Workout Myths

[Rich_2k3]

Ok. I want u guys to list all the fitness, weight lifting, body growth (etc, etc) mthys that are floating around at the moment and try to answer them, u know does weight lifting stunt growth or all the contrversial issues on toning/muscle gain, u know that kind of stuff.

 

These issues are quite important cuz there are loads of ppl out there going by the wrong information and barking up the wrong trees, I mean there has been loads of posts about seperate stuff on this forum, lets sort all this stuff out once and for all. I dont care how long it takes !

Edited January 20, 2004 by Rich_2k3

[Practice is the key _]

Well i'll answer that tommorrow now am preparing to go to my dojang am promising my words i might get some information on that, so why are you really want to know about muscle myth and weight lifthing I herd it make you shorter also tire your muscle and increased the chance of heart disesas or they are just rumors but answerd are coming soon now am putting my Gi on and my belt ready let get ready to RUMBLE see ys later.

[Rich_2k3]

Yeah thats the kind of stuff, is it true or just a pile of *whatever*.

 

I got a question, is it true that weight lifting can have a negative effect on ur growth in someway by restricting it or slowing it down? and is this just assoctiated with weight lifting or is it the same with any high intestity exercise program?

[Rich67]

There are so many myths out there I don't even know where to start! Rattle off some and I'll debunk or reinforce it!

 

Myth: Weight lifting can stunt your growth.

 

Truth: Weight lifting MAY have an adverse affect on growth if done at too early an age. Young people who lift can stunt bone growth due to the excess demands placed on their joints and ligaments. Weightlifting isn't generally reccomended for people under 14 years of age. But then again, this is all about genetics. I know lifters who have lifted since they were 12, and they turned out pretty tall. Main thing is, if you're healthy, eat healthy, are 14 or older, and you lift weights or run marathons, then don't worry about stunting your growth. I think a lot has to do with the young kids who lift, but eat cheeseburgers, sodas, fries, candy and junk (little to no protein and calcium). You lift and it places demands on your body for high quality protein and calcium, and if you aren't giving it that, then your body won't be able to grow properly.

 

Myth: weight lifting causes heart disease.

 

Truth: Heart disease is a genetic problem, and can be developed in people without a history by poor diet and LACK of exercise. Weightlifting actually improves cardiovascular function and can help lower cholesterol (bad type) and actually help people predisposed to heart disease. But people who DO have heart disease should always consult a physician before undertaking a strenuous workout program.

 

Myth: You can get ripped abs by using those infomercial ab machines.

 

Truth: Biggest scam around. No one can lose the belly and look like Clarence Bass by doing crunches on a piece of metal/plastic while in a relaxed and smiling state. You must do aerobic work to take the layer of fat off your abs so they are visible! We all have "abs". What the difference is , some of us have a hefty layer of flab covering them.

 

Bring 'em on!!! Let's get them out in the open and get people to work out right!!

[Bretty101]

Myth one: Stretching gets physically harder as you get older.

 

Myth two: You can't be flexible and have big muscles.

 

Myth three: The only thing taekwondo people can do is kick and nothing else.

 

Myth four: ***** is THE best martial art (fill blanks as appropriate).

 

Myth five: You can safely disarm a knife attacker.

 

Myth six: Street attackers use straight punches.

 

Myth seven: Street attackers do not struggle or try and hit you as you try and restrain them.

 

Myth eight: "This self defence move is really effective if you just follow these 10 easy steps"

 

Myth nine: Santa Claus (sorry kids), Easter bunny, tooth fairy and Chi/Qi (controversial)

 

Myth ten: It is possible to knock someone over without touching them.

 

Myth eleven: David Blaine can really levitate.

 

Myth Twelve: Punching hard objects is good for your hands.

 

Myth Thirteen: This thread/topic will really sort things out once and for all.

 

I'll leave it there for now.

 

Bretty

Edited January 21, 2004 by Bretty101

[MMouse]

Hmmmmm lets see here

 

Creatine does nothing but fill your muscles with water.

