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 Signs You're Sabotaging Your Training Program

When people ask me what I do (I hate that question) and I tell them I'm a fitness coach, their response is usually full of questions they've wanted answers to for such a long time. Some of the most common questions are:

"What is the best diet for fat loss?"

"What should I eat to build more muscle?"

"What supplements should I be taking?"

The list goes on and on.

Although I get questions regarding nearly every aspect of health and fitness, there is one area of fitness that I feel is extremely overlooked, and that area is training programs, or programming. There is a lot of thought that goes into nutrition, diets, and supplements, but not nearly enough when it comes to programming.

What I'd like to do today is go through three signs that you're sabotaging your training in order to give you an opportunity to reflect on your training program and figure out what you need to change.

Let's do this.

SIGN #1: NOT ENOUGH FREQUENCY

Adding frequency to your training routine is hands down one of the best things you can do to increase your strength, build muscle, and lose fat.

Here's why:

The reason we lift weights is to increase protein synthesis. Increased protein synthesis puts our body in an anabolic state, creating an environment where building muscle and losing body fat is much easier.

A majority of the natural population (people that don't use performance enhancing drugs) have protein synthesis that stays elevated for about 48-72 hours after a resistance training session. Once protein synthesis drops it goes all the way back down to baseline, if not, lower.  Because of this, it is best for most of us to train muscle groups more than once per week.

Those that are using performance enhancing drugs can have their protein synthesis stay elevated for far longer. Therefore, they can only train each muscle group once per week without having to worry about protein synthesis dropping.

Since most of these people are jacked and lean, we often go to them for training ideas. And that's where things go wrong.

Just because something works for someone else, that doesn't mean it works for you.

If you are a natural that wants to build muscle and/or burn fat, it is best for you to train body parts multiple times per week. It will be far more beneficial for you to have 3 full body workouts per week, than to train chest on Monday and wait a whole week to come back to it. Not only does this allow you to keep your protein synthesis elevated longer, but it also allows you to spread your volume out throughout the week, which has been shown to improve results. Whatever you're doing, take your volume and spread it out throughout the week.

Let's say you normally have 20 sets when you train your chest. Studies have shown that you will see more results from spreading those 2o sets throughout the week, than to do it all in one day. This obviously changes a lot based on how advanced you are, but here's the takeaway: Increase your training frequency by taking your current volume and spreading it throughout the week.

And with that, we move to number two.

SIGN #2: NO PROGRESSION IN TRAINING VOLUME

Based on all the studies we have available to us, we know that increases to training volume cause our bodies to change and improve.

Training volume is total poundage based on this simple equation: weights x sets x reps = total volume.

Therefore, there are many ways you can increase your training volume. You can increase the amount of weight you lift, the amount of sets you do, the amount of reps you do, or all of the above.

When thinking of how your body changes and adapts, think of a really steep and tall staircase. Imagine a staircase of walls, so to speak. Climbing up the wall in order to get to the flat platform represents your body changing and being challenged by a new stimulus (more volume). When you finally reach the top of the wall and get to the flat platform, your body has adapted, and it's ready for a new change. You can introduce a new change by adding weight, sets, or reps, whatever is best based on what you've been doing. When I say "best", what I mean is finding the sweet spot between having a challenging amount of volume and frequency in your routine, but still having the time and ability to recover for the next workout.

The easiest way to add volume and create an environment where your body must change is by adding sets or reps. If you're challenging yourself properly, changing reps and sets should cause you to naturally adjust your weight properly. Most studies tell us that our bodies take 2-4 weeks to adapt to a new stimulus. Therefore, adding sets, reps, or both every 4 weeks or so would be extremely beneficial.

I'll give you a quick example.

Right now, I'm currently performing 3-5 sets of 3-6 reps on my strength days, and 3-4 sets of 8-10 reps on my muscle building days. The next time I need to add volume to my training routine, I'll add a set to my strength days, and bump my rep range to 10-12 reps on muscle building days. Both of those additions will increase my overall weekly volume, causing my body to change in a positive way.

At this point, you know that training frequency and volume are two of the most important things to manipulate in order to see results. Increasing your training volume and spreading that increase in volume throughout the week will spark a great change, but what if you don't even know what you're currently doing?

SIGN #3: YOU'RE NOT TRACKING

Everyone knows about tracking food intake, but no one seems to care about tracking a training program. Tracking your weights, sets, and reps is just as important as tracking your protein, carbs, and fats.

Based on what you've read up to this point, you know that increasing your training volume and spreading it out throughout the week with more frequency is one of the best things you can do for your goals. But, how good is that information if you don't know what you're currently doing?

Just like most things in health and fitness, figuring out the best way to track your programming and make proper adjustments will take some trial and error.

There are a few pieces of advice I can give when it comes to tracking your training.

First off, start somewhere. I'm guessing you have some sort of usual rhythm or routine you're in. Start with what you know, and take notes. Whether it's on your phone, in your notebook, or through your online coach, record your usual workouts. Write down your exercises, how may sets you do, how many reps you do in each set, and how much weight you use for those reps. From there, figure out where you'd like to add volume based on your goals.

