I really hate this one. With their lies, the muscle magazines have done amazing harm to an entire generation of males. The muscle magazines have told us that all we have to do is "train with intensity" and we can be 320lbs of muscle just like them. They show the workout routines of pro-bodybuilders and imply that if you are not as muscular as them then you are just too lazy. They have been incredibly dishonest. The part they leave out is that the intense bodybuilding routine is only one small part of the picture, the main part is the massive quantities of steroids that the pro's are using.
I personally have never known anyone who could approach the mass of a pro-bodybuilder naturally. Check out one of the natural/vegetarian bodybuilding contests and you will see what I mean. Please dont be hard on yourself if you are training as hard as you can and have not achieved the results you want, it is possible what you want is not realistic or healthy. Everybody has different genetics and different body types, what you can achieve depends not only on how hard you work out (which you have control over) and your genetics (which you have no control over).
Showing posts with label Stupid Myths. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Stupid Myths. Show all posts
The Toning Myth
"What's a good toning exercise for ..."
If I hear either of these phrases uttered again I will scream! There is no such thing as a toning exercise! "Toning" is an imprecise and dangerous term and its not just an academic issue, its important to your success.
The problem is that "toning" has no exact meaning and thus results cannot be measured or obtained. If you tell your trainer that you want to get a "toned body", you are set up for failure from the start!
When you grill people who are "toning" what it is they are trying to accomplish, most of them say they just want their muscles harder. Well, news for you. The way to make your muscles "harder" is not to lift weights but to remove that layer of fat under the skin and to do this requires cardio and reduced caloric intake - not weight lifting!
Pot And Bodybuilding
Three cheers for California's Proposition 19 (Legalization of Marijuana)! Many people took my video here as anti-pot, it wasnt! I went out of my way saying I was for the legalization of marijuana. Stress causes high blood pressure and I think one could make a very good case that lowering stress levels with an occasional joint could be a much healthier way of managing high blood pressure than the hundreds of millions of high blood pressure pills that Americans pop every year.
Having said that, pot and bodybuilding dont mix if you are a serious bodybuilder or serious athlete! If you need your fitness level to be at 100% of maximum then smoking pot is a bad idea. If you are a casual bodybuilder or just interested in being fit, then smoke away (as long as you do it legally). However, if you are a serious bodybuilder you need to avoid pot for the following reasons:
Having said that, pot and bodybuilding dont mix if you are a serious bodybuilder or serious athlete! If you need your fitness level to be at 100% of maximum then smoking pot is a bad idea. If you are a casual bodybuilder or just interested in being fit, then smoke away (as long as you do it legally). However, if you are a serious bodybuilder you need to avoid pot for the following reasons:
Masturbation Myth
First of all, this is a clinical discussion about biology not morality. If you feel guilty about masturbation or are wondering about the morality then stop reading now and talk to your parents or someone at your church. If you might be offended, please read no further. If you wish to continue then please scroll down.
"Masturbation reduces your testosterone levels so you cant build muscle" "Masturbation depletes you protein reserves so you cant build muscle"
"Masturbation will cause one arm to disproportionately large and muscular"
Surprisingly I have gotten many questions about this subject otherwise it would have never occurred to me to include this but apparently there are many myths about bodybuilding and masturbation. Lets take the first one, "Masturbation reduces your testosterone levels so you cant build muscle". Sex drive is a result of testosterone, not the other way around. There has never been a study which even hinted that masturbation might reduce testosterone levels. Lets take the second one "Masturbation depletes you protein reserves so you cant build muscle". OK, this is just ridiculous.
"Masturbation will cause one arm to disproportionately large and muscular"
Raw Eggs Myth
No! Raw eggs are NOT good for you, in fact, they can make you very, very sick. We have Hollywood and the "Rocky" movies to thank for this stupid myth. First of all, raw egg protein is NOT superior to cooked egg protein. Second, just because something is disgusting doesn't make it good for you. Third, the cooking kills the salmonella bacteria which can make you very, very sick. Guess how much progress you will make in your bodybuilding program if you are have explosive diarrhea and puking for two weeks? No progress at all! Get salmonella and you will be week as a kitten for a month. Please don't eat raw eggs!
