This is a guest post by Taylor Ryan from The

Have you ever been afraid to try something new because you had been given the impression that it could be bad for you, or it wouldn’t work or maybe you had made you mind up all on your own.

With the falsities popping up in the fitness industry it’s really no shock that you’re not getting the results you want. The magazines recommend workouts that are most often short on the elements to give results, they don’t care if you get results or not they just want you to pick up the next month’s edition. Then of course there are the infomercials bragging a bout some new piece of equipment that guarantees results with only 6 minutes a day!

What ever it is the fact is that there’s a lot of false information floating around the fitness world. That’s the whole reason I got into this field…to dispute these myths and help women finally get results that not only shows quickly but that lasts!

To make sure you’re not being held back by these myths let’s hit on them and set the record straight now so you can get on the path to success.

Top Women’s Fitness Myths:

Can Muscle Turn Into Fat?

This one comes from the idea that if you stop working out you’re muscle is going to turn into squishy, icky fat. And I am here to say it’s completely false! Muscle is muscle and fat is fat.

So where did this come from… well if anyone stops working out, their muscles will atrophy (get smaller) and metabolism will decrease. Remember muscle is a great metabolic booster and the more you have the faster your metabolism, so if you lose muscle you lose your calorie burning ability. And that means your body stores fat more easily. This process occurs simultaneously so it does look like your muscle turns into fat but really that’s not the case at all.

How long does it take for this to start happening after you stop working out? The experts say that after 1-2 weeks of no working out you’ll start having a decrease in muscle strength and lose some hard earned muscle.

Is It True If I Lift Weights I Will Bulk Up?

When it comes to fitness, Women are from Mars and men are from Venus. The way that our bodies react is completely different. On one side, men have the sex hormone Testosterone which is responsible for adding muscle bulk to their frame. Not to mention their muscles are naturally larger on their skeleton.

Women on the other hand have estrogen and a much smaller dose of testosterone. Estrogen is a fat storing hormone which is why we have hips, breast, a monthly friend and more body fat naturally than men. Since we lack the testosterone amounts, it’s really hard for most women to add any bulk. Instead women get leaner and more toned without getting broad and bulky.

Of course there is a small percent of women that can add muscle easily but if they know this then their workouts can easily be designed so they get great benefits and stay more feminine.

I Will Gain Fat If I Add Muscle

If you have ever talked to a bodybuilder in your gym you’ve heard them mention that to add muscle you can’t help but gain fat at the same time… not true. We’ve come a long way in our abilities to design workouts specific to our goals.

And unless you’re on the path towards becoming a bodybuilder you can add some lean muscle to your body without adding body fat. It’s all about the program and the amount and the kind of foods you put in.

Of course you follow a clean eating diet which means you can keep lean, toned and sexy while adding more muscle to your physique.

Guess what else, you can actually lose fat at the same time too! I know that’s going against the bodybuilding motto but it’s true. With a clean eating diet paired with an intense workout, you can get the results you want. Now let me stress, if you are going after a bodybuilder’s physique you are going to have to take in a TON of calories and take appropriate (and safe) supplements.

Few women are able to be bodybuilders not just because of our genetics but also because of the discipline you need to have to take in such a huge amount of calories. We’re told all of our lives to eat like a lady, count calories, and eat dainty. But to add huge amounts of muscle you have to devour the right kinds of foods and take in more calories than you can imagine.

Running & Other Forms Of Cardio Are Best For Losing Weight

Of course this is a natural idea to believe. From middle school PE class girls were forced to run around the track, and any time our moms had to lose weight we saw them lace up the running shoes and head out the door.

The boys were shown the weight room and girls were introduced to the treadmill so it’s only natural now that when you feel the urge to workout or lose weight you should want to lace up your sneakers. But this isn’t the answer.

Cardio, especially steady state cardio can actually hurt your results. To keep your body going for your run it turns on its muscle stores for energy so you lose muscle mass, and if you lose muscle mass you lose metabolism too.