Second, identify your weak points. Weak points can be areas of your body that are underdeveloped, as well as movements that are not utilized enough. Let's say you have shoulders that are rolled forward from your desk job. Adding volume to your back muscles can help you improve your posture by awakening and strengthening those muscle fibers. Maybe you have a strong squat but your bench is weak. Increase your volume and frequency by practicing your bench press three times per week as opposed to once per week. There are so many things you can do to change your body, and identifying weak points is a great start.

Third, have a vision. Does your dream body need more bicep and tricep work in order to make your arms stand out? Do you dream of having a 400-pound squat? Well, it's time to create a path for that to happen by adding volume and increasing frequency in your training routine. Tracking and adjusting your training program is great, but it's potential isn't fully utilized until you have a vision of what you want to achieve.

Whatever changes you make to your routine, track them. Take notes and make observations on how your body changes. You'll learn more about your body than you ever have before, and you'll save yourself years of fooling around because you took some time to figure out what causes your body to make the change you desire.

THE TAKEAWAY

There are three signs that will tell you you're sabotaging your training, and three solutions to make sure you're headed in the right direction.

Sign #1: Not Enough Frequency - You're training everything once per week.

Solution #1: Improve your results by training body parts and movements multiple times per week.

Sign #2: No Progression in Training Volume - You've been doing the same amount of volume for over 4 weeks

Solution #2: Once you begin to see your body adapt to the routine you've been doing, add some volume by increasing weights, sets, and reps. Switch up some exercises if you'd like.

Sign#3: No Tracking - You're not tracking your workouts

Solution #3: Track your workouts, and identify what changes lead to the best results. Learn more about your body and what's best for you.

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.

3 Signs You're Sabotaging Your Training

Have you noticed that we idolize nutrition?

We think it's the end all be all. We pretend that it's the only thing that matters when it comes to reaching all of our health and fitness goals. Don't get me wrong, nutrition is extremely important, but because we've put nutrition on such a high pedestal, we've completely forgotten about the importance of proper training.

Don't believe me?

How many times have you heard this: Abs are made in the kitchen.

Fun fact, they're not made in the kitchen. Abs are made in the gym, but because we've assumed a great physique is only made in the kitchen, we've made training an afterthought that is unworthy of our undivided attention.

Let's fix that.

In this article, I've outlined and discussed in detail THREE signs that you're sabotaging your goals, by underestimating the importance of your training.

Let's do this.

SIGN #1: YOU'RE MOVING WEIGHTS, BUT NOT THE RIGHT WAY

Whether your goal is fat loss or muscle building, resistance training should ALWAYS be a staple in your workouts. In fact, it is the thing that you should give all of your time and attention to. Forget the rowers, bikes, stairmasters, and treadmills. You need to put all of your focus on your weight training.

Unfortunately, there are some that do prioritize resistance training, but they don't do it properly.

The reason we do resistance training is because it sends a signal to our body that we need to build strength and muscle. However, that signal only comes when a certain stimulus is applied to the body. Just because you have weights in your hand doesn't mean you're performing resistance training.

Change happens when your body is challenged and instructed to build muscle and gain strength to adapt to the stimulus it's given. The signal that your body gets from using 10 pounds for 10 reps is NOT the same as the signal that your body gets from using 50 pounds for 10 reps. We all tend to get far too focused on the amount of reps we're doing, and we complete forget that the reason we're in the gym is to challenge the abilities of our body (especially our strength). The reason we lift is to FORCE our body to change and grow. We must put the body in a situation where it has no choice but to grow, adapt, and change.

When you're training, do you focus on completing the amount of reps assigned, or do you focus on pushing your body's strength? Turns out, you can push your body's strength by using a certain amount weight for a certain amount of reps as long as the weight is challenging enough.

Repetitions are not magic numbers. It's all about the tension and stress we apply in order to tell our body to change and improve. We simply use repetitions as a tool to measure the time we apply tension to our muscles.

When you're training in the gym, think about how hard you're working. Are you pushing your tank a couple reps shy of empty, or are you just coasting with light weights just to say you did 10 reps?

Use this scale to help you.

SIGN #2: YOUR INTENTION IS POO POO

This ties in with sign number one.

I overheard a conversation the other day between a trainer and a potential client. They just got done going through a free workout, and the trainer was talking to the member about a game plan to help them get to their goals. After the trainer walked them through their ideas, the member said something that I thought was very interesting.

"That sounds nice and all, but what workout can I do to get in, get the workout over with, and get out as fast as possible?"

Thankfully, the trainer to some extra time to explain exactly why that would not be beneficial for them.

You see, those that don't see change in their health and fitness usually think in one of two ways. The first way is the "Get In and Get Out" mindset.

