There are dozens of crazy fitness claims floating around. Some, despite sounding made up, are actually true whereas others, such as the ones we’re about to share with you, are purely myth. To clear things up, we’ve also included the truth.

Myth: Bright and early is the best time to go for a run.

Truth: The best time for a run is any time of the day that allows you to focus on the task at hand and get an adequate amount of exercise. If you’re busy during the day and have an extra hour at midnight each night, feel free to go on your run in the early hours of the morning.

This myth comes into play mostly because running in the morning may your body burn fat faster during the day, however, going on a run at any other time of day is still beneficial and shouldn’t be discouraged.

Myth: Lifting weights turns fatty tissue into muscle.

Truth: No workout, no matter how intense, will turn fat into muscle. Fat and muscle are two different tissues that are located in different locations. Fat is found beneath the skin and sandwiched between muscles, whereas muscle is found throughout the body.

Lifting weights helps to build muscle inside and around fatty tissue, but unfortunately, it won’t transform fatty tissue into muscle tissue.

Myth: Situps are the key to washboard abs.

Truth: Situps primarily target the abdominal muscles. However, the muscles along your sides and back are also important to the toning and creation of abs. To effectively get a set of washboard abs, you should be focusing more on planking and less on situps.

Myth: It takes two weeks before your body starts to get “out of shape”.

Truth:  In the average person, muscle tissue can start to be broken down within only a week of irregular exercise. To maintain the muscle you’ve so carefully developed, said muscles need to be used regularly. In other words, use it or lose it.

Myth: The more you sweat, the more you burn.

Truth: Sweating has no direct connection to the burning of calories. When your body sweats, it is merely cooling itself down to avoid overheating. Excessive sweating doesn’t mean that more calories are being burned, it only means that your body is becoming too warm.

However, if your body is too warm it is probably because you’re doing an intense workout, which in turn, is burning calories. In this case, the workout is burning the calories, not the sweating.

Myth: Yoga is a good way to burn calories.

Truth: Yoga doesn’t cut it when it comes to burning calories. Many yogis will try to convince you otherwise, however, claiming that the downward dog really does burn a ton of calories. The truth is, though, that a 50-minute power yoga session will only burn around 237 calories, whereas a spi class of the same length can burn up to 500.

Were you shocked by any of these myths? We sure were.