4 Horrible Bodybuilding Myths Busted
By Jason
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This article is a special guest post written by RT from Real Muscle Online.
When you start to learn about bodybuilding and weight lifting you also start to hear a lot of myths. People will tell you all sorts of thing to either make themselves sound expert or to try to sell you something. So for any newbies out there here are four horrible weight lifting myths… busted!
MYTH 1 - Light weights tone your muscles
This is the worst myth of all. I see so many websites where “professionals” are telling their readers to use light weights if they want to tone their muscles. It is an absolute myth.
Muscles themselves do not actually “tone”. Toning is the process of removing fat that is covering the muscles. So if you want to tone your muscles you should still lift heavy so as to gain as much mass as possible, but start fixing your diet and doing more cardio. This is the only way to get toned.
MYTH 2 - You need as much protein as possible
Protein is the hot word when it comes to bodybuilding circles. And what I am about to say now is probably going to get me into lots of trouble. But I don’t care; I am trying to help!
Too much protein is not a good thing. Instead we should be trying to get quality protein from natural and healthy sources. It is a much better idea to have a more moderate amount of quality protein than to have huge amounts of dead, cooked and lifeless protein.
Why? Well protein is made up of enzymes that are in certain shapes. When you heat those enzymes they lose their shape and no longer form proteins as well as they used to. All protein poweder, whey, soy supplements, etc. are heated to massive temperatures to kill the bacteria. It is dead.
Try some natural sources like free range eggs from well fed chickens, raw goats milk that is uncooked and so on. You’ll be surprised at the difference.
MYTH 3 - More sets equals more muscle growth
While this myth can be true in certain scenarios it is not true for the majority of people reading this article. More sets does not mean more muscles. It means sloppy technique, weak muscle contraction and underutilized muscles. What this means is that if you are pumping out eight sets for each exercise you probably aren’t lifting as much weight as you could be. Try cutting back to half that amount of sets and increase the weight.
MYTH 4 - You should do lots of cardio to get cut
Bodybuilders often fall into the trap of getting on the treadmill for hours at a time when they want to lose fat and cut up. This is a big mistake.
The problem with this is that long bouts of cardio burn muscle. All that hard earn mass that you have been busting your guts for will start to burn with the fat.
Instead of long sessions of cardio try fixing your diet and cutting calories. Weight training is, in itself, an excellent fat burner. If you still aren’t seeing the results you are after then get into some high intensity cardio that only goes for 15 minutes or so. This is an excellent way to speed up your metabolism without sacrificing muscle mass.
Conclusion
Bodybuilding is shrouded in myths, lies and deciet. Many of these lies are designed to sell products like protein and steroids. Make sure you always do your research before trying any new exercise or food product and always put your health before muscle gains.
Topics: Exercises and Routines, Rest & Recovery |