5 Most Common Muscle Building Myth Debunked

Welcome back lovelies, it's been a pretty strange year for 2020 for most of us, fortunately by the time you are reading this article that will all be in the past. Let's welcome 2021 with open arms and hope for the best. Since it's a new year, I'm sure many of you have started planning your own personal new years resolution, if one of it consist of losing weight, exercising, keeping fit, or building muscle, then you're in for a treat! If not, now's the time to add one of those into your new year's resolution list, because, in today's article, we'll be debunking the 5 most common misconceptions and myths in muscle building. 

1. 12 Rep rule

Most of the weight training program includes this much repetitions for gaining muscle. The truth is this approach places the muscles with not enough tension for adequate muscle gain. High tension, e.g. heavyweights, provide muscle growth in which the muscle grows much larger, leading to the maximum gains in strength. Having longer tension time boosts the muscle size by generating the muscle fibres' structures, improving endurance. 

The standard formula of eight to 12 repetitions provides a balance, but by just using that program all of the time, you do not generate the greater tension levels that are provided by the heavier weights and lesser reps, and the more prolonged tension achieved with lighter weights and more repetitions. Change the number of reps and adjust the weights to stimulate all types of muscle growth.

2. Three Set rule

The truth is there's nothing wrong with three sets, but then again nothing is impressive about it either. The number of sets you perform should be base on your goals and not on a half-century old rule. The more repetitions you do on an exercise, the fewer sets you should do, and vice versa. This keeps the total number of repetitions done of an exercise equal.

3. Three to four exercises per group

The truth is this is a waste of time. Combined with twelve reps of three sets, the total number of reps amount to 144. If your doing this much reps for a muscle group that you're not doing enough. Instead of doing too many varieties of exercises, try doing 30 to 50 reps. That can be anywhere from 2 sets of 15 reps or 5 sets of 10 reps.

4. My knees, my toes

It is a gym folklore that you should not let your knees go past your toes. Well, the truth is that leaning forward a little too much is more likely a cause of injury. Back in 2003, Memphis University researchers confirmed that knee stress was almost thirty percent higher when the knees are allowed to move beyond the toes during a squat.  

However, hip stress increased nearly 10 times or (1000 percent) when the knee's forward movement was restricted, because the squatters needed to lean their body forward and that forces the strain to transfer to the lower back. 

Focus on your upper body position and less on the knee. Keep the torso in an upright position as much as possible when doing squats and lunges. These reduces the stress generated on the hips and back. In order to stay upright, before squatting, squeeze the shoulder blades together and hold them in that position; and then as you squat, keep the forearms 90 degrees to the floor. 

5. Lift weights, draw abs

The truth is muscles work in groups to stabilize the spine, and the most important muscle group change depending on the type of exercise. The transverse abdominis is not always the most important muscle group. Actually, for most exercise, the body automatically activates the muscle group that are needed most for support of the spine. So if you focus only on the transverse abdominis, it can recruit wrong muscles and limit the right muscles. This unfortunately increases the chance of injury, and reduces the weight that can be lifted.