 

Creatine makes your muscles grow, no matter what.

 

Creatine is like steroids ( Yes i have heard this one )

 

Building muscle will automatically make you less flexible.

 

Getting stronger doesn't help you hit harder.

 

Working out everyday is ok.

 

just a few for now.

[Rich67]

LOL @ bretty!!!!!

 

I love it!

 

Creatine really is good stuff, but it isn't a "steroid replacement" like most people say. I used it steadily for a year, and noticed big gains. I benched my best 1 rep max on creatine. I gained too much fat though, since I was mixing it with juice and failed to compensate for the extra calories.

[granmasterchen]

at the moment i think shooting a kamehameha blast or any other ki blast is a myth....or maybe i'm just a sore loser....

[WolverineGuy]

Weight training myths...I've covered this a few times, but here a few articles I cut and pasted (the last list I edited somewhat, because there were several innaccuracies):

 

SPOT REDUCTION

 

NO SUCH THING!!! Doing a hundred crunches will strengthen the abs, but won’t do anything to the fat. Only through hard work, cardio, and a healthy diet will you achieve this.

 

HIGHER REPS = MORE DEFINITION AND "TONENESS”

 

The truth is, higher reps will NOT tone your muscles or make them more defined. Once again, this is having a low body fat %. Higher reps will work on endurance though and is great for some athletes and marathon runners.

 

GAIN MUSCLE AND LOSE FAT

 

When we all start out lifting, we have this lucky gift of being able to lose fat yet get muscle at the same time. Over time, this completely goes away. I notice a lot of posts are “oh my goals are to lose the old gut while getting my chest bigger...”. This isn’t going to happen unless you are a beginner (a.k.a newbie) or on steroids. Think about it. How can you gain muscle on a calorie deficit and/or lose fat on a calorie surplus? Once you feel you gotten to the point where you can no longer do the above, then you have a choice of doing a cutting or bulking phase.

 

THE MORE THE BETTER (RIGHT?)

 

Ever hear the phase “muscle grow outside the gym”. Well, this phase fits in right here. When people first start out lifting, they tend to think that more is better. This is definatly not the case. Your muscles and body needs time to recover. Also, around an hour or so (differs from everyone), cortical is released from the body which can actually kill off muscle tissue and cause muscle catabalism. This can be prevented if you train smart. Do no more then a 5 day split training each muscle once a week (smaller ones twice most) and working out no more then an hour. Now don’t get me wrong, everybody is different and people respond to different methods, principals, techniques, etc. But this most likely all you need to do. Most people say “oh, I’m training each body part 2x a week and only have one rest day and getting good results” but what they don’t realize is that they aren’t giving their body (central nervous system) full time to recover as well as their muscles. Even though muscles only need 48-72 hours to recover, they still don’t recover fully which is why it benefits you to take a week off every 2-3 months.

 

I DO CARDIO FOR MY LEG WORK..THATÂ’S ALL I NEED

 

The truth is, legs also need heavy anaerobic sets just like the upper body. Running is to aerobic to call it a leg “mass builder”. Besides, the best exercise known to us bodybuilders is for legs (SQUATS!). By the way, chicken legs and a huge upper body will look very unproportianal and kind of weird.

 

I DIDN'T GET A PUMP OR WAS SORE THIS MORNING...

 

"Pumps" and soreness in your muscles doesn't mean too much (for hypertrophy [ muscle growth]). I could get a good pump from picking a weight and lifting it for 100x. This will porbably deal way more with endurance then hypertrophy. Samething goes with soreness. The real way you can tell if your workouts are good is over time.

 

===========

 

1 ] When it comes to protein supplements, I should look for the one with the highest amount of protein per serving.

 

 

 

Fact: For many, the manufacturer's serving suggestions are too much for the average person to consume at once. More isn't necessarily better in this case. Additionally, you're not really getting more or less with a particular brand. They're all comparable.

 

Meaning, a protein supplement that has 42 grams of protein per serving may only give you more because there's a bigger measuring scoop. Or the serving suggestion may require two scoops instead of one.

