Fitness Myth #1: No pain, no gain.

If you haven't worked out in a while, or if you're trying a new kind of exercise, you will probably be sore the next day. Believe it or not, that's a good thing. These aches are called "delayed onset muscle soreness". This means that the workout created "good" micro-tears in the muscles, which heal on their own and make you stronger.

How can you tell the difference between muscle soreness and muscle damage: If soreness lasts more than 48 hours, you've overdone it. This level of muscle damage can take six weeks to heal.

Fitness Myth #2: You need to break a sweat for exercise to work.

Many people think," If I'm not dripping with sweat, I'm not working hard enough." Sweat isn't a good indicator of how hard you're working because too many factors affect perspiration. People sweat at different rates, plus, weather meaning the temperature and humidity make a difference too. A better measure of effort is your heart rate.

If you do 100 crunches, you'd expect to burn major belly fat. Unfortunately, your body just doesn't work that way. There's no direct metabolic connection between abdominal muscles and the fat cells surrounding them. The body pulls fat from all over. It's sent to the liver to be converted into fatty acids, which travel back to your muscles as fuel, which means any fat your body recruits for energy when you're doing repeated sit-ups could come from the arms, thighs, butt and tummy.

So what's the secret to shedding belly fat or any fat? Follow a balanced program of cardio and strength training, plus eat a healthy diet. But don't give up the crunches. Even if you're not losing tummy fat, abs workouts help tone and suck in that flabby belly, giving the appearance of a slimmer waist. Plus, toning happens faster than weight loss. It's one of the speediest ways to see changes in your body.

Shorter workouts can get you in the best shape of your life and still allow time for work, raising kids and cuddle time with your honey. Mini-workouts, 10 minutes three times a day, are just as effective as a continuous 30-minute workout. But there's a catch: You have to work harder. The key to spending less time in the gym is to keep the intensity high.

Weight loss requires burning more calories than you take in. It's just easier and smarter to control what
you take in. Exercise does burns calories, but not enough to make up for a daily French fry habit. For
example, running a mile is hard, yet it only burns 100 calories, and won't make up for a large 500-calorie
packet of fries. Exercise allows you to eat some of the things you crave, but you still have to eat well
regularly to balance your diet. Meaning workouts can help balance an occasional high-calorie splurge.

A weight room can be intimidating for women, but it's not a men-only zone. Lifting weights can help women tone up, slim down and still keep their girlish figures. Women aren't wired to build bulky muscles because they don't produce enough testosterone. Weight-lifting can help women develop sleek muscle, which improves body shape and fitness. Another advantage is that resistance training increasesa woman's bone density and allows more efficient fat burning. It also improves posture, muscle tone,
endurance and strength.

There's no single perfect time to exercise. It depends on you. If you constantly hit the snooze button to postpone a 5 a.m. workout, rethink your goals. The best time of day to exercise is whenever you'll actually do it. That could mean lunchtime, after work or later in the evening. If working out in the evening replaces sitting on the couch, watching TV and eating junk food, do it. As the day goes on, excuses tend to pile up and eventually workouts are skipped altogether. This is why for many people; a morning workout is best because they're less likely to be distracted later on. So pick a time when you have the most energy, need the stress release or have the best chance of making exercise a habit.

Don't be a slave to the scale. A pound is a pound, whether it's made up of muscle, fat or feathers. Muscle is more compact than fat, so it takes up less space in your body. This explains why the scale may not budge, even as your belt gets looser and clothes fit better.

Most of us want to drop a few pounds, but weight loss shouldn't be the only reason to get moving. In fact, if you stopped focusing on the scale and how your body looks, you might notice that exercise makes you feel better. A regular dose of cardio, strength-training, flexibility and balance exercises fights stress and improves brain and nervous system function.

Staying hydrated during a workout is important, but unless you'll be sweating it out for 90 minutes or more, don't drink anything but water. The body's not working so hard that it'll run out of electrolytes or glucose, so a sports drink will only add unnecessary calories to your diet. But go for a sports drink with longer workouts because it's electrolytes help you sweat more efficiently so you retain precious water.