So believe it or not cardio can make it harder to lose weight and the weight loss may be contributed to muscle NOT fat.

The best way to lose weight?, A program based on strength training and cardio. Strength training boost your metabolism not just because you increase muscle mass but because during the workout you’re working hard, and hours after your done your body is repairing and building and that means you’re metabolism is raised for up to 48 hrs post workout.

That means you lose weight and not only that you lose fat! That’s what it’s all about losing the right kind of weight.

Those are the 4 biggest myths holding women back from getting real results with their bodies. Now you know them and you are not longer pinned down by what money hunger fitness “gurus” are saying. You have the knowledge to know what’s best for your body and what’s going to deliver you the physique you’ve always wanted!

Get more info on Taylor’s Trinity Training System for women.

Of course, a healthy diet can help in this quest for fat loss as well. You will want to avoid high fat foods such as red meats and eat lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. That means fruits and vegetables from the produce section of your grocery store, not from a can. Eating right will give you a better advantage in your fat loss, but you need to be exercising with things like treadmills and elliptical trainers in order to get the best results.

If you continue to consume the same amount of calories and you aren’t burning them off, you will simply end up putting on more pounds, rather than losing any. In order to get the most from fat burning exercises, you need to be able to work off more calories than you consume, because this will help you to lose fat and weight.

Exercise alone won’t burn fat. Eating healthy isn’t going to make you skinny all by itself. You need a combination of a healthy diet with the right exercises in order to burn fat like you want to. This combination method will definitely help you burn more fat than diet or exercise alone.

Ultimately, the more muscles your body is using, the more fat you will be burning. When it comes to effectively burning fat, a slower pace for a longer time period is far more effective than high intensity workouts for shorter periods of time.

What happens is as your body is doing these fat burning exercises, your metabolism will increase because you are using more muscles than a concentrated iron pumping exercise, and you will continue to burn calories long after you’ve completed your workout. Twenty minutes of these exercises will get the fat burning enzymes working, and anything beyond that just serves to burn more fat than before.

If you are just starting out on your fat loss journey, begin with 20 minutes a day, and work up from there until you are exercising for an hour or two every day, depending on your fat loss needs and goals. Start out with three days a week as a goal, and try to get to an everyday routine as you go along and become more physically fit.

Come back for more on fat loss and calorie burning info.

A 150 pound woman exercising at moderate intensity (a brisk pace) for 30 minutes burns about 160 calories. That means that if you walk for an hour or two a day, you can burn a lot of calories just by doing something simple like putting one foot in front of the other for an extended period of time. If you walk faster, or even get to a point where you can jog, the results will only get better as long as you are consistent with your efforts.

When you’re walking for weight loss, try not to let yourself get bored. Listen to some music, take a friend with you, or visit a local park or a new walking path so that you’re always interested. With iPods being so popular it is easy to load it up with your favorite music and head off on your walk or jog and forget about the fact that you are engaging in real exercise.

The main reason that people give up on exercise and weight loss is because they get bored or lose interest. If you’ve got the shoes and the motivation, walking can definitely give you a good option for exercise that isn’t time consuming or tedious at all. And remember, it costs almost nothing and you can lose weight in the process. Now, let’s get started doing some walking.

Many people think that walking isn’t enough to improve health and help you lose weight, but if you do it often enough and frequently enough, you’ll find that walking can actually give you more stamina, better circulation, and other benefits allowing you to enjoy a better life. It doesn’t take a lot of money to lose weight through walking other that the cost of your shoes and that’s a lot less than a weight loss program or the monthly fee to join a gym.

Walking for weight loss is a good idea for anyone who hates the thought of spending hours working out. If you enjoy being outdoors, go take a walk through the park or down a nature trail in your area. If you’d rather watch your favorite sitcoms, invest in a treadmill and walk yourself healthy while you watch TV at night. There is no limit to what you can do with a simple thing like walking, as long as you’re willing to give it a chance.

Come back for the next post where we will cover more about the specifics of walking and how much is necessary to burn off some of your weight.