 

[ 2 ] High reps are best for muscular definition. Low reps help to build mass.

 

 

 

Fact: A variety of different exercise training methods will give you the best results when combined with a scientifically balanced diet.

 

[ 3 ] A meal full of carbohydrates will give me the most energy during my workout.

 

 

 

Fact: A meal with too many carbohydrates will significantly slow your performance in the gym. Instead, a small amount of low glycemic foods such as apples or oatmeal will provide the best energy boost.

 

[ 4 ] No pain, no gain.

 

 

 

Fact: Exercise should never be painful. If it is, you'll run the risk of injury as a result of overtraining. Once you enter the "overtraining zone", you're guaranteed to experience physiological and mental stress which can eventually lead to a number of health problems.

 

[ 5 ] If my body requires 2000 calories per day, I should just eat 5 meals at 400 calories each, right?

 

 

 

Fact: No. Instead, consider the yo-yo method for dieting. This technique involves eating less calories when your activity levels are low, and more calories as you become more active.

 

[ 6 ] Supplements are ineffective and a complete waste of money.

 

 

 

Fact: Yes, many supplements are. "Nutritional supplements" on the other hand can significantly improve health. The benefits include strength, energy, mental sharpness, immunity from disease, elevated mood, and more!

 

[ 7 ] The longer I train in the gym, the more weight I'll lose [or gain].

 

 

 

Fact: The longer you're in the gym, the more "muscle" you'll tear down. This is an unhealthy way to lose [or gain] weight. Once your body hits a catabolic state, you're sure to lose energy... and that could eventually lead to a plateau. A plateau is an inability to progress in training. It can last for months. To be safe, consider working out for about 45 minutes to 1 hour.

 

[ 8 ] Health food store employees should be sought for supplement advice.

 

 

 

Fact: Most health food store employees are not professionals. The only requirement to get hired is to know retail. If you ask them for advice, nine times out of ten they'll point you to the product that pays the highest commission. Many health food store employees won't or can't show you a product that scientifically offers the most benefit to the consumer.

 

[ 9 ] A pro bodybuilder is my best source for training advice.

 

 

 

Fact: Never. Many are big because of genetics and hard work. They may not necessarily have scientific explanations as to how they got that way. With the right genetics, you can actually train and diet incorrectly and still grow. Instead seek trained professionals.

 

[ 10 ] A doctor is my best source for training advice.

 

 

 

Fact: Not necessarily. Unless a doctor has hands on training in the gym, they shouldn't advise. Many bodybuilding-related questions can only be answered from those who have actually "been there."

 

[ 11 ] I can focus on my lower abs by doing leg lifts.

 

 

 

Fact: In fact, the abs (rectus abdominal muscle) function as one muscle. You cannot target the lower portion of the abs. Traditional crunches will effectively train the abs. Not sure? Here's an example:

 

Lie in the crunch position on the floor.

 

Place your hand on the "lower abs."

 

Now lift the shoulders off the ground and contract your abs.

 

Did you feel it?

 

================

 

3 -- If you eat a low-fat diet, it doesn't matter how many calories you take in, you won't gain any fat.

 

The bottom line is, if you exceed your energy requirements, you'll gradually get fatter and fatter. It's true that eating a diet rich in fat will pack on the pounds quicker for a variety of reasons, the most significant being that a gram of fat has nine calories as opposed to the four calories per gram that carbohydrates and proteins carry. Fat is also metabolized differently in the body. It takes a lesser amount of calories to assimilate the energy in ingested fat than it does to assimilate an equal (weight wise) amount of carbohydrates. Consequently, more fat calories get stored than carbohydrate calories. However, the gross intake of carbohydrates, as facilitated by many of the weight-gain powders, will make you fat very quickly.

 

4 -- The more you work out, the more you'll grow.

