Throughout all my life and well into my late twenties, I have been a skinny but an athletic person. However, being skinny hardly ever bothered me up until I decided to take up on weight lifting. Consequently, I had joined a gym and started working out. Not knowing how, I figured, the best thing to do was to get advice from the more "seasoned" gym goers. The more "conflicting" advice I received, the more I became confused and the more my results came to a halt. It took me a long while to get a grasp of things and re-educate myself about the 6 most common weight lifting myths, and finally I was on the right track.
If I were to sit down and list the "myths" that surround both the bodybuilding and the fitness worlds, I am pretty sure that I could come up with a list of no less than 30 items. But, for the purposes of this article, I will give you a much shorter list of only 6, all of which I beleive to be very misleading and should be avoided at all costs.
Now let's go ahead and start examining the 6 most common weight lifting myths:
1)You will grow more if you work out more often;
When I started working out I was told that I should follow a 6 days a week workout routine. At the time it sounded like an excellent idea. However, as the time passed by, following such a routine became a harder task to perform. I was always tired and felt burned out with no visible improvements in muscle mass and strenght to show for.
In my opinion, this is by far the most damaging advice of them all which could be given to a beginner bodybuilder. Unknowingly, you will assume that in order to gain more muscle mass, you will need to workout more, which, in return, will lead you right into over-training. Remember your muscles grow while resting, not when you are working out. If you work out more often than you need, the end result will be zero growth with possible injuries.
2)You can reshape your muscles by doing specific exercises;
It is widely believed that by doing certain exercises you can change the shape of your muscles. For the absolute novice, it is impossible to "reshape" your muscles. It does not matter which exercise you use; whether a compound or an isolation exercise, if enough stress is applied, the targeted muscle will grow as a whole and the shape of it will ultimately depend on your genetic make up.
In short, as an example, if you have high insertion points on your back, chances are that even after you gain 20-30lbs. of muscle mass, your insertion points on your back will still be relatively high.
3)Do higher reps to get cut up;
I do not know who invented this weight lifting myth, but if the "inventor" were to be given $1.00 for each time the phrase is used, he/she would have become a billionaire by now. Joking aside, almost everybody who wants to get shredded religiously start using higher reps(15+). Even many of the top personal trainers nowadays have joined the bandwagon and have been recommending "higher reps for cuts" myth to their clients.
The key to getting "cut up" is by burning a higher number of calories than you use as energy. Granted, if you do higher number of reps(15+) for a muscle group, you will burn some calories. But, you will be able to burn even a higher number of calories if you work the same muscle group out with a mixture of heavy weights(6-8 reps max),diet and aerobic exercise.
4)You have to shock your muscles and keep them guessing to promote growth;
The idea behind this common weight lifting myth is that your muscles get used to the same workout routine and in order to promote growth, you must change the exercises. Well, a muscle can only do three things, get bigger, get smaller, and stay the same size. And to promote size, you definitely do not have to keep your muscles guessing. If you apply enough, progressive force, regardless of you use a dumbell, a barbell or even the same workout routine, your muscles will eventually get bigger.
5)In order to get big you have to eat a very high calorie diet;
No doubt that you will gain size if you follow a very high calorie diet but almost all the weight gained will be in the form of fat. There is a difference between gaining muscle mass and just mass. In order to gain muscle mass, you need to follow a sensible, protein rich, balanced diet.
When I first heard of this "myth", I had started eating a diet consisted on mainly carbs and starches. I figured, the more carbs I could consume, the bigger I could get. Well, I gained the weight all right, but most of the gains were concentrated around my waist and they were all in the form of fat.
This weight lifting myth has become even more popular, especially, with the articles being published in the bodybuilding magazines. With the exclusion of a couple of professional bodybuilders, almost all the pros now are swearing by the benefits of bulking-up through high calorie diets are the mass building phases. One thing to keep in mind is that, unlike a typical professional bodybuilder who is getting assistance from a number of "drugs", by consuming a high calorie diet you will most likely to end up being chubby.
6)If you follow a professional bodybuilders training routine, you will see great results;
Just because professional bodybuilders are claiming to have great results from their workout routines does not mean that you are guaranteed to see results by following the same routines as well. There is no training program that works for everyone. You should be very careful not to fall victim into following such workout programs. If you do, you will be risking injuries and in addition, you will be grossly over-trained. Instead, do your research, and develop your own program according to your needs and your metabolism. You can then reference back to the pro's programs and get some fresh ideas to keep the gains coming.
