What’s up everybody?!
I hope you’re all feeling as good as I am to finally be typing a blog post without a clunky cast on my right hand!
I realized that you really appreciate the little things once they are taken away from you (like wiping your ass). Gross, I know, but ain’t it the truth!
Anyway after a couple of fitness convo’s that I’m usually faced with while I’m out somewhere I realized how much confusion there is out there when it comes to training and fitness.
People are sadly misinformed and I wanted to clear up any confusion and get right to it today.
Here are five of the biggest myths I recognized during my conversations this past weekend.
Myth # 1: Carbs are bad for you
Carbohydrates themselves are not bad for you. It’s the types of carbs you’re consuming that can be bad for you. To simplify, processed carbohydrates that are found in breads, pastas and pastries suck for your well-being. Unprocessed carbohydrates like potatoes, rice, oats and fruit are great and necessary for building muscle and burning fat. They aid in recovery and repairing the muscle you break down while training.
Monitor your carb intake and don’t eat a fuck-load of them on a daily basis, unless of course your goal is gaining a significant amount of muscle mass, then you’re going to need a good amount.
Myth # 2: Lifting weights will make women bulky
Man this could not be any further from the truth. Ladies, the days of spending hours on the treadmill are OVER! Lifting weights are not going to turn you into the lady you saw in a magazine that looks like Triple H. That woman is on boat loads of hormones and eats baby elephants for their mid-day snack. Unless you’re into that kind of thing, I’d say you’ll be ok.
Every woman I have ever worked with told me that they want to be more “toned”. Let’s take a second and talk about what that actually means…
First off, a muscle only gets bigger or smaller. Hypertrophy or atrophy. So when you say you want to “tone” that really means you want the muscle to get bigger while you lose body fat. Well, the only way that’s going to happen is by weight training.
And no, you don’t have to do all light weights for six trillion reps. You need to focus on getting stronger in rep ranges of 8-15. From my experience that is the best range for women to develop muscle. So have no fear and set goals of getting stronger for sets of 8-15.
And for God’s sake, make us all happy and get your ass in the squat rack!
Myth # 3: You need a pre-workout if you want to get jacked
If you’ve been following me for a while you know that I’m not a big fan of supplements. Most are the biggest waste of money.
I can’t tell you how many guys ask me what a good pre-workout drink is for them to take because they want to get bigger. My answer always puzzles them… NONE OF THEM!
Pre-workouts are loaded with caffeine to give you that “I just did six lines of cocaine” feeling. That amount of caffeine will only fry out your adrenal glands over time leaving you feeling like shit in the long run. The temporary pump you get is due to certain amino acids they add in there to dilate your blood vessels and draw more blood to the muscle.
Although it feels great to have a crazy pump, it does NOTHING for actually building muscle.
In addition, these formulas consist of chemicals, dyes and artificial ingredients that are extremely detrimental to your health. Not worth $60-$70 bucks a pop if you ask me.
If you want a pre-workout drink? Grab a cup of black coffee.
Myth # 4: You need to train to failure if you want to work hard
Although I respect the thought process behind this, the statement is incorrect. Hard work is one thing and 100% necessary if you want to see progress. Training with weights that are too heavy, forced reps and failing attempts at lifts are another.
If you want to make progress you need to use a weight that you can handle. If you don’t, your form will look like absolute garbage (which will increase your risk of injury), you won’t give the muscle the stimulus it needs to actually grow and/or get stronger and you will be frying out your central nervous system in the long run.
Like the great Lee Haney said, “Stimulate, don’t annihilate”.
Myth # 5: Shrugs are the best exercise to develop the traps
Shrugs are great, but they’re not the best when it comes to jacking up the traps. By far, the best exercises to turn you into “Trapzilla” are the deadlift, farmer’s walks and Olympic lifts like the clean, snatch and high pull.
Work on those lifts and you will notice your traps growing through your t-shirt!
I hope you guys learned a little bit today.
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Thanks guys, I’ll catch you all next week!