无论你健身是为了变苗条、改善心情，还是想拥有一身健美的肌肉，都要有正确的心态和方法。也许经常有一些过来人给你一些诚恳的建议，但这些建议不一定都是对的，比如，早上锻炼是最好的，举重可以把脂肪变成肌肉……真相到底是怎样的呢？

Photo by Alora Griffiths on Unsplash

Myth #1: To stay in shape, you only need to work out once or twice a week.

(资料图片仅供参考)

流言1：为了保持体形，你只需要一个礼拜锻炼一次或者两次。

Truth: Once or twice a week won’t cut it for sustained health benefits.

事实：一周一到两次的锻炼不会给身体健康带来持久的回报。

“A minimum of three days per week for a structured exercise program” is best, Shawn Arent, an exercise scientist at Rutgers University, told Business Insider.

罗格斯大学的运动科学家肖恩·阿伦特告诉商业内幕网说：“对一个结构合理的锻炼计划来说，一周至少要锻炼3次”才是最佳的。

“Technically, you should do something every day, and by something I mean physical activity — just move. Because we’re finding more and more that the act of sitting counteracts any of the activity you do.”

“严格来说，你每天都要练点啥，也就是说要活动一下。因为我们越来越清楚，久坐是会抵消掉你的锻炼成果的。”

Myth #2: The best time to work out is first thing in the morning.

流言2：早上锻炼是最好的。

Truth: The best time for a workout is whatever time allows you to exercise most consistently. Ideally, you want to make physical fitness a daily habit, so if late-night trips to the gym are your thing, stick with it. If you prefer a morning run, do that instead.

事实：锻炼没有最好的时段，无论什么时候都行，只要你能坚持。理想的情况下，你要让健身成为你的日常习惯，所以如果你喜欢晚上去健身房，那就坚持晚上去。如果你喜欢晨跑的话，那就晨跑。

Don’t have a preference? Some research suggests that working out first thing in the morning might help speed weight loss by priming the body to burn more fat throughout the day.

对时间没啥特别的偏好？有一些研究指出，早上起床后锻炼能让身体在一天中燃烧更多的脂肪，加速减重。

Myth #3: Weight lifting turns fat into muscle.

流言3：撸铁能把脂肪变成肌肉。

Truth: You can’t turn fat into muscle. Physiologically speaking, they’re two different tissues. Adipose (fatty) tissue is found under the skin, sandwiched between muscles, and around internal organs like the heart.

事实：脂肪是不会变成肌肉的。从生理学方面来说，这完全是两种不同的组织。脂肪组织被夹在皮肤和肌肉中间，还会包裹在心脏等器官的外部。

Muscle tissue — which can be further broken down into three main types — is found throughout the body.

而肌肉组织可以被细分为3个主要类型（平滑肌、心肌和骨骼肌），分布于全身。

What weight training really does is help build up the muscle tissue in and around any fat tissue. The best way to reduce fat tissue is to eat a healthy diet that incorporates vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins and healthy fats like olive oil and fish.

撸铁真正能做到的是帮你锻炼脂肪组织内部和周围的肌肉组织。减脂的最佳途径是吃健康的膳食：蔬菜、粗粮、瘦肉蛋白，以及橄榄油和鱼这样的健康脂肪。

Myth #4: Puzzles and games are the best "brain workout" around.

流言4：解谜和游戏是最佳的“大脑锻炼”方式。

Truth: Plain old physical exercise seems to beat out any type of mental puzzle available, according to a wealth of recent research.

事实：根据多项近期的研究结论，普通的身体锻炼似乎能打败任何种类的脑力游戏。

Two new studies published last spring suggest that aerobic exercise — any activity that raises your heart rate and gets you moving and sweating for a sustained period of time — has a significant, overwhelmingly beneficial impact on the brain.

去年春天发表的两个研究结果表明，能让你心跳加快、挥汗如雨的有氧运动对大脑有着显著的、绝对有益的影响。

“Aerobic exercise is the key for your head, just as it is for your heart,” wrote the authors of a recent Harvard Medical School blog post.

“有氧运动对你的心脏很重要，对大脑来说也一样重要，”近期哈佛大学医学院的博文中写道。

Myth #5: Exercise is the best way to lose weight.

流言5：锻炼是减肥的最佳方式。

Truth: If you’re looking to lose weight, you shouldn’t assume that you can simply “work off” whatever you eat. Experts say slimming down almost always starts with significant changes to your eating habits.

事实：如果你想要减肥，你就不要用“我吃下去的卡路里都能燃烧掉”来自我催眠。专家表示，瘦下来主要靠明显改变自己的饮食习惯。

“In terms of weight loss, diet plays a much bigger role than exercise,” University of Texas exercise scientist Philip Stanforth tells Business Insider.

得克萨斯州立大学的运动科学家菲利普·斯坦福斯说：“在减肥这方面，饮食比锻炼重要得多。”

That said, being active regularly is an important part of any healthy lifestyle.

