Rujuta Diwekar - Exercise Myths

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westland publications ltd

61, II Floor, Silverline Building, Alapakkam Main Road, Maduravoyal, Chennai 600 095

93, I Floor, Sham Lal Road, Daryaganj, New Delhi 110 002

Exercise Myths

This ebook edition has been extracted from Dont Lose Out, Work Out !

First published by westland ltd, 2014

Copyright Rujuta Diwekar, 2014

This ebook edition first published by westland publications ltd, 2017

Copyright Rujuta Diwekar, 2017

cover design for this ebook edition copyright westland publications ltd, 2017

All rights reserved

Contents

Exercise Myths

There is this thing about myths. The longer theyre around, the closer they migrate to becoming facts. People swear by them, they will give examples of someone they know who has benefited or lost weight or managed some such result. Sometimes they even get attached to these myths like they would to their loved ones and are offended if someone even raises a doubt. But the fact remains that myths are what they are misinterpretations, misunderstandings and oversimplifications. So lets look at some of the most common exercise myths, understand why they exist and learn why you should not believe what they say.

Spot reduction the mother of all myths

Once upon a time in Mumbai, many years ago, as I was climbing down the stairs to the gym in the basement (ever wondered why the most posh clubs and hotels have gyms in the basement?), I saw Jaspal smiling at my reflection in the mirror. Half his smile was pride, the other half was pain. He was groaning as he beat his knees into his flabby, podgy stomach. Jaspal, STOP! I screamed. What are you doing? And like a flash of lightning it hit me he was trying to pummel his stomach in. His pride arose from the fact that he was putting his body through unbearable pain, that he was ready to do anything to lose his paunch. God, Jaspal! Stop! I heard myself say again.

They say if you cycle with your knees hitting the stomach, it will reduce. Pagal! They are pagal, I shouted. Jaspal looked confused; I was his trainer, I should be happy, and thats exactly what he said, You should be HAPPY. I cycled like this for twenty minutes.

You may not have met Jaspal or encountered his close-to-suicidal attempt at reducing his stomach, but you must have met Mrs Khanna who does 500 crunches every day for a flat stomach, or apne gym ke official broker, Patel uncle, who puts a stick on his shoulders, la herdsmen style, and then revolves around his own axis to get rid of his sides. Mrs Khanna gets to keep her stomach, Patel uncle keeps his sides, all that both lose is some precious time. You smarty-pants got what I am hinting at? Spot reduction is all garam hava. Yeah, thats exactly what it is. Both Patel and Khanna are more likely to pass gas during their workout than burn any fat from the stomach or sides or whatever.

Chalo, everything said and done, Patel made 20 khoka on his gold stocks and Mrs Khannas kids are school toppers, so these two arent exactly dumb, gas-passing idiots. Then why do they indulge in these activities? Very simply, because they didnt think exercise is an important enough subject to understand deeply or because this book wasnt written earlier (come on allow me some self-indulgence, wink wink).

Why does this myth exist?

Just like the term movement goes with bowel, the term burn goes with fat. So everybody is trying to burn fat, and is told that one of the best ways to experience the burn is crunches, side kicks, leg lifts, etc. Iske kai saare fayde hai for example, it requires no equipment, so simply give some lying down space to the fat aunty or give the space in front of the mirror to the enthu uncle and they will pay gym membership for an entire year without even once using a single piece of equipment.

Ok, I will tell you the REAL reason: when you contract your muscle endlessly the rectus abdominus in crunches or the abductor in the side kicks they produce a by-product of muscular contraction called lactic acid. Now this lactic acid is what gives you the BURN, and really has nothing to do with the fat on top of the muscle. In fact, the main difference between muscle and fat tissue is that muscle has the property to contract and relax while fat has the property to sag, it can neither contract nor relax. Exercise physiologists call it the non-working entity of the human body. So when you lift your legs up or chest and shoulders off the floor, the fat just sits there enjoying the joy ride , the muscle overworks and produces tons of lactic acid, begging your brain to stop this voluntary contraction / torture.

Yes, thats exactly why the human body produces lactic acid. If the concentration of lactic acid increases beyond an acceptable limit, then the brain gets the signal to stop the activity. Lactic acid creates a steadily increasing burn that produces a peculiar pain and the brain is wired to ask the muscles to stop the contraction (self-induced) so that the burn or pain can be stopped.

Now, is the human brain stupid to stop the body from fat burning? Of course not. It is rooted in reality and logic and knows that the production of lactic acid beyond an acceptable limit means that the muscle is being overworked. If the muscle is getting overworked, then the ligament, tendon, joint and bone around which this over-enthu contraction is being carried out will soon be at risk of snapping, pulling, breaking. Oops, oops, cant allow that. This is after all an exercise to make the body including the bones, tendons, ligaments, joints stronger, not weaker or vulnerable to injury.

Sadly, we understand exercise so little, that just as your brain asks you to stop, your trainer says, One more, come on one more, feel that burn, let that fat melt, come on, dont give up now. And as the good sense of the brain finally takes over you crash land to the floor, feeling like a fool with no will power to burn fat and therefore doomed to stay fat. And your trainer just smirks, No pain, no gain.

So should you not do crunches or leg lifts or work your sides? Of course you should. But it cant be the only thing you do in the gym. It cant even be a priority exercise if fat loss is on your mind (details in Chapters 2 and 3). But you can definitely do 2 or 3 sets of 10-15 reps once in a week or 2 weeks. That way it will serve the purpose of moving muscles in that specific angle and not overload your joints or your gym time.

Running is bad for the knees

OR Running? Are you mad? Knee replacement ka irada hai?

Dont run, it will harm your knees, these were the last words of the kala kutta who peed with regularity on your car tyres outside Joggers Park. Bad joke, I agree. But really, everybody seems to tell you or rather warn / scare / threaten you with dire consequences if you so much as talk about running. So how do all these people who dont run know about the ill-effects of running?

The logic that is at work here is the same wherein everybody whos not married knows about the many benefits of being married. Married people, on the other hand, know that its not marriage but how you approach marriage that decides your happiness quotient and have also understood that getting married is rather risky if you are not fully prepared for the inevitable change in equations.

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