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A lot of people enter the gym because they want to get toned or build muscle but have a few misconceptions on what it’s going to take to achieve those goals. With the internet at our finger tips and literally limitless information, it’s hard sometimes to decipher through the muck to find the real gems of truth.

As someone who thought many of these lies in my earlier days of training, rest assured, I have gone through my own scientific method of trial and observation to confirm the truths that mirror these myths.

Quickly, you may be thinking, “I just want to get toned, this doesn’t apply to me.” To which I’d like to say hold your horses! Not included on this list, but as it probably ranks above the others, I’d like to address the myth that “building muscles will make me bulky” once and for all.

Put simply, the “tone” you’re looking for is the visible presence of a muscle.

If you want to see the muscle, you must have muscle.

Yes everyone has muscle, but if you want to see it better, you have to combine lower body fat and increase size of the muscle. The bigger the muscle + the less fat = the more tone you will see.

The muscle tone that 99% of the world is after can be found simply by following a progressively more difficult training program coupled with proper nutrition to fuel their body without additional calories.

Lifting weights won’t make you bulky unless you’re taking additional supplements that are most likely illegal (steroids), so stop being afraid of getting strong and start lifting those weights. You get tone by getting strong, you get strong by lifting weights (resistance training).

Now that that’s out of the way and you’re ready to dive into building muscle to showcase a strong, toned, lean, sexy physique, let’s dive in and start busting muscle building myths!

Myth: Variety is the spice of life. Each workout should be completely different.

Truth: Boring breeds results. It’s often though that, like everything else in our life, we need variety and change every time we enter the gym. The workout has to be different. Different exercises; different reps/sets; different rest; different is good! But then how to do you know you’re ACTUALLY getting bigger or better? If you create a workout program that has you bouncing all over the place each week, how can you tangibly track that you’re continually progressing?

As I said at the outset, boring is good.

If you want to build muscles, get toned, or see progress in any manner, the best answer is to find a routine that is simple and repeatable. Repeating the same workout at least for a period of 4-6 weeks will allow you to progress and get bigger and stronger.

Myth: Don’t miss the anabolic window – you MUST eat within 30 mins of training!

Truth: When weight training, you are creating microtears in your muscles during the strenuous activity. We know food helps fuel the body and protein is the best source of food to help rebuild your muscles. The misconception lies in the thought that you have to refeed your muscles within 30 minutes of training to ensure that your body doesn’t go into catabolism, which is a state of breaking down the muscle. The truth is that it would only start to breakdown if you went an overly prolonged period without refuel or decided to start training the same muscle area before giving it a full chance to recover. It is recommended that you eat (a protein rich meal) within 1-3 hours of your training session, and you’ll be perfectly fine. So don’t feel the need to pound an extra protein shake immediately unless you don’t think you’ll be able to eat a regular meal within a reasonable time frame.

Myth: Train 7 days a week for 2 hrs at a time – NO CARDIO; ALL WEIGHTS! #NoDaysOff

Truth: Your body needs rest. Rest is when recovery happens. If you recall from earlier in the post, during a resistance training session, you create microtears in the muscle as you exercise. During the days you’re resting, that is when your body works at recovering and re-building – bigger and stronger – muscles to get ready for the next training session.

You can still train 5-6 days per week, but if you’re doing so, each training session should be more highly specialized to a specific muscle group with at least 1-2 days of rest before targeting that same body part again. Training other areas will be fine as the muscles you are resting won’t be used under strenuous loads.

Also, you don’t need to spend your entire life at the gym. Being efficient, intense, and consistent with workouts anywhere from 30-60 minutes can be enough and even more beneficial than marathon training sessions. Keep the intensity up; keep the workout plan simple; and just get it done!

Myth: You must buy the latest stack of supplements to ensure proper growth!