即便如此，定期锻炼在任何健康的生活方式中都是很重要的一部分。

And when it comes to boosting your mood, improving your memory, and protecting your brain against age-related cognitive decline, research suggests exercise may be as close to a wonder drug as we’ll get.

当谈到改善情绪、增强记忆力以及预防大脑因年老产生认知衰退时，研究人员表示，锻炼可能是我们最唾手可得的“灵丹妙药”。

Myth #6: Sit-ups are the best way to get six-pack abs.

流言6：想要六块腹肌，就做仰卧起坐。

Truth: As opposed to sit-ups, which target only your abdominal muscles, planks recruit several groups of muscles along your sides, front, and back. If you want a strong core — especially the kind that would give you six-pack-like definition — you need to challenge all of these muscles.

事实：仰卧起坐只能针对你的腹部肌肉，而平板支撑则要用到你侧面、正面和背部的几组肌肉。所以如果你想拥有强壮的核心肌肉，尤其是想要练出6块腹肌，你需要锻炼到所有的这些肌肉。

Harvard Health beat

《哈佛健康节拍》通讯的作者写道：“仰卧起坐只能锻炼到少数几个肌肉群。”

“Through dynamic patterns of movement, a good core workout helps strengthen the entire set of core muscles you use every day.”

“通过有活力的运动模式，一组高质量的核心肌肉锻炼有助于增强你日常会用到的整个核心区的肌肉。”

Myth #7: Weight training is for men.

流言7：撸铁是男人的项目。

Truth: Weight training is a great way to strengthen muscles, and has nothing to do with gender. That said, women produce less testosterone on average than men do, and studies suggest that hormone plays a role in determining how we build muscle.

事实：撸铁是加强肌肉的好途径，而且和性别无关。不过，女性产生的睾丸素平均要比男性少，研究指出睾丸素有助于塑造肌肉，所以女性也就不太容易练成筋肉人。

Myth #8: It takes at least two weeks to get "out of shape".

流言8：“身材走形”至少需要两周时间。

Truth: In most people, muscle tissue can start to break down within a week without regular exercise.

事实：大多数人一周不进行规律锻炼的话，肌肉组织就会开始分解。

“If you stop training, you actually do get noticeable de-conditioning, or the beginnings of de-conditioning, with as little as seven days of complete rest,” Arent said. “It very much is an issue of use it or lose it.”

“如果7天内完全休息不进行锻炼的话，肌肉减少或者肌肉开始减少是显而易见的，”阿伦特表示，“要么练它，要么失去它。”

Myth #9: Running a marathon is the ideal way to get fit.

流言9：跑马拉松是健身的理想方式。

Truth: Not ready to conquer a marathon? No problem. You can get many of the benefits of long-distance running without ever passing the five-mile mark.

事实：跑不了全马？没关系的。就算你跑不到8公里，长跑也是好处多多。

Running fast and hard for just 5 to 10 minutes a day can provide some of the same health outcomes as running for hours can.

每天高强度地跑上5到10分钟所带来的某些好处和连续跑上数小时是一样的。

In fact, people who run for less than an hour a week — as long as they get in those few minutes each day — see similar benefits in terms of heart health compared to those who run more than three hours per week.

实际上，每周跑不到一小时（只要他们能每天都跑几分钟）给心脏健康带来的益处和每周跑三小时以上的差不多。

Plus, years of recent research suggest that short bursts of intense exercise can provide some of the same health benefits as long, endurance-style workouts — and they also tend to be more fun.

此外，持续数年的近期研究也表明，短时间的高强度训练能带来和长时间的耐力训练一样的健康益处，而且也更有意思。

Myth #10: Keeping a food diary is a reliable way of monitoring and controlling what you eat.

流言10：记录食物流水账在监督和控制饮食上很可靠。

Truth: Even when we’re making an effort to be conscious about what we’re putting into our bodies and how active we’re being, we often give ourselves more credit than we deserve.

事实：即使我们努力记下自己的食量和运动量，但其实我们经常对自己太过于信任了。

“People tend to overestimate their physical activity and underestimate how much food they eat,” says Stanforth.

“人们倾向于高估自己的运动量和低估自己摄入的热量，”斯坦福斯说道。

“They consistently think they"ve worked out more and consistently think they’ve eaten less.”

“人们总是认为自己练得多而吃得少。”

Myth: #11: Sports drinks are the best way to re-hydrate after a workout.

流言11：运动饮料是锻炼后补充水分的最佳饮品。

Truth: Most sports drinks are just sugar and water.

事实：大多数的运动饮料都是糖水。

Instead, experts recommend refuelling with plain old water and high-protein snack, since studies suggest protein helps recondition muscles after a workout.

相反，专家推荐喝白开水和高蛋白零食补充能量，因为研究表明在锻炼后补充蛋白质能够帮助修复肌肉。

据中国日报网

英文来源：商业内幕网、煎蛋网

编译：丹妮