antihero
07-21-2006, 03:36 PM
30 Biggest Lies about Bodybuilding
From: jp@cairo.anu.edu.au (jp)
Newsgroups: misc.fitness
Date: 13 Jan 94 07:58:09 GMT
Organization: Australian National University
Okay, people, the response has been quite decisive and now
I shall make good my pledge to reprint Muscle Media 2000's
'30 Biggest Lies' article (which is now unavailable commercially).
As always, feel free to contact me (jp@cairo.anu.edu.au) if you
have any further queries about my postings, or bodybuilding in
general.
Also note: My apologies for typos and the like, but I suffer
from a strange syndrome whereby my brain thinks one thing and
my fingers type another.
MUSCLE MEDIA 2000 EXPOSES
30 OF BODYBUILDING'S BIGGEST LIES
THAT STAND BETWEEN YOU AND SUCCESS!
By T.C. Luoma and Bill Phillips.
1 -- You can get as big as a pro bodybuilder... (http://www.frankpr.net/BB/30_lies.htm#LINK1)
2 -- In order to get really big... (http://www.frankpr.net/BB/30_lies.htm#LINK2)
3 -- If you eat a low-fat diet... (http://www.frankpr.net/BB/30_lies.htm#LINK3)
<a href="http://www.frankpr.net/BB/30_lies.htm#LINK4" target="_blank">4 -- The more you work out, the more you'll
grow.</a>
5 -- The longer you work out, the better. (http://www.frankpr.net/BB/30_lies.htm#LINK5)
<a href="http://www.frankpr.net/BB/30_lies.htm#LINK6" target="_blank">6 -- You don't have to be strong to be
big</a>
<a href="http://www.frankpr.net/BB/30_lies.htm#LINK7" target="_blank">7 -- The training programmes that work
best...</a>
8 -- You can't build muscle... (http://www.frankpr.net/BB/30_lies.htm#LINK8)
9 -- You can't grow if... (http://www.frankpr.net/BB/30_lies.htm#LINK9)
10 -- You can't make gains if... (http://www.frankpr.net/BB/30_lies.htm#LINK10)
<a href="http://www.frankpr.net/BB/30_lies.htm#LINK11" target="_blank">11 -- You should only rest 45 seconds
in between sets.</a>
<a href="http://www.frankpr.net/BB/30_lies.htm#LINK12" target="_blank">12 -- You have to use fancy weightlifting
equipment...</a>
<a href="http://www.frankpr.net/BB/30_lies.htm#LINK13" target="_blank">13 -- Weight training makes you big;
aerobic exercise cuts you up.</a>
14 -- You can completely reshape a muscle... (http://www.frankpr.net/BB/30_lies.htm#LINK14)
15 -- If you get a pump... (http://www.frankpr.net/BB/30_lies.htm#LINK15)
<a href="http://www.frankpr.net/BB/30_lies.htm#LINK16" target="_blank">16 -- If you do hundreds of sit-ups a
day...</a>
17 -- Training like a powerlifter... (http://www.frankpr.net/BB/30_lies.htm#LINK17)
<a href="http://www.frankpr.net/BB/30_lies.htm#LINK18" target="_blank">18 -- High repetitions make your muscles
harder and more cut up.</a>
<a href="http://www.frankpr.net/BB/30_lies.htm#LINK19" target="_blank">19 -- Instinctive training is the best
way to promote gains. </a>
<a href="http://www.frankpr.net/BB/30_lies.htm#LINK20" target="_blank">20 -- Women need to train differently
than men.</a>
<a href="http://www.frankpr.net/BB/30_lies.htm#LINK21" target="_blank">21 -- There are food supplements available
that...</a>
<a href="http://www.frankpr.net/BB/30_lies.htm#LINK22" target="_blank">22 -- Professional bodybuilders represent
the epitome of health and fitness. </a>
23 -- Training with weights causes... (http://www.frankpr.net/BB/30_lies.htm#LINK23)
24 -- Loading up on carbohydrates... (http://www.frankpr.net/BB/30_lies.htm#LINK24)
25 -- Consuming foods high in sugar... (http://www.frankpr.net/BB/30_lies.htm#LINK25)
<a href="http://www.frankpr.net/BB/30_lies.htm#LINK26" target="_blank">26 -- All anabolic steroids are extremely
toxic and dangerous.</a>
<a href="http://www.frankpr.net/BB/30_lies.htm#LINK27" target="_blank">27 -- If you stop working out, your muscle
will turn into fat. </a>
28 -- Ingesting MCT... (http://www.frankpr.net/BB/30_lies.htm#LINK28)
<a href="http://www.frankpr.net/BB/30_lies.htm#LINK29" target="_blank">29 -- If everyone took the same amount
of steroids...</a>
<a href="http://www.frankpr.net/BB/30_lies.htm#LINK30" target="_blank">30 -- Someone with a well-built body
must be knowledgeable about fitness and physique development.</a>
<a name="LINK1"></a>
1 -- You can get as big as a pro bodybuilder. without
taking steroids; it just takes longer.
