5 Lifting Lies That You’re an Idiot for Believing
Protein farts, a girlfriend that doesn’t even lift, and 99.9% of the advice you hear in the gym.
All three of these have the power to ruin your workout, but only one of them has the capability to totally destroy your gains.
Before this article takes a daringly sexist turn, you should know I’m talking about the latter; the broscience-y bullshit you hear spouted out across gym floors the world over.
We’ve all heard crazy myths and rumors about the top things to eat and the best ways to train. But what are the worst? What do people believe the most, and which ones are crushing the fitness industry the hardest?
Unfortunately, there’s too many to choose from. So we’ve pooled our rage together and come up with the Top 5 Lifting Lies that have been annoying us the most.
See if there’s anything you’ve heard before – and if you believed them:
1. “Muscles turn to fat if you don’t train them”
Oh my god. This one is right up there with ‘Training turns you fat into muscle’. Their both similar statements, and both impossible.
It’s the equivalent of seeing a wave crash on the beach, pointing it out to your friend and telling them that water turns to sand if it eats right and it drowns enough people. Come on, guys.
If you stop training 2 things happen: 1.) You’re a traitor to the Gainesville Community, 2.) Your muscle mass will atrophy. Your body’s a pretty economical guy, if you’re not using that extra muscle, it’ll burn it up for energy and your overall mass will require less energy to maintain.
2. “Unless you’re on roids, you won’t stay ripped year round”
How many times have you heard new guys tell you about their bulking or cutting phase? Hell, you might be doing one yourself – but why aren’t you staying lean and juicy year round?
“Oh sure bro, I’ll just eat clen and tren hard lolololol”
You may laugh, comment or whatever social media does nowadays to anyone who’s permanently in shape, but looking good year round is very achievable without the juice.
Of course we’re not talking competition lean (~4-8% bodyfat) as staying in that mode for too long can have serious effect on your hormones and sex drive. We’re talking around the 9-12% range, still pretty manageable year in, year out.
With a solid diet, supplement stack and lifting routine you can maintain a lean physique year round, and even keep building muscle. It’s a lot of hard work, but once you work your diet out, you can be a pretty fearsome lifter gaining lean muscle and barely any fat.
One of the ways permanently ripped guys maintain their lean body mass is via supplements like fat burners. Through constantly burning fat, suppressing appetite and boosting your energy and metabolism, they help a lot when it comes to keeping you shredded.
We’ve reviewed some of them ourselves and can see why shredded guys are loving them to stay lean. You can check out the best fat burners on the market in our in depth reviews over here.
3. “Disregard Carbs, Acquire Protonz”
“All you need for lean mass is high protein, you don’t need much else bro… just lift heavy and take a multi.”
You’ve definitely heard this one before, or something similar at least. Typical of something a newbie lifter might say, or a guy who’s been training for years who still hasn’t made any gains.
Yes, protein has it’s purpose for packing on mass, but if you’ve read our ‘Protein Shakes are Killing Your Gains‘ article you’ll see that surplus protein can be too much for your body to process and can drop your testosterone levels – which will stomp out your muscle building hormones and drain your gains.
Carbs are essential to energy levels for the glucose it puts in your blood, the glycogen it puts in your muscles. We actually recommend a 50/30/20 (Fats/Carbs/Protein) split for the best results. It’ll decrease protein oxidation and be more effective for your muscle synthesis.
4. “Fruits are Friends”
Fruits and veggies. Sounds healthy right? Of course, all that stuff is natural. Vegetables are great, however, too much fruit in your diet can actually do you more harm than good.
I am deadly serious, so hear me out.
People like fruit because it’s super sweet, and it’s healthy – unfortunately it’s not when it comes to your abs.
One of the main things in fruit that gives it that sweet flavor is sugar, namely fructose. This type of sugar is unlike the glucose we get from carbs, as this goes directly to your liver rather than the blood supply and the muscles – this makes it a lot harder for your body to use, and can result in weight gain.
If you want to keep your weight down and stay healthy, throw out the fruits and replace them with a more comprehensive profile of veggies.
Your abs will thank you that you did.
5. “Want a six-pack? Do crunches.”
This is a common one, and it’s an easy mistake to make. If you want to see muscles where there aren’t muscles, train that area until there are. Simple.
Simple, but wrong.
One of the main problems with this thought is that it doesn’t take body fat into account. You could have the greatest abs in the world, but if they’re smothered in a layer of thick goopy fat, the world isn’t going to see them.
What you have to remember is that body fat matters, and if you’re looking for abs, keep it low and they’ll be on show.
Crunches won’t so much help bring them out, but more add shape to them when they’re on display, giving them a finished look. Fat burners help this process along, and one of the best ones we’ve seen do this has to be Instant Knockout. You can read our full review of it here.
Lifting Lies Conclusion
The lies that really get under our skin are definitely the ‘Crunches = Six Pack’ myth, and the high protein diets for gains farce. This is mainly due to how widely they’re believed, and how many guys in the gym fall victim to them when they first start out training.
They can really hold back anyone who’s looking to make gains, and stop a newbie from seeing their first signs of progress, which can put them off the gym altogether. A damn shame.
You don’t need to tell us, we already know, there’s way more lifting lies out there. These are just the ones old Fit Chief has got sick and tired of hearing about. We’ll be sure to do another piece like this in the future, uncovering more truths behind the wall of ignorance that is the modern gym floor.
Didn’t hear the one you hate the most? Let us know on our Facebook, and we’ll be sure to give it a good slamming next time around.
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