Muscle-Building Myths Debunked

In most of the articles I write, I enjoy talking about “how to do…,” or, “5 ways to…” but this week I wanted to switch it up.

Other than how-tos and ways to improve your health and fitness, one of my favorite things to do is to call out b.s. and debunk common myths in the health and fitness space. I absolutely love shedding light on things that have lead people astray for far too long.

That is what I’m here for today. We are going to shed some light on some muscle-building myths in order to give you more insight on what you REALLY should be doing to improve your lean muscle mass.

MYTH #1 - YOU HAVE TO BE IN A CALORIE SURPLUS TO BUILD MUSCLE

Calories in and calories out seems to be the name of the game when it comes to building muscle and losing body fat.

And it should be. Well, most of the time.

When it comes to nutrition, the law of thermodynamics basically says that our body needs to be expending more calories than we are taking in to lose weight, and taking in more calories than we are expending in order to gain weight. So in theory, we would need to be taking in more calories than we are burning in the day in order to build lean muscle, a.k.a., calorie surplus.

This is true most of the time, but not all of the time. We also have this thing in the world of health and fitness that we like to call nutrient partitioning. All this means is that your body may send calories certain directions for certain results. The body may send calories that you are taking in for fat gain, or for muscle gain. It all just depends on the signal you are sending to your body.

If you are sending a signal to your body to get stronger and build muscle (a common signal you would send if you are weight lifting properly), the body may “partition” calories to build muscle. All it needs is calories.

We know that calories come from the food that we eat. But, we also have stored energy in our body. So in theory, it is possible for you body to use stored energy to benefit the muscle building signal that you are sending through your training program. In theory, you may not have to be in a calorie surplus at all.

Is this all talk, or is it really a thing?

It’s really a thing.

There is tons of evidence suggesting that the body can use stored calories for muscle building if it isn’t getting excess calories from food. I’ve seen it first hand in plenty of the clients that I’ve trained over the years. Their goal is fat loss, so we have them in a slight calorie deficit (burning more than they take in), yet the body builds muscle.

The body can take stored energy and use it to build muscle! Does this mean that your body turns fat into muscle? Well, not really. All it may be doing is using the stored calories as energy to benefit the muscle building response that the body is getting from lifting. Crazy.

I will say, though, that this is far more common in untrained and overweight individuals. Those that are intermediate, advanced, and/or lean lifters may very well need to be in a caloric surplus to build muscle.

MYTH #2 - DO 8-12 REPS TO BUILD MUSCLE

There are times when I am skeptical toward scientific studies, and this is one of them.

If you were to look at a collection of studies that look at what rep ranges build the most amount of muscle, you would come to a conclusion that most will tell you 8-12 reps is the sweet spot for muscle building.

This conclusion has lead many people to lift between 8-12 reps forever in order to build muscle. Yet, they find themselves getting stuck.

Something that is very hard to take into account during studies is the many individuals’ history with exercise, as well as how long the outcomes of the study affect the individuals. For example, a study may show that 8-12 reps was the best rep range to build muscle for the 6-week study. But what about after that?

If there is one thing that training hundreds of individuals has taught me, it’s that “it depends” is almost always the right answer to any question. Same goes for the best rep range to build muscle.

The best rep range to build muscle depends on what your body has been used to. We know that the body is an adaptation machine. Lift weights and it will get stronger. Do long distance running and it will be come more efficient. It’s pretty fascinating. The same applies for rep ranges and muscle-building. If you’ve been doing 8-12 reps for the past 6 months, it’s likely you haven’t been building muscle for quite some time. You may build more muscle doing 12-15 reps, or maybe even 4-8 reps. If you’ve been feeling like you’re spinning your wheels, it’s time to change it up.

People build muscle doing 4-6 reps. People build muscle doing 15-20 reps. It all just depends on what the body is used to, and what it hasn’t been exposed to.

MYTH #3 - SHOCK THE BODY BY CHANGING YOUR ROUTINE OFTEN

Shocking the body is something that got popular somehow someway with the stereotypical gym bros. The idea is that you always want to keep your body guessing that way it can never adapt and you will continually see progress.

The obsession with shocking the body got out of control, and those wanting to build serious muscle started changing their workouts up far too often.

As we know, more isn’t always better.

Changing your routine is good, but it should only be done every 3-6 weeks. You see, it is good to shock the body and make sure it isn’t getting too used to what it’s doing. But we still want to give it the opportunity to reap the most benefit from the exercise we are giving it. If we change things up too often, our body won’t have a chance to adapt and change for the better.