Bodybuilding Stunts Growth Myth
I often get questions from teens asking if bodybuilding will stunt their growth, the answer is 'No!'. Don't believe me? Then read the policy statement from the American Academy of Pediatrics. Bodybuilding will NOT stunt your growth!
Bodybuilding wont stunt your growth but there ARE three things that will - steroids, some supplements, and poor nutrition. Lets talk about poor nutrition first. The body needs proper nutrition to develop to its full height. Its proven that malnutrition can seriously stunt growth. Now, nobody can tell you for sure if poor nutrition will stunt your growth by just a hair or by two inches, but why take a chance? Eat well! Pass on the chips, fried foods, and donuts and eat vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and lean meats instead.
Bodybuilding wont stunt your growth but there ARE three things that will - steroids, some supplements, and poor nutrition. Lets talk about poor nutrition first. The body needs proper nutrition to develop to its full height. Its proven that malnutrition can seriously stunt growth. Now, nobody can tell you for sure if poor nutrition will stunt your growth by just a hair or by two inches, but why take a chance? Eat well! Pass on the chips, fried foods, and donuts and eat vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and lean meats instead.
Muscle Turns To Fat Myth
"Bodybuilding is bad, if you stop the muscle turns into fat!"
This has been rattled off so many times that it is "common wisdom". Think about how ridiculous this statement is! The alchemists of ancient Greece were never successful in turning one material into another and neither are we. There is no biological pathway for muscle to "turn into fat". Like all myths, this one has a grain of truth. If you stop working out you lose strength and muscle mass, no mystery here. Exercise uses calories, if you stop working out and don't decrease your food intake then you get fat.
Put those two facts together and you see why this myth got started. Making matters worse is that many bodybuilders thrive on the monthly gains and the endorphins produced so when they stop, mild depression can set in. Many people overeat when depressed, making the transition from muscular stud to obesity quite rapidly.
This has been rattled off so many times that it is "common wisdom". Think about how ridiculous this statement is! The alchemists of ancient Greece were never successful in turning one material into another and neither are we. There is no biological pathway for muscle to "turn into fat". Like all myths, this one has a grain of truth. If you stop working out you lose strength and muscle mass, no mystery here. Exercise uses calories, if you stop working out and don't decrease your food intake then you get fat.
Put those two facts together and you see why this myth got started. Making matters worse is that many bodybuilders thrive on the monthly gains and the endorphins produced so when they stop, mild depression can set in. Many people overeat when depressed, making the transition from muscular stud to obesity quite rapidly.
The Spot Fat Removal Myth
What exercise gets rid of love-handles? What exercise gets rid of man-boobs?
Of all the bad bodybuilding myths, this is the one I hate the most because unscrupulous skamsters use this myth to convince uninformed people to spend millions of dollars on their useless machines. Just turn on the TV late at night and you are sure to hear ridiculous claims like "targets fat in the troublesome love handle region".
So how can you get rid of the unwanted fat on your stomach, hips, thighs, or chest? Cardio and Nutrition! For more information see my section on getting 6-pack abs. The body decides how it will distribute the fat over your body, all you can do to get rid of love-handles or man-boobs is to reduce your total bodyfat by doing more aerobic exercise and by eating less. It is not possible to do spot-removal of fat despite the million dollar industry which tries to sell a gullible public one "love-handle remover" after another!
The myth that you can remove fat in focused areas by doing special exercises is not new. The vibrating belts of the '50s were promoted for fat removal around the mid-section. Its just not possible to focus fat removal on a particular area, surgery is the only way to do spot-removal of fat deposits. There are some drugs (like AZT) that cause the body to redistribute fat and focus it in the mid section but as far as I know, nobody has been able to do this in a desirable fashion.
Of all the bad bodybuilding myths, this is the one I hate the most because unscrupulous skamsters use this myth to convince uninformed people to spend millions of dollars on their useless machines. Just turn on the TV late at night and you are sure to hear ridiculous claims like "targets fat in the troublesome love handle region".
So how can you get rid of the unwanted fat on your stomach, hips, thighs, or chest? Cardio and Nutrition! For more information see my section on getting 6-pack abs. The body decides how it will distribute the fat over your body, all you can do to get rid of love-handles or man-boobs is to reduce your total bodyfat by doing more aerobic exercise and by eating less. It is not possible to do spot-removal of fat despite the million dollar industry which tries to sell a gullible public one "love-handle remover" after another!
The myth that you can remove fat in focused areas by doing special exercises is not new. The vibrating belts of the '50s were promoted for fat removal around the mid-section. Its just not possible to focus fat removal on a particular area, surgery is the only way to do spot-removal of fat deposits. There are some drugs (like AZT) that cause the body to redistribute fat and focus it in the mid section but as far as I know, nobody has been able to do this in a desirable fashion.
The Shaping Myth
"What exercise can I do to peak my biceps?"
"What exercise will work my lower chest?"
All the bodybuilding magazines give exercise routines work the lower pec to give that massive drooping slab of pectoral muscle or an exercise routine that works the biceps peak to give that Mount Everest-like like peak. The truth is you cant shape muscles, you can only make the whole muscle bigger or smaller. A muscle is just like a rubber band, it provides a pulling motion between its two attach points.
You can make that muscle bigger or smaller with exercise but you cant change its shape any more than you can make a rubber band bigger in one particular spot by pulling it in a special way. So why are some people's biceps shaped like fish and others like baseballs? Unfortunately, its genetics and there isn't a whole lot you can do about it. What you can do though is come up with isolation exercises that can exercise one muscle and make it bigger while leaving the surrounding muscles unchanged. If you want a big inner chest then what you have to do is train hard to add a couple of pounds of muscle to your chest and some of it will go on the inner chest.
"What exercise will work my lower chest?"
All the bodybuilding magazines give exercise routines work the lower pec to give that massive drooping slab of pectoral muscle or an exercise routine that works the biceps peak to give that Mount Everest-like like peak. The truth is you cant shape muscles, you can only make the whole muscle bigger or smaller. A muscle is just like a rubber band, it provides a pulling motion between its two attach points.
You can make that muscle bigger or smaller with exercise but you cant change its shape any more than you can make a rubber band bigger in one particular spot by pulling it in a special way. So why are some people's biceps shaped like fish and others like baseballs? Unfortunately, its genetics and there isn't a whole lot you can do about it. What you can do though is come up with isolation exercises that can exercise one muscle and make it bigger while leaving the surrounding muscles unchanged. If you want a big inner chest then what you have to do is train hard to add a couple of pounds of muscle to your chest and some of it will go on the inner chest.
Bulking and Cutting Myth
In the muscle magazines you always hear about 'bulking' up then 'cutting' down before a contest, should you do this too? NO! NO! NO! Do you have to get fat to gain muscle? NO! Wild weight swings are not good for your body . There is no reason at all that you cant gain muscle AND lose fat at the same time with good nutrition, weightlifting and cardio. It is much easier (and healthier) to keep your body fat low year-round than it is to pig out for a few months and then have to diet for 4 months to get all the fat back off.
Why not be ripped all the time rather than just one month a year????? It's easier, better for your body, looks better, AND its easier - who likes dieting anyway.OK, here's the basic problem. Most people who work out really hard can only expect to gain 5lbs muscle in a year, almost an imperceptible amount. Adding muscle is a very slow process, its the dirty little secret of fitness that nobody is willing to talk about. Americans spend millions on all kinds of products that promise to deliver more than this but all that happens is their wallets get lighter. "How do I add weight?" is a question I hear all the time which shows how confused many people are. Many people want to see that fast weight gain so they eat like pigs and fool themselves into thinking that its all muscle when if fact its mostly fat. One day they wake up and find themselves stronger but fat.
Why not be ripped all the time rather than just one month a year????? It's easier, better for your body, looks better, AND its easier - who likes dieting anyway.OK, here's the basic problem. Most people who work out really hard can only expect to gain 5lbs muscle in a year, almost an imperceptible amount. Adding muscle is a very slow process, its the dirty little secret of fitness that nobody is willing to talk about. Americans spend millions on all kinds of products that promise to deliver more than this but all that happens is their wallets get lighter. "How do I add weight?" is a question I hear all the time which shows how confused many people are. Many people want to see that fast weight gain so they eat like pigs and fool themselves into thinking that its all muscle when if fact its mostly fat. One day they wake up and find themselves stronger but fat.
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