3 Surprising Fitness Facts

CNN recently spoke with top trainers who shared three surprising fitness facts: 

1. Lack of Sleep Leads to Weight Gain - When you're sleep deprived, leptin, the hormone that signals satiety, falls, while ghrelin, the hormone that signals hunger, rises. This combination leads to an increase in appetite. Additionally, sleep deprivation tends to lead to food cravings, particularly for sweet and starchy foods.

Getting too little sleep also dramatically decreases the sensitivity of your insulin receptors, which will raise your insulin levels. This too is a surefire way to gain weight, as the insulin will seriously impair your body's ability to burn and digest fat. Getting proper sleep is therefore crucial for maintaining a healthful weight.

2. Yoga May Not Burn a Lot of Calories - If calorie burning is your main goal, most yoga classes may not be the best choice. One study by the American Council on Exercise found that a 50-minute power yoga session burns only 237 calories, as compared to 500-600 calories burned during a 50-minute spin class. There are still many reasons to do yoga.  Research shows that some of the health benefits of yoga include; stress reduction, improvement of sleep disorders, hormonal balancing, increased flexibility, pain relief and increased core strength.

3. You Won't Get 'Bulky' From Lifting Weights - Many ignore strength training when devising their exercise plan, because they don't want to "bulk up." Even with heavy lifting, women are not likely to become brawny because they have less muscle tissue and produce lower testosterone levels than men. It is a mistake to avoid strength training, as gaining more muscle through resistance exercises has many benefits, from losing excess fat to maintaining healthy bone mass and preventing age-related muscle loss. Strength training has a beneficial impact on at least 10 biomarkers of aging. 

For More Information:

http://fitness.mercola.com/sites/fitness/archive/2014/04/11/6-fitness-myths.aspx?x_cid=20140411_nonl...