Truth: Just straight up false. Supplements are designed to aid whatever it is you’re doing. Most of them are pointless and the supplement industry in the USA is unregulated, so the amounts and contents of whatever they put in those bottles is very questionable – some of it can be extremely harmful. If you’re focused on proper hydration; whole foods and high protein nutrition; getting adequate sleep and stress management; then you should be all set to reap the rewards of your training sessions. If for some reason you feel you NEED supplements to help you reach your goals, I’ve mentioned in an earlier post, the only supplements with proven results are: Caffeine, Creatine, Protein, and Multi-Vitamins. They are not necessary but:
Caffeine can help provide energy and focus

Creatine aids in building muscle and is safe for men and women. We naturally produce it, but additional supplementation does not have negative side effects and is recommended regardless of training programming.

Protein as mentioned before aids in the recovery and rebuilding of muscle as well as playing an important role in many other areas of the body.

Multi-vitamins can help provide the vitamins we may lack in foods to keep us healthy.

All in all, following a consistent and progressive training program; eating regularly scheduled meals after training; resting properly; and understanding supplements are fine, but largely unnecessary can help you not only get toned and build muscle, but are great building blocks for nearly any fitness goal or journey you may be embarking on.

If you’ve been knocking these out but still having trouble reaching your muscle building or toning goals, then we need to talk! Head over and fill out my quick questionnaire and let’s discuss how my online training program is going to get you built and toned like never before!

https://www.alwayshungrypt.com/client-application/

We’ve all been beginners. We know how scary or exhilarating it can be. We understand that there is an end goal we’re aiming for but there are so many intangibles we don’t yet know. But we also know that in order to get where we want to go, we have to be willing to take that risk and leap of faith into the unknown.

Entering the gym to start your fitness and health journey is no different.

I can vividly recall making the decision that, “I’m going to get myself healthy!” and walking into the gym with confidence that “today is the day” only to be stopped dead in my tracks by the sounds of machines and weights and people doing these crazy exercises that I had no idea how to do.

I realized very quickly that I had no idea what I was doing or where to even start! I had gotten excited to take the leap, but hadn’t planned anything out in order to try and execute! Now nearly 10 years later, I have heard and seen this same story play out in many others that get the gusto to level up, but end up like Deer in headlights with no idea where to even kickstart their journey. With that, I’d like to address a few of the things all beginners should know when starting their fitness journey!

How often do I need to work out?

A very common question that people often get wrong. The gym and traditional working out is very important to building a stronger or better body but time off can be as, if not more, crucial as the time spent training. It is recommended that some sort of activity is done at least 5 days per week, but in the sense of resistance based training, you shouldn’t need to be in a gym setting more than 3 days per week. Resistance training is a method that breaks down the muscle tissue as it’s being worked and though it may seem like going every single day is the answer to reach your goals faster, that time off between training where the muscles get rest is where the repair, growth, and change comes from. Training muscles too often can lead to overuse and stress injuries that could extend how long it takes for you to reach your goals. My general recommendation to beginners is to aim for 3 days a week in the gym + 2-3 days of non-resistance based workouts (like cardio) on the off days.

What kind of workouts should I do?

If you’re working out like the recommended 3 days per week as noted above, there are a couple of ways you can approach it. If you’re taking a day off between training sessions, I suggest each one should be a full body workout that targets muscles across the whole body – top to bottom; front to back. The day off between allows adequate time for recovery before hitting similar muscles again.

The other popular method is to break up the body into parts with a dedicated day of training to push muscles; pull muscles; and lower body muscles. This begins looking like a traditional bodybuilding training split as you’re dialing in your focus more on a specific set of muscles for that one session.

If you insist on extending to additional days of training – 4, 5, 6 days per week – my suggestion is that you continue to dial in your focus of each workout on specific muscle groups to avoid injuring areas that are in recovery or over training.

Regardless of how you approach your split, general goals of fat loss or muscle building alike should follow more compound exercises that incorporate more than 1 muscle group or joint action to perform (squat, bench, deadlift, etc). And if you’d like a little more specificity on which exercises can help get you off the ground, check out my FREE eBook of the 17 Exercises All Beginners Should Know, here.

