According to a number of exercise experts, including personal trainers and others, there are a number of exercise related stories and myths that just won’t die. That misinformation can be the cause of some sports related injuries and may also be the explanation for why some peole are exercising for hours and not getting the results that they want . There were a number of various myths that caught the attention of these experts.

Mark Macdonald, a personal trainer and the author of the book “Body Confidence” pointed out the uselessness of the readouts on the cardio machines at the gyms and at home. These are not giving people an accurate depiction of their heart rate at all, because the machines usually are not asking for input information including age, weight, gender or body composition. A woman who is relatively short but high in body fat percentage will burn far less calories than a man who is taller and has lower body fat. Most of these machines do not take any of these things into account, so they do not give a good reading.

Included in the technology/fitness myths are the heart rate monitors that so many people rely on when they are exercising. In most cases, these are not the best indication of how hard you are working out and may not even give accurate readings either. It is recommended by most of these experts that exercisers use their perceived rate of exertion while exercising, keeping in mind that this can change frequently- even when doing the same kind of exercises. Exercisers can also use the “talk test” to make sure they are working out hard enough. If you can speak a whole sentence, you are not working hard enough.

Another common exercise myth the experts are taking aim at is the concept of low intensity vs. high intensity. Some exercisers erroneously believe that if they work at lower intensities they stay in the “fat burning zone”: rather than burning carbohydrates like when they work out harder. But, according to experts, the zone concept tricks people into thinking that they are not getting benefits from working at the higher intensities. Overall, the high intensity exercisers burn more calories than the low intensity exercisers.

For those who are only counting the numbers on their scales to determine how fit they are, there may be a serious problem. First, weight fluctuates as much as a few pounds every day and can even change from morning to night in the same day depending on certain factors. Early weight loss tends to be water weight, usually replaced by denser muscle tissue as exercise continues. Muscle may weigh more but it also burns more calories, even at rest. To gauge fitness levels, exercisers should look at more than just their weight , including their blood pressure, blood sugar and other lab tests to judge their overall health levels. Measurements should also be used instead of weight, according to most experts.