There you have it. In my opinion these are the 6 most common weight lifting myths that you should avoid at all costs. Next time when somebody tries giving you an advice, rather than blindly accepting it, do a detailed research about it. Once you are informed, then it will be easier for you to weigh the pros and the cons and come up with a training protocol of your own. Remember bodybuilding could be a life altering experience, while enabling you to achieve both physical and mental improvements.
If I were to sit down and list the "myths" that surround both the bodybuilding and the fitness worlds, I am pretty sure that I could come up with a list of no less than 30 items. But, for the purposes of this article, I will give you a much shorter list of only 6, all of which I beleive to be very misleading and should be avoided at all costs.
Now let's go ahead and start examining the 6 most common weight lifting myths:
1)You will grow more if you work out more often;
When I started working out I was told that I should follow a 6 days a week workout routine. At the time it sounded like an excellent idea. However, as the time passed by, following such a routine became a harder task to perform. I was always tired and felt burned out with no visible improvements in muscle mass and strenght to show for.
In my opinion, this is by far the most damaging advice of them all which could be given to a beginner bodybuilder. Unknowingly, you will assume that in order to gain more muscle mass, you will need to workout more, which, in return, will lead you right into over-training. Remember your muscles grow while resting, not when you are working out. If you work out more often than you need, the end result will be zero growth with possible injuries.
2)You can reshape your muscles by doing specific exercises;
It is widely believed that by doing certain exercises you can change the shape of your muscles. For the absolute novice, it is impossible to "reshape" your muscles. It does not matter which exercise you use; whether a compound or an isolation exercise, if enough stress is applied, the targeted muscle will grow as a whole and the shape of it will ultimately depend on your genetic make up.
In short, as an example, if you have high insertion points on your back, chances are that even after you gain 20-30lbs. of muscle mass, your insertion points on your back will still be relatively high.
3)Do higher reps to get cut up;
I do not know who invented this weight lifting myth, but if the "inventor" were to be given $1.00 for each time the phrase is used, he/she would have become a billionaire by now. Joking aside, almost everybody who wants to get shredded religiously start using higher reps(15+). Even many of the top personal trainers nowadays have joined the bandwagon and have been recommending "higher reps for cuts" myth to their clients.
The key to getting "cut up" is by burning a higher number of calories than you use as energy. Granted, if you do higher number of reps(15+) for a muscle group, you will burn some calories. But, you will be able to burn even a higher number of calories if you work the same muscle group out with a mixture of heavy weights(6-8 reps max),diet and aerobic exercise.
4)You have to shock your muscles and keep them guessing to promote growth;
The idea behind this common weight lifting myth is that your muscles get used to the same workout routine and in order to promote growth, you must change the exercises. Well, a muscle can only do three things, get bigger, get smaller, and stay the same size. And to promote size, you definitely do not have to keep your muscles guessing. If you apply enough, progressive force, regardless of you use a dumbell, a barbell or even the same workout routine, your muscles will eventually get bigger.
5)In order to get big you have to eat a very high calorie diet;
No doubt that you will gain size if you follow a very high calorie diet but almost all the weight gained will be in the form of fat. There is a difference between gaining muscle mass and just mass. In order to gain muscle mass, you need to follow a sensible, protein rich, balanced diet.
When I first heard of this "myth", I had started eating a diet consisted on mainly carbs and starches. I figured, the more carbs I could consume, the bigger I could get. Well, I gained the weight all right, but most of the gains were concentrated around my waist and they were all in the form of fat.
This weight lifting myth has become even more popular, especially, with the articles being published in the bodybuilding magazines. With the exclusion of a couple of professional bodybuilders, almost all the pros now are swearing by the benefits of bulking-up through high calorie diets are the mass building phases. One thing to keep in mind is that, unlike a typical professional bodybuilder who is getting assistance from a number of "drugs", by consuming a high calorie diet you will most likely to end up being chubby.
6)If you follow a professional bodybuilders training routine, you will see great results;
Just because professional bodybuilders are claiming to have great results from their workout routines does not mean that you are guaranteed to see results by following the same routines as well. There is no training program that works for everyone. You should be very careful not to fall victim into following such workout programs. If you do, you will be risking injuries and in addition, you will be grossly over-trained. Instead, do your research, and develop your own program according to your needs and your metabolism. You can then reference back to the pro's programs and get some fresh ideas to keep the gains coming.
There you have it. In my opinion these are the 6 most common weight lifting myths that you should avoid at all costs. Next time when somebody tries giving you an advice, rather than blindly accepting it, do a detailed research about it. Once you are informed, then it will be easier for you to weigh the pros and the cons and come up with a training protocol of your own. Remember bodybuilding could be a life altering experience, while enabling you to achieve both physical and mental improvements.