Fact and Fiction About Exercise.

• Position: Brief Article

It is difficult to keep up with all of the changing news about exercise. Once a health rumor hits the news, it's hard to ignore it, but trusting the wrong fitness advice can hamper your efforts to stay healthy. The truth is, most of us probably believe at least one fitness myth. The Mayo Clinic Women's HealthSource refutes some of the more common misconceptions about exercise:

Fiction: Abdominal exercises will flatten your stomach.

Fact: Crunches are great for improving posture and strengthening muscles, but they will do very little to get rid of fat covering them. To do that, you need to consume fewer calories than you burn.

Fiction: Exercise makes you hungrier.

Fact: The opposite can be true. Intense exercise can suppress your appetite, at least for a while.

Fiction: No pain, no gain.

Fact: Exercise shouldn't hurt. A little muscle soreness is not a problem, but soreness isn't pain. You don't need...