Despite what many of the magazines say, all professional bodybuilders
use either steroids or steroids in combination with other growth-enhancing
drugs. Without manipulating hormones, it just isn't possible to
get that degree of muscularity, the paper-thin skin, and the continuing
ability to pack on mass, despite sometimes having poor workout
habits and relative ignorance of the principles involved that
many pro bodybuilders have. Many supplement distributors, in order
to sell their products, would have you believe otherwise.
Still, that's no reason to give up. By using state-of-the-art
training principles, consuming a nutrient-rich diet, and by getting
proper amounts of rest, almost every person can make incredible
changes in his or her physique. The competitive bodybuilder circuit
may not be in your future, but building the kind of physique that
gains you respect is certainly achievable, as are self-respect
and robust health. <a name="LINK2"></a>
2 -- In order to get really big, you have to eat a super-high-calorie
diet.
Well, that's true; you'll get really big if you eat a super
high-calorie diet, but you'll look like the Michelin Man's fraternal
twin. However, if you want to get big, lean-tissue wise,
then super-high-calorie diets are probably not for you unless
you are one of those very few people with metabolicrates so fast
you can burn off these calories instead of depositing them as
fat. Unfortunately, studies show that, in most people, about 65%
of the new tissue gains brought about by high-calorie diets consists
of fat! Of the remaining 35%, approximately 15% consists of increased
intracellular fluid volume, leaving a very modest percentage attributable
to increased lean muscle mass.
According to Dr Scott Connelly (MM2K, Spring 1992, p.
21), only about 20% to 25% of increased muscle growth stems from
increased protein synthesis. The rest of the muscle growth is
directly attributable to increased proliferation of the satellite
cells in the basal lamina of muscle tissue, and dietary energy
(calories) is not a key factor in the differentiation of
these cells into new myofibres (muscle cells).
Of all factors determining muscle growth, prevention of protein
breakdown (anti-catabolism) seems to be the most relevant, but
adding adipose [fat] tissue through constant overfeeding can actually
increase muscle pro- teolysis (breakdown). Furthermore, additional
adipose mass can radically alter hormone balances which are responsible
for controlling protein breakdown in muscle. Insulin balance,
for one, which partially controls anti-catabolism in the body,
is impaired by consistent overfeeding. So much for the eat-big-to-get-big
philosophy!
Stay away from the super-high calorie diets unless you're a
genetic freak, or you're woefully lean and don't mind putting
on fat [or you're using appropriate pharmaceutical supplements].
<a name="LINK3"></a>
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. <a name="LINK4"></a>
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. <a name="LINK5"></a>
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. <a name="LINK6"></a>
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). <a name="LINK7"></a>
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. <a name="LINK8"></a>
8 -- You can't build muscle on a sub-maintenance calorie
intake diet.
It may be a little harder, and it may require a little bit
more know-how and a little bit more conscientious effort, but
it can be done. The fact is, the obese state in humans and animals
is not universally correlated with absolute levels of caloric
intake and neither is the accrual of lean body mass. The ability
to realize changes in lean/fat ratios is regulated by components
of the automatic nervous system working in concert with several
endocrine hormones; this is called nutrient partitioning. For
example, certain beta-agonist drugs like Clenbuterol increase
meat production in cattle over 30% while simultaneously diminishing
bodyfat without increasing the amount or composition of
their feed. Other drugs, including growth hormone, certain oestrogens,
cortisol, ephedrine, and IGF-1 are all examples of re-partitioning
agents. All increase oxygen consumption at the expense of fat
storage--independent of energy