While big chunks of Americas population continue to be ravaged by obesity, causing other problems such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes, there are many millions who choose to prevent those conditions by exercising regularly.

The Centers for Disease Control recently estimated that only 20 percent of us get the recommended amount of daily exercise, says Dr. Brett Osborn, author of Get Serious, A Neurosurgeons Guide to Optimal Health and Fitness, http://www.drbrettosborn.com.

Given our diet and lifestyles, its no wonder that some of our first-world diseases have reached epidemic proportions.

Lets be clear: This is your health. There is nothing more important. If you dont have good health, you will eventually die, preventing you from doing everything else, from spending time with your loved ones to enjoying your money.

If youre going to exercise which Osborn applauds he warns that you will do more harm than good if youve bought into some of the myths and conventional wisdom that is, in fact, simply wrong.

Osborn, an avid bodybuilder, shatters some of those misconceptions:

More exercise is always better. Everyone wants more muscle and less fat, Conventional wisdom says that hours and hours of exercise will achieve those results. Thats completely wrong, Osborn says. Overkill is not only unnecessary, it can be counterproductive. Youll get the best results with a strength-training regimen, tailored to meet your needs, which can be accomplished in three to four hours per week.

More cardio is better than lifting. For all you chronic dieters and cardio enthusiasts out there trying to shed fat, the right strength-training program can boost your metabolism and help burn off more fat. By increasing lean muscle mass, you will increase your basal metabolic rate, BMR. Activated, contracting muscles are the bodys furnace. Excessive cardio and dieting can eat muscle tissue away, compromising this furnace.

Women: But I dont want to look like a man. Females who lift weights wont look like men; they do not have the hormonal support to pile on a significant amount of muscle mass. Female lifters will, however, assume a shapelier figure. In fact, 99.99 percent of men older than 30 do not have the natural hormonal support to do so either. All elite professional bodybuilders use androgenic agents, including steroids.

You need to buy product X. We live in a very money-based culture so much so that we often place the almighty dollar above health. Get out of this mindset, at least regarding exercise. What counts for building muscle includes determination, intensity, consistency and safety. If you think buying the most expensive formula, training uniform or machine is necessary for reaching your potential, youre wrong. Machines often compromise the intensity required for the body you desire.

The rest is here:
Bodybuilder & neurosurgeon debunks five training myths