Busting some myths about muscles
There’s a bit of confusion and some myths doing the rounds about muscle – both what it is, and isn’t, and the role it plays in your health and wellbeing. Time to sort some facts from fiction.
Muscle can’t turn into fat – and vice versa. They’re completely different substances, so one can’t, and doesn’t, turn into the other regardless of how much exercise you do, or don’t do. However, exercise can build and strengthen your muscles, as well as help to reduce your body’s fat content – both of which are important for improving your overall health.
Don’t avoid resistance training because you’re worried about ‘bulking up’. For females, it’s actually quite difficult to ‘bulk up’ so that you end up looking like a body builder – so don’t let that fear stop you. You can learn more about resistance training and how frequently to do it, here.
Strengthening your muscles is about so much more than physical appearance. Your muscular strength not only plays a vital role in how well you’re able to perform everyday tasks, like pushing and pulling, it can also help to reduce your risk of injury when you’re working out and helps to maintain your metabolism. Plus, the same resistance training that strengthens muscle can help increase bone density and reduce the risk of osteoporosis, so it’s a really important part of a well-rounded exercise program.