Muscle-Building Myths Exposed.

When it comes to building muscle, everybody has a lot of advice to give, even if they haven’t touched a barbell in years. Of course, body building and weight training has been around for centuries, but now that it is gaining in popularity, even the myths surrounding weight training are getting more and more popular. This wouldn’t be so much of a problem, except for the fact that if you fall for any of these myths, you’re probably not going be doing yourself much good, and may even land up doing more harm. So to help you stay away from injury and achieve your muscle building goals, we’ve put down a few muscle building myths – and exposed them.

• Performing high reps with light weights will give you muscle definition. This is a popular one propagated by many gym rats. Unfortunately, it just isn’t true. The only way you can get better definition is by lowering your fat percentage. You can achieve this by doing intense cardio and eating less calories than you expend in a day.

• Weight training won’t help you lose weight. Actually, weight training is the best way to lose weight and keep it off. Of course, cardio also helps you to lose weight effectively, as it uses up your calories. But weight training gives you more muscle, which increases your metabolic rate. Because of this, you’re cutting fat even when you’re not exercising. What weight training does is it cuts down on the fat in your body, and adds muscle. Since muscle weighs more than fat, it may seem like you aren’t losing weight, but you will get strong and fitter, and certainly look better.

• Women who lift weights will become huge. There are a lot of women in the gym who say they don’t want to lift weights because they ‘don’t want to get huge’ or ‘don’t want to look like men.’ Because of this, they use the little pink colored weights on the rack. The truth is that women just can’t put on muscle the same way that men do. That’s because men have a hormone called testosterone in their bodies, in much, much larger quantities than women. This is the hormone that’s responsible for burning fat and spurring muscle growth. The top bodybuilding women you see are often on very different diets and are using testosterone to get there. If you’re a woman and you want a firm, toned body, weight lifting should definitely be a part of your exercise routine.

• You should eat all the proteins you can. Of course, proteins are good for you, because it’s the protein you consume that help to repair and build more muscle. Keep in

mind that your body can only process a limited amount of protein. It’s possible to get all this protein naturally, without any supplements. If you’re consuming too much protein, too quickly, all that’s happening is that your kidney is throwing this out of your body, turning it into very expensive piss.

• Sports drinks can help you in the gym. Another myth that’s very beneficial to the makers of these drinks, and there’s always some guy in the gym guzzling a fluorescent green drink. It’s true that sports drinks give you energy, but you have to understand how they work before you spend all that money on them. They’re main ingredients are sodium, which retains water, and sugar, which the body converts to energy. In a gym, you just won’t sweat as much for all that sodium to come in handy. The carbs you get from the drink will only come into play around an hour or two after you consume the drink, meaning your workout will be over before you can use them. They’re great for endurance sports like marathon running, though. If you’re in the gym, all you need is plain old water.

• The more you work out, the bigger you get. Contrary to popular belief, the time you spend in the gym actually breaks down your muscle fibers. They’re only built up bigger and stronger in the time you spend resting. That’s why short, intense workouts will do a lot more for you, if you devote enough time to resting your muscles.

So, get rid of your preconceived notions. Remember that it’s the quality of your workout that will do wonders for your muscles building and not just the quantity. Use a systematic approach to achieve your goals and don’t listen to what every Tom, Dick and Arnie tells you.

Your Name:
Your E-Mail: