Myth 1: To Build Muscle, You Must Achieve A “Pump” During Your Workout
A “pump” is the feeling that you get as blood becomes trapped inside the muscle tissue when you train. The muscles will swell up and leave your body feeling bigger, tighter, stronger and more powerful.
While a pump does feel fantastic, it has very little, if anything to do with stimulating your muscles to grow.
A pump is simply the result of increased blood flow to the muscle tissue and is certainly not indicative of a successful workout.
Myth 2 : Big Muscles Will Make You Slower And Less Flexible
This one goes back to the old days when people described bodybuilders as being “muscle bound” and “bulky”.
Contrary to what you may think, building a significant amount of lean muscle mass will actually speed you up rather than slow you down.
Muscles are responsible for every movement that your body makes, from running to jumping to throwing. The bottom line is that the stronger a muscle is, the more force it can apply.
Having stronger, more muscular legs means increased foot speed, just as having stronger and more muscular shoulders means the ability to throw farther.
Myth 3: You Must Always Use Perfect Form On All Exercises All Of The Time
While using good form in the gym is always important, obsessing over perfect form is an entirely different matter.
If you are always attempting to perform every exercise using flawless, textbook form, you will actually increase your chances of injury and simultaneously decrease the total amount of muscle stimulation you can achieve.
Remember, we are not robots! It’s very important that you always move naturally when you exercise.
This could mean adding a very slight sway in your back when you perform bicep curls, or using a tiny bit of body momentum when executing barbell rows.
Myth 4: If You Want Your Muscles To Grow You Must “Feel The Burn!
This is another huge misconception in the gym.
The “burning” sensation that results from intense weight training is simply the result of lactic acid (a metabolic waste product) that is secreted inside the muscle tissue as you exercise.
Increased levels of lactic acid have nothing to do with muscle growth and may actually slow down your gains rather than speed them up.
Myth 5: Eating At Night Will Pile On The Pounds.
The total calories you consume over a 24-hour period or over a week is what causes you to gain weight, when you eat these calories doesn’t matter.
Whether you eat most of your daily calories during the day or in the evening will have no noticeable effect. It always comes down to the amount of calories you consume.
Myth 6: Skipping A Meal Every Now And Then Will Help You Lose Weight.
Skipping a meal will probably leave you extra hungry at the next meal so you’re more likely to overeat.
For those that can refrain from over eating, skipping a meal can help contribute to a lowered total calorie count over time and so can see a gradual weight loss.
However, for most people, the increased hunger and over eating negates the skipped meal and results in little or no weight loss.