Finally, it’s a misconception that the longer you’re in the gym, the better the workout session. A proper workout should not last more than 40-60 minutes (not including warm up/cool down). Less than that, the intensity should be dialed up; longer than that you may not get as much out of the workout due to too much rest, or overworking the body if doing too much.

Aside from that, find what works for you, your schedule, and is fun to do. Ultimately the best kind of workout is the one you like and will stick with.

What are the best supplements?

Supplements are designed literally as additional boosts to help you reach your goals in a variety of ways. That being said, there are countless articles dedicated to this exact question, but ultimately, there are only 3 supplements I would suggest (if you were going to take any) that have proven results.

Caffeine – the stimulant provides focus and energy proven in testing.

Creatine – a friend to muscles which helps them build strong

Protein – the energy source that helps muscles recovery, repair, rebuild after training

Other than those, the supplement industry is a largely unregulated industry (in the US) and most products are filled with trash ingredients that don’t have proven ability to boost your performance and in some cases, can be dangerous. The amounts are rarely accurate, and anything with a “proprietary blend” (especially without information about what that blend is made of) should be avoided.

How do I know it’s working?

At the outset of your fitness journey, I’m hoping you planned your goals of what it is you’re working toward. If you did this correctly, one of the aspects of your goal would be to identify how you’re going to measure success along the way. Luckily there are a plethora of methods which include:

-Body Fat measurements

-Circumference measurements

-Scale weight

-Progress pictures

-Clothing fit

-Energy/Stamina/Endurance levels

And the best one to go with is the one that works best for you and your goals and that you’ll be able to stick with accurately. For most people I highly recommend the progress pictures as it can often tell the best story with tangible evidence of where you were and where you are. But again, pick the best one that fits your goals and you can do consistently without issue.

Consistency or Intensity?

As the last sentence of the last section alludes to, consistency is key. In learning anything new, consistently showing up, putting in time and energy to learn and build and grow will lead to the best results. The intensity will vary depending on what your training plan calls for and how your energy levels are feeling. But consistently showing up gives you the best chance for success. You may have a ton of energy today and crush an intense workout that hits you harder than expected, but if you show up to the next session in a couple of days, and you’re still sore/tired but put in some lower intensity work, that’s still forward progress that you wouldn’t have if you sat on the couch instead.

Consistency always over intensity.

Why am I not as good as that other person?

One of the most common feelings beginners get is imposter syndrome and comparison syndrome. It is SOOO easy to see someone doing an exercise that you have planned and they’re doing it A) easier than you or B) with heavier weight than you, which throws you into thinking, “Why can’t I do it that easy?”

Nothing kills progress, motivation, consistency more than comparing yourself to the person doing the same thing next to you and them doing it better than you. Negative self talk of all kinds need to be left at the door, but if you can’t manage to get past this one, you’re gonna have a heck of a time. The best thing to remember is that this is NOT their Day 01. You are not them. They are on a completely different journey, reading the same book. The ONLY difference is, they are probably on page 50, while you’re just now cracking the spine. Everyone is built differently; Everyone has different starting points; Everyone has different adaptations;

Every. Person. Is. Different.

If you can kill the comparison, you’ll level up faster than you ever thought.

Beginners at the gym are great because they’ve decided to take control of their lives and start building a better future. Stepping foot on the gym floor can be intimidating and anxiety-inducing if you don’t have the right plan and mindset. If you follow along the advice laid here and put together a plan of exercises that that follow your goal, you can take over the world.

Ultimately the only thing you can do is take off your water wings and jump into the deep end and know that you’re going to float as long as you try.

If you’re still really nervous, remember to start slow with VERY light resistance to learn how your body moves and build from there. Showing up is half the battle, and hopefully this has helped win the other half. Now get to the gym and start kicking butts!

And if you’re still not sure on where to start, let’s connect and start clearing the fog right now! Apply for Online Coaching with me and let’s get to work today!

Busting Muscle Building Myths

6 Things All Beginners Should Know