This person squeezes their workout in to their schedule, rather than blocking time out of their schedule to lift some weights. The two are completely different. This person does a workout just to check it off the list. It doesn't matter what weights they used, how long they rested, how good their form was, all that matters is that they got it done and could say "check" as they looked at their to-do list. This person treats training as a chore. As a result, this person does half-assed workouts and doesn't see consistent change over a long period of time.

The second way is the "Sweaty and Sore" mindset.

This person treats their workout as an absolute punishment. The workout doesn't count if they didn't drench their shirt in sweat. The workout doesn't count and wasn't good enough if they're not painfully sore the next day. This person tries to run their body completely into the ground every time they set foot in the gym.

The problem with both of these examples is that the reason for resistance training isn't behind their intention when they train.

After being in the fitness industry for years, I can tell you one thing is consistent and true. The people that easily make positive changes to their health and body time and time again are those that understand why they're going to the gym, and that "why" is behind their intention. They train to improve one thing that day, and then build from there. They train to test their body's limits in a safe and mechanically sound manner. They take proper rest between sets. They challenge themselves to get out of their comfort zone in some way each and every day. They seek to improve just a bit in every single workout. As they do those things, they learn to enjoy the process.

Those that succeed don't treat their workout as an opportunity to sweat and get sore. They don't treat it as something that needs to get checked off the list. Rather, they treat their workout as an important piece of the puzzle that will help them build and shape their dream body.

When you're in the gym doing your workout, are you thinking about how much time you have left? Are you thinking about how fast you can get to the next exercise? Or, are you thinking about one set, the set that is just ahead of you, and what you can do to improve in that one set?

Be intentional.

SIGN #3 YOUR WARM-UP IS ALSO POO POO

Sign number three also ties in with sign number two. I'm just over here tying everything together. Crazy how things workout sometimes.

Yes, warming up is a part of your intention. Ask yourself what warming up means to you. I bet that if you compare your answer to your goals, it seems silly to be warming up that way. I'm guessing most of your goals are either burn fat, build muscle, or both, and you probably said the reason you warm up is to get your heart rate up and sweat a bit before you train.

Well, that makes no sense, right?

Remember how I said that your priority should always be resistance training, no matter what your goal is? Well, maybe that means your warm up should be something that helps you perform your weight training a bit better. There are some different things that can allow you to do that, but I'll go through the two most important in my opinion.

The first is activation. Next time you're in the gym, watch someone do a row of some sort. My guess is that their shoulder blades are rolled forward and their shoulder blades are not retracting/squeezing together. I bet their arms are doing 99% of the work. Take a look next time and make observations.

Situations like that are unfortunate, because it defeats the whole purpose of the exercise. The purpose of a row is to work your upper and mid back muscles. This can't be done if your shoulder blades are rolled forward and not retracting. So, taking time before your workout to activate the muscles back there and make sure they're working will make a MASSIVE difference in your workouts and results.

Not only are most people's backs inactive, but so are their glutes. This happens from countless hours in a desk day after day. Those muscles basically go to sleep and are never used properly during a workout. This is why most people feel squats in their quads, and nothing in their glutes. For those people in this situation, doing a few sets of glute bridges and squeezing for a couple seconds at the top will allow them to activate and use the proper muscles (their sweet cheeks) during a movement, leading to more effective workouts and greater results.

The next important step to better workouts is mobility. The more mobility and stability you have in a movement, the more room there is to improve. I'll be the example for this one.

In college, our strength coach would have me squat a broomsitck every single day to practice, because I simply couldn't squat. My hips were stiff, and so were my ankles. Because of this, getting my thighs to parallel seemed harder than trying to throw a fastball 100 miles per hour. Thankfully, my coach gave me a mobility routine to do before each lifting session with the team. I'd come 15 minutes early each day, and work on my hips and ankles. Id improve my range of motion and stability in a squat by hooking a band to an anchor, resting the band around my waist, and sitting in a low squat. While sitting in the low squat, i'd do some isometric tension holds to increase stability and control in that new range of motion. I'd also do a combat stretch, working on improving the range of motion in my ankle. I'd practice bringing my knee forward without letting my heel leave the ground. Once I reached my max, i'd pull my toes up as hard as I could to create stability and control in that new range of motion. I'd do this over and over and over before every single session. Over time, my squats improved a ton, and I was able to create more strength in a greater range of motion. Because of that, my squat strength has continually progressed, and my legs have grown during each phase of my programming.

Are you able to perform a movement in a full range of motion with complete stability and control? If not, take the time to work on your mobility before and after your training session.

Get your body ready to perform the best it can during your workout.

THE TAKEAWAYS

#1: Push yourself with your weights. Use the RPE scale to gauge whether or not you're pushing your body to change for the better.

#2: Be intentional. Get your mind right. Go to the gym with a plan to make one small improvement, and build from there. Sweaty and sore is not the goal, and working out is not a chore. It is a process that is meant to be enjoyed.

#3. Activate. Don't just warm up, but prepare your body to perform the best it possibly can depending on what kind of workout you have ahead of you.

BONUS: Still not quite sure what you can be doing to make your workouts better? Let's talk. I'm here to help however I can.

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.