Surprising Fitness Facts You Didn’t Know

You’re looking forward to finally getting off the couch and getting yourself in shape. That’s a pretty impressive move.

Before you go out and buy a pair of gym shorts, though, there are a few things you need to know before getting started.

The thing is, working out is not exactly a walk in the park (although that could be a future workout routine), and there are many complicated and even unnecessary parts of it that you could avoid altogether.

That’s where we come in.

We’re going to help you access some workout cheat codes to get you on your way to the body you want – fast.

10 Surprising Fitness Facts You Didn’t Know

These fitness facts will blow your mind and change everything you think you know about working out. Read to learn more.

Exercise Won’t Make You Thin (But a Good Diet Will Help)

This is going to shock a lot of you, but the myth that working out will make you thin is simply not true.

A good workout can do a number of things: make your heart healthier, give your muscles more strength, even help you live longer.

It does not, however, actually help you lose weight – at least, not by itself.

The biggest game changer when it comes to losing weight is your diet.

Think about it: most people eat three meals a day but only work out once a day, so you eat more often than you work out.

That being said, if you stuff yourself with unhealthy foods, your workouts will not be enough to counter your eating habits and give you the slim shape you want.

Just remember that a good diet plus a steady workout plan will get you on the fast track for your dream body.

Sleep Is Important

Obviously, sleep is important for many reasons, but let’s just focus on it from a workout point of view.

Sleep is necessary for your body to regenerate after a hard workout.

Your body goes into restock mode during sleep and restores your muscles with the proteins and vitamins lost during the workout. It also heals any microtears (don’t worry, these are good) and minor injuries you’ve suffered.

No sleep means none of these things gets done, so if you hit the gym without rest you will end up looking – and being – complete gym slop.

TLDR: get your eight hours of rest, folks.

Stretching Before Running May Lower Your Endurance

This is an extremely crazy fact, but stretching before a run (or any exercise) could lower your endurance.

Studies have shown that in general, the more you stretch, the higher your decrease in muscle endurance.

The runners tested in these experiments showed that those who stretched very little or not at all went for a longer distance than those who stretched for longer intervals of time.

That being said, a post-workout stretch is very important, to allow for cooldown and to relieve your muscles of any acid buildup.

Nuts Pack More Protein Than Meats

Remember when you were having thoughts about going vegan? Well, you may have been on to something.

While you don’t have to give up all the meats, it does help to add more nuts to your diet.

Nuts have been shown to be packed with important vitamins and minerals, including loads of protein (don’t believe us? just check your peanut butter jar).

Nuts are also more filling, so it takes less of them to get the energy you need and they continue to stay with you for long periods of time.

Facebook Can Boost Your Fitness Motivation

Finally, you can do something with social media besides snooping through someone’s timeline.

Apparently, being involved in social media can motivate you to stay in shape.

There are a couple of ideas as to why this is the case. One is that people want to look good in case they’re tagged in their friend’s photo (I mean, who doesn’t?) so they work harder to get the physique they want.

Another idea is that people might make friend groups to motivate one another to reach their fitness goals.

Either way, it seems that the social media can be useful in getting you up and moving.

Morning Exercises Could Make You Sick

For all you morning workout gurus out there, I have to salute you for sticking with your routine.

We’ll also have to tell you to stop doing it.

As great as it is to be the early bird to the gym, studies have shown that morning workouts could make you sick. This is because your immune system is stunted from fully powering up when you work hard at such an early hour.

If you must do an early workout, stick to a light jog or some calisthenics so you won’t affect your immune system and catch that cold.

Crunches Do Not Give You Chiseled Abs

Don’t get us wrong, crunches are great. They’re just not good at adding detail to your midsection.

The fat around the midsection is tough to get rid of, and crunches won’t help with that because they’re very limited in the areas they work on the body, as well as being too deficient to burn the fat molecules directly.

That doesn’t mean to give up crunches, however. They’re still great for adding actual muscle where it counts.

We suggest you pair up crunches with free weights or a HIIT routine (more on that in a bit). That way, you can blast away the fat and have hardcore abs.

The Length of the Workout Doesn’t matter, It’s What You Do With It

You can stay in the gym for 2 hours and get only half of the results of someone who only goes for 45 minutes.

Many people believe that the length of time you stay in the gym correlates to how good your results are, but that’s not necessarily true. In fact, many of the best workout routines involve a workout that takes less than an hour to do.

Remeber the HIIT routine we mentioned earlier? That stands for “High-Intensity Interval Training.” Basically, you have periods of intense workout followed by brief breaks, and it happens over the course of 30 to 45 minutes.

This is a short amount of time to be in the gym, but it leads to getting super fast results, especially when compared to the more traditional anaerobic exercise.

Pure Endurance Training Won’t Burn Off Fat

You can run on the treadmill all you want, but sadly you won’t notice any real results.

Now, don’t get us wrong: running on the treadmill is a great way to build endurance for those future 5k runs, but if your workout goal is to lose weight, you need to try another plan.

One of the best ways to burn fat is to hit the weight room. Using free weights has been shown to burn off much more fat than just running alone because it can better use the energy from the fat cells than endurance training can.

In other words, it’s time for you to embrace your inner gym buff and get ready to lift.

Exercising as a Couple May Not Work out as Well as You Think

When it comes to working out as a couple, let’s just say the relationship could make things…complicated.

Studies show that when a guy and a girl work out together, it doesn’t really work out very well. This is because of the difference in power between a male and a female.

Most women would find it difficult to keep up at the pace of a man, and even if they could, their bodies process weight loss and muscle gain differently.

On the flip side, most guys would find themselves having to lower the intensity of the workout for the ladies to keep up, which would hinder his own muscle gains.

Yikes. Talk about relationship problems.

Bonus Fact: Weight Loss Pills Will Not Destroy You

Contrary to what many people believe, weight loss pills aren’t going to ruin you.

The use of weight loss pills to aid in dieting is a pretty new concept, so it comes as no surprise that there are skeptics. But when you use the recommended dosage, you really have nothing to worry about.

One of our favorite pills to use is the Lipo 6. These guys know exactly what it takes to make a quality weight loss pill and help you see results. To find out what they’re about, you can read more here.

Want to Learn More?

Think learning about this fitness facts was cool? Well, you haven’t even scratched the surface with us.

At Weirdomatic, we have all sorts of weirdly interesting news and facts that could inspire you to learn more about the world around you.

Have any weird advice of your own to share? Why not email us and fill us in? We’re always looking for a good story.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Weirdomatic is the place where all weird things come to life through the amazing world of photographs – a corner of our wild imagination or the whimsical face of the reality?