flexibility.
3. No pain, no gain
REALITY: You should feel slight discomfort, but you should not feel so sore that it affects your day.
4. Stretching will always prevent injuries
REALITY: Sometimes stretching cold muscles will actually harm them. Always warm up muscles at the beginning.
5. Lots of protein and fewer carbs = lean muscles
REALITY: Carbs give you energy when working out. You need them to keep you going. Most adults get enough protein from a normal diet. There’s no need to add more.
Source: Medium
10 Easy Ways to Boost your Metabolism
1. Eat Plenty of Protein at Every Meal This is called the thermic effect of food (TEF). It’s caused by the extra calories required to digest, absorb and process the nutrients in your meal.
2. Drink More Cold Water People who drink water instead of sugary drinks are more successful at losing weight and keeping it off
3. Do a High-Intensity Workout It can help you burn more fat by increasing your metabolic rate, even after your work-out has finished
4. Lift Heavy Things Muscle is more metabolically active than fat, and building muscle can help increase your metabolism
5. Stand up More Some health commentators have even dubbed it “the new smoking.” This is partly because long periods of sitting burn fewer calories and can lead to weight gain
6. Drink Green Tea or Oolong Tea Green tea and oolong tea have been shown to increase metabolism by 4-5%
7. Eat Spicy Foods Peppers contain capsaicin, a substance that can boost your metabolism. However, many people can’t tolerate these spices at the doses required to have a significant effect
8. Get a Good Night’s Sleep Lack of sleep is linked to a major increase in the risk of obesity
9. Drink Coffee Studies have shown that the caffeine in coffee can boost metabolism by 3-11./0. Like green tea, it also promotes fat burning
10. Replace Cooking Fats with Coconut Oil Unlike other saturated fats, coconut oil contains a lot of medium-chain fats. Medium-chain fats can increase your metabolism more than the long-chain fats found in foods like butter.
Source: Positive Health Wellness