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Fitness Rules You Should Break

Research on health and fitness is continually being done to help individuals achieve healthy bodies in the most safe and effective ways possible. With information from new studies, experts agree that some exercise rules should be broken and replaced with better and safer alternatives.

People have been told that doing cardio exercises is the best way to lose weight. Experts now believe that although cardio is effective in burning calories, eventually the body starts burning fewer calories with continued cardio. This can result in strain and stress on the muscles that are constantly being used, without burning enough calories. A better alternative to cardio workouts is weightlifting. Studies show that this form of exercise can burn just as many calories as cardio workouts, but it also increases metabolism and builds muscle. Combining weightlifting with cardio is the recommended new way to burn calories and shape up.

Individuals have also been told they should not rest between cardio sets and weightlifting as it decreases the amount of calories that is burned. Studies now suggest that although individuals should not rest too long between workout sets, they should take a minute or so to allow the muscles to recover. This will help prevent injuries and will still be effective in burning calories.

Another fitness rule that should be broken is the belief that any form of exercise is better than no exercise. Although all forms of physical activity is good, individuals should not think that from just doing one type of activity the body will ward of unhealthy conditions and burn calories. Doing only one activity such as walking, does not give the body the proper workout it needs to prevent heart disease and other disorders. Individuals should exercise all the muscles of the body as well as do some form of cardio to get the heart rate up. Combining low-impact exercise with some cardio will provide more healthy results.

A fitness rule that many individuals believe is that in order to obtain great abs they must do plenty of crunches. You will have to break this rule if you really want tight and tones abs. Fitness experts now know that in order to achieve great abs all parts of the abdomen including the midsection must be worked. A perfect way to achieve this is by doing exercises such as Pilates that focus on core strength along with cardio workouts.