 

No, no no. This is one of the most damaging myths that ever reared its ugly head. 95% of the pros will tell you that the biggest bodybuilding mistake they ever made was to over-train--and this happened even when they were taking steroids. Imagine how easy it is for the natural athlete to overtrain! When you train your muscles too often for them to heal, the end-result is zero growth and perhaps even losses. Working out every day, if you're truly using the proper amount of intensity, will lead to gross overtraining. A body part, worked properly, ie. worked to complete, total muscular failure that recruited as many muscle fibers as physiologically possible, can take 5-10 days to heal.

 

To take it a step further, even working a different body part in the next few days might constitute overtraining. If you truly work your quads to absolute fiber-tearing failure, doing another power workout the next day that entails heavy bench-presses or deadlifts is going to, in all probability, inhibit gains. After a serious leg workout, your whole system mobilizes to heal and recover from the blow you've dealt it. How, then, can the body be expected to heal from an equally brutal workout the next day? It can't, at least not without using some drugs to help deal with the catabolic processes going on in your body [and even they're usually not enough .]

 

Learn to accept rest as a valuable part of your workout. You should probably spend as many days out of the gym as you do in it.

 

5 -- The longer you work out, the better.

 

It just isn't necessary to do 20-30 sets for a body part, or even 10 sets like many 'experts' would have you believe. In fact, research has shown that it's possible to completely fatigue a muscle in one set, provided that that set taxes a muscle completely, ie. incorporates as many muscle fibers as possible and takes them to the point of ischemic rigour where, rather than contract and relax, the muscle fibers freeze up, sort of like a microscopic version of rigor mortis. Any further contraction causes microscopic tearing. Hypertrophy is just one adaption to this kind of stress and it's naturally the kind most bodybuilders are interested in.

 

This kind of intensity can usually be achieved by doing drop or break-down sets where you rep out, lower the weight, and continue doing reps until you either can't do another rep or you've run out of weight. It can also be achieved by doing your maximum number of reps on a particular exercise: by a combination of will, tenacity, and short rest periods, you complete ten more reps. You achieve the short rest periods by locking out the weight-bearing joint in question without putting the weight down. In other words, completely surpass your normal pain and energy thresholds.

 

If you can truly work your muscle to the point described, it will afford you little, if any, benefit to do another set (Westcott, 1986). The exception would be the body parts that are so big that they have distinct geographical areas, like the back, which obviously has an upper, middle and lower part. The chest might also fall into this category, as it has a distinct upper and lower part, each with different insertion points.

 

6 -- You don't have to be strong to be big

 

For a variety of reasons, people, even those with an equal amount of muscle mass, vary in strength enormously. It might have something to do with fast-twitch/slow-twitch muscle ratios, or it might have something to do with the efficiency of nerve pathways or even limb length and the resultant torque. But it is still a relative term. To get bigger muscles, you have to lift heavier weight, and you, not the guy next door, have to become stronger -- stronger than you were. Increasing muscle strength in the natural athlete, except in a very few, rare instances, requires that the tension applied to muscle fibers be high. If the tension applied to muscle fibers are light, maximal growth will not occur (Lieber, 1992).

 

7 -- The training programmes that work best for pro bodybuilders are best for everyone.

 

You see it happen every day in gyms across the country. Some bodybuilding neophyte will walk up to a guy who looks like he's an escaped attraction from Jurassic Park and ask him how he trains. The biggest guy in the gym likely got that way from either taking a tremendous amount of drugs and/or by being genetically pre-dispositioned to get big. Follow a horse home and you'll find horse parents. The guy in your gym who is best bodybuilder is the guy who has made the most progress and done the most to his physique using natural techniques. He may still be a pencil neck, but he may have put on 40 pounds [19kg] of lean body mass to get where he is, and that, in all probability, took some know-how. That person probably doesn't overtrain, keeps his sets down to a minimum, and uses great form and concentration on the eccentric (negative) portion of each exercise repetition.

 

Many pros spend hours and hours doing innumerable sets--so many it would far surpass the average person's recuperative abilities. If average people followed the routines of average pro bodybuilders, they would, in effect, start to whittle down what muscle mass they did have or, at best, make only a tiny bit of progress after a couple of years.

[Practice is the key _]

Well you got all the resources I' better go to sleep.