A lot of myths and misconceptions abound about doing exercise in Nigeria.

If you’ve found yourself believing some of these exercise misconceptions, it is time to clear up any confusion you might have. We have put together 6 common misconceptions about exercise that should help you on your journey to keep fit and lose weight:

1. Exercise does not help me lose weight

Many people complain that they are not seeing results after doing exercise for any specific period of time. Once reason why this may be so, is the failure to set goals.

Do you exercise without a clear goal in mind? Having a clear goal set is a critical step in exercise and weight loss success. Writing down your current weight, your target weight loss, the days you perform physical activity can help you set proper goals. By tracking your progress in a journal, you will be able you see your improvements, if any. This should help motivate you to perform better and help you meet your ultimate goal.

2. If I’m not in pain, I haven’t exercised

One common misconception is that ‘no pain, no gain’. This is not so, pain is simply your body’s way of letting you know something is wrong. You should not ignore this.

When you go beyond a certain limit of exercise that you are used to, you will encounter physical discomfort.

You need to develop your level of fitness gradually. Many people who start an exercise regimen, later on find themselves quitting because they have overstressed themselves. It is normal for you to hurt after you exercise, but it must be done gradually with a good amount of rest periods to allow proper healing.

You can cause long lasting damage to muscles, tendons and ligaments if you work out while you are in pain, without allowing enough rest time to heal. You might find yourself in constant and long lasting pain if you do this which means that you will no longer be able to exercise.

You need to learn to “read” your body. Is the heavy breathing because you are pushing your body or could it be the beginning of a heart attack. Exercise is important. Do it correctly and you can do it for the rest of your life.

3. Quantity is the same as quality

One common mistake people make is sacrificing quality for quantity. When you spend 10 minutes resting after doing 10 minutes of exercise, you may fool yourself into thinking you have been exercising for 20 minutes.

When you begin any exercise session, make sure you take away an distractions, time spent on the phone or chatting with your friend at the gym, is time you could have spent doing something useful.

Also overstressing yourself on one day will also make it less likely that you do any exercise the next day.

4. Weight training is for men

Many people believe that women should not carry weights. The truth is that weight training can help a woman strengthen and tone muscle, burn fat and increase metabolism. Women cannot get bulky from carrying weights as they do not produce enough of testosterone to build muscle mass the way that men do.

So the next time you go to the gym, don’t be afraid to lift weights. Ask you gym instructor for help if you do not know what to do.

5. Exercise is for professionals

It is not only sports men that need to do exercise. While performing regular exercise is usually required for professional sportsmen, the average person also requires exercise to keep the body in a good shape and maintain good health.

Exercise not only benefits every part of the body, but it can help improve your mood, stamina and sex life.

Exercise and physical activity also helps protect you from heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity etc.

6. I’m too old to do exercise

While exercise and any form of physical activity can be demanding, there are lots of exercises adapted to different ages.

Exercise will help keep, improve health and improve your physical shape. Exercise is beneficial to everyone young and old and can be adapted for older people and even for people suffering from different affections specific to old age.

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