muscle-building-myths

Building muscle is an incredibly difficult process and if you don’t know what you’re doing, it becomes even more difficult. There is a ton of misleading information out there and quite honestly I get confused sometimes as well, despite my 20 years of contribution to the fitness community. But I’ve come a long way over the years and have learned a lot about how to gain muscle fast, lose weight fast and get into incredible shape and I know pretty much everything it takes to do so. I also know that there are things out there that although we might want to believe, are simply false and have no benefit in the fitness world. These are what I call myths and they are very prevalent in the bodybuilding world as well.

Here are 10 muscle building myths that you need to be aware of:

#1. Weight Lifting Will Hurt Your Joints 

This myth has existed for a while and there is absolutely no valid scientific evidence backing this claim. Lifting weights will not only not you’re your joints, it is good for them. Weightlifting can actually improve your joints by letting more muscle fibers recruit there.

#2 Lifting Weights Will Make You Bulky

lifting-weights-will-make-you-bulky

Many women buy into this myth, but it is simple a fallacy. Women simply don’t have the male testosterone to build muscle, so this is irrelevant for them and for you guys out there who are afraid of getting bulky, just keep in mind that a pound of muscle weighs less than a pound of fat so this argument is invalid.

#3. You Should Workout As Much As Possible 

Unlike most things in life, putting additional work in the gym can cause more harm than good. You always need to make sure that you’re allowing adequate recovery time for your muscles, since muscle growth does not occur inside the gym – it occurs outside the gym when your muscles are resting. If you workout too much you will simply overtrain. I would train a maximum of 5 days per week.

#4. Women Shouldn’t Train As Intensely As Men

 No. In order to pack on lean mass you take the same approach; rather you are a male or female. That approach is to lift heavy weights until failure and to focus on getting stronger each workout, by increasing the number of reps or weight you do.

#5. There Are No Good Supplements 

there-are-no-good-supplements

Although there are plenty of bogus supplements out there on the market that are totally ineffective and may do more harm than good, there are also some supplements out there which can have the exact opposite effect. Like I said with the protein supplements, you first need to do your research before investing in any dietary supplements. But I have used several types of supplements in the past and I can tell you from experience that the best supplements are definitely the basic ones. The basic supplements that will allow you to pack on the most significant amount of muscle includes a testosterone booster, whey protein and creatine.

Testosterone builds muscle mass and low testosterone turns muscle to fat. Men facing low levels of the hormone can benefit significantly from testosterone treatment. In the same scenario, HGH and weight loss studies shows that this human growth hormone therapy does what no other weight loss program does – it helps you to lose weight, melt fat and at the same time helps you to build muscles.

#6. Lifting Slowly Builds More Muscle 

Lifting weights slowly will not result in an increase in muscle size, training slowly is simply a unique technique to weightlifting. Of course it is a great technique to change up your workout routine from time to time, but lifting slowly is not magic.

#7. Stability Balls Are Superior To Benches 

Don’t get me wrong, stability balls are an excellent workout tool and have been around for many years. Although stability balls can stabilize your body, they really aren’t effective at building muscle. If you want to gain muscle you simply need to focus on lifting weights and nothing else.

#8. Stretching Reduces Your Risk of Injury 

Stretching before your workouts can definitely reduce the risk of injury, but it won’t equate into more muscle growth.

stretching-reduces-your-risk-of-injury

#9. You Can Be Big and Not Strong 

In order to get bigger muscles, your muscles first have to increase in size first. Quite simply, stronger muscles mean bigger muscles so if you’re not gaining in size then I don’t see how you could pack on a substantial amount of muscle mass.

#10. Protein Shakes Are Of No Benefit 

Although there are several protein supplements on the market which are of no benefit and can do more harm than good, there are also some high quality ones as well. Always make sure that you do your research before buying any supplements, to make sure that they are not only safe, but effective as well.

Avoid these 10 muscle building myths and you will be on the road to success in no time. Building muscle really isn’t difficult; it’s only difficult if you make it difficult on yourself. Just take this advice seriously and don’t pay attention to anybody who tells you otherwise and you’ll be golden.