Our body has to be exposed to a certain routine and stimulus for a period of time for it to improve. Think of it like a skill in a sport. If you want to improve your ability to swing a bat, you wouldn’t want to practice swinging a bat one day and then swinging a tennis racket for another. You would want to get plenty of reps in with the bat. It’s a similar concept with your training. If you want your legs to become stronger, you need to allow them to become as strong as they can with certain exercises, sets, and reps. As soon as progress begins to slow down, that’s the time to switch it up. This window is about 3-6 weeks depending on the individual.

Remember, there is no right answer 100% of the time. It depends on you, so take note of how your body responds, and change things up when it’s time.

THE TAKEAWAYS

If you’re wanting to build muscle, keep the following in mind.

You do not always have to be in a calorie surplus to build muscle. If your body has the right training protocol and stored energy to use, it may be able to build muscle at calorie maintenance or even deficit.

The best rep range for you is the one that you haven’t been doing. You can build muscle in low and high rep ranges.

Don’t spend too much or too little time in a routine. Change things up every 3-6 weeks.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Adam is a fitness professional, baseball fan, and cookie fanatic based in Fort Collins, Colorado. After hanging up the cleats, he found a strong interest in the human body and how it performs. Since then, Adam has been transforming lives through fitness in a fun and encouraging atmosphere. As an ACE CPT and Fitness Nutrition Specialist, he is constantly moved to help people improve in all walks of life.

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3 Reasons Girls Aren’t Seeing Results

Yesterday I was at the gym when a girl stopped me and asked me how she can lean up and lose some body fat. Being a fitness professional, I didn’t give her a short answer. After I was done with my long and probably exhausting explanation, I thought to myself, “I’m willing to bet tons of girls are going through the exact same thing she is. It may be beneficial to talk about the things I discussed in that conversation on a blog, podcast, or video of some sort.” So here I am, writing a blog on the 3 reasons girls aren’t seeing results.

As I mentioned, the girl that asked the question wanted to lean up and lose some body fat without losing any muscle. In fact, she thought it would be nice to get a little more muscle while losing that extra body fat. I asked about her training and her nutrition, and as I suspected, she was lacking in all three areas that most girls are. Here they are the reasons she was lacking.

Reason #1: No Strength Training

Unfortunately, it’s been sold (and still is) to girls that in order for them to tone up and lean down, they need to do light weight but lots and lots of repetitions. This advice couldn’t be worse. I’m confident that this advice is actually the demise of the lean body that girls are seeking to achieve.

The reason this advice came about in the first place is because it’s easier to market, and it burns more calories. If the industry told girls they’ll look like guys if they lift any other way, why wouldn’t they do what they’re asking, right? Also, more repetitions means more calories burned during a workout.

Let me tell you a couple of little secrets.

Secret number one is that you won’t look like a guy if you lift heavy weights. Not at all. You simply don’t have enough testosterone flowing through you to see those kinds of significant changes in muscle growth. In fact, after lifting heavy weights, the change you’ll see in muscle is most likely the exact right amount to reach that toned and defined look.

Secret number two is that performing lots of repetitions during your workout in order to burn more calories is an absolute waste of time and energy. The amount of calories that you burn in a day comes from many different places like your BMR (calories burned at rest), NEAT (fidgeting, walking, chores, etc.), exercise, and more. Only 5% of your daily burned calories come from exercise. Only 5%! That’s nothing. On the other hand, 75% of your daily burned calories come from your Basal Metabolic Rate, or calories burned at rest. This is determined largely by the muscle that you have on your body. So, if burning calories is your goal for fat loss, it would be far more wise to spend time focusing on strength when you’re working out in order to increase the amount of calories your body burns at rest.

When we exercise, we send a signal to our body depending on the stimulus we give it. If we perform long distance running, we tell our bodies to be better at long distance running. Our body responds by losing muscle and slowing down the metabolism in order to be more efficient. If we perform moderate lifting with lighter weights, we tell our body to have better muscular endurance. Our bodies respond by slowly improving the amount of times a moderate weight can be lifted before exhaustion. If we perform strength training, we send a signal to our bodies telling them to become better at lifting heavier weights. Our body responds by increasing its lean muscle mass and central nervous system adaptation in order to become more efficient at lifting heavy weights. A direct response of that is a faster metabolism.

So, lift heavy weights. Girls spend most of their time lifting 12 reps or more with a moderate load. Girls, test your strength. Be strong. Spend some time lifting more weight for 4-8 reps. Do some heavy squats, heavy deadlifts, heavy bench presses, heavy overhead presses, and heavy rows. Trust me, you’ll see the change you’ve been looking for.

Reason #2: Too Much Cardio

I alluded to this in the previous reason but it still needs its own section.

Before I move on, let me be clear. I am NOT bashing cardio. As I write I will only be bashing what is called chronic cardio.

Too many people suffer from chronic cardio addiction. They know that cardio burns a lot of calories so they get on the treadmill or stairmaster and they go and go and go. They see results after a short period of time, so they continue to run and climb. More and more and more. After a while, the results start to dwindle. In fact, Hours and hours of cardio are done per week and the results simply don’t come any more. What could be going wrong?

Remember what I said earlier about the signals we sent to our bodies? That’s what’s going on here. The more we do a certain type of training, the better our body gets at that certain type of training. Don’t get me wrong, that’s not a bad thing. We must give our bodies a chance to adapt and become better at that new type of training. But after a while, it’s no longer beneficial to expose our bodies to the same thing over and over and over again. Especially when it comes to long durations of steady-state cardio. When performing these long bouts of cardio on a consistent basis, our body responds by becoming more efficient. It becomes more efficient by getting rid of muscle, and slowing down its metabolism, because those two things aren’t advantageous when it comes to long durations of cardio.

Basically, the body’s metabolism turns into that of a Prius. It goes a long way without burning too much fuel. When it comes to toning, getting leaner, and creating more definition, we want the metabolism of a Ferrari. We want to burn a ton of calories without a lot of effort.

You now know that the Ferrari metabolism comes from strength training.

Does that mean you have to wipe out all cardio? No, of course not. But you definitely should take it down if you’re doing it chronically. I recommend no more than 2, 12-minute HIIT sessions after a couple of your strength training workouts per week. Let your body prioritize building that faster metabolism through your strength training first, and use the HIIT as a supplemental way to burn a few extra calories in the week.

Reason #3: Not Enough Protein

When it comes to building muscle and keeping it, protein (and getting plenty of it) is extremely important. The girl that was asking for advice in the gym was in a common situation that I find a lot of girls in. She doesn’t track her food intake, and therefore has no idea how much protein she is eating in a day. She said she drinks a protein shake after training, but doesn’t have any idea how much protein she consumes outside of that. Unfortunately, if she’s not eating enough protein as is, that supplement she’s spending money on and making a part of her ritual is a complete waste and isn’t doing jack for her. I know for a fact that this is most people.

They are unwilling to track their food intake but they are taking all the “right” supplements for their goals.

Ugh.

Listen, tracking your food intake is something you MUST do if you want to make sure you’re doing the right things to reach your goals. It lets you know everything that is going on. Even the stuff you can’t see. It says “here you go, this is why you’re not reaching your goals.” It gives you the exact problem in order for your to find the exact solution. The unwillingness to track food intake is like a company saying it wants to lower its expenses but is not willing to look at the books and keep a budget.

Track your food.

Tracking your food intake will allow you to see how much food you’re eating, what you’re getting plenty of, and what you’re defficient in. After coaching people for years, I can tell you with confidence that 90% of people seeking to improve their body composition are not eating enough protein.

So, what’s enough?

Thankfully, enough protein isn’t what supplement companies tell you. No, you do not have to eat 2x your bodyweight in protein. Barf.

A good range to live in when it comes to protein is .6-.8g per pound of body weight. Protein isn’t the only thing that aids in muscle growth, but carbs do as well. So, when you’re in an energy surplus (eating more than you burn in a day), you don’t need to have super high protein intake since carbs are there to help you build. Stay within .6-.8g per pound of body weight when in an energy surplus.

Being in an energy deficit is different, and that’s where you’ll most likely be if you’re wanting to lose fat in order to become leaner and more toned. When you’re eating fewer calories than you burn in a day, you’re at risk for losing the muscle that drives your definition and your metabolism due to the lower carb intake you’re probably consuming. You don’t want that. When in an energy deficit and prioritizing fat loss, it’s recommended that you take your protein up to 1g per pound of body weight.

Note that going higher than 1g per pound of bodyweight has been shown to have no effects of muscle improvement. Your body will just use the rest to convert to energy or store as fat.

The Takeaways

Takeaway #1: Begin strength training at a higher weight load for 4-8 reps. Focus on increasing your strength each week and watch your muscle definition improve.

Takeaway #2: If you’re performing a lot of cardio, take it down to 2, 12-minute HIIT sessions after a couple of your strength training workouts. I advise slowly weaning off all cardio at first but if you must have it, stick to a couple of short HIIT sessions per week.

Takeaway #3: Eat more protein. Eat .6-.8 grams of protein per pound of body weight when increasing calories. When in a deficit, bump it up to 1g per pound of bodyweight to keep that hard-earned muscle.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Adam is a fitness professional, baseball fan, and cookie fanatic based in Fort Collins, Colorado. After hanging up the cleats, he found a strong interest in the human body and how it performs. Since then, Adam has been transforming lives through fitness in a fun and encouraging atmosphere. As an ACE CPT and Fitness Nutrition Specialist, he is constantly moved to help people improve in all walks of life. If you’re interested in hiring Adam as your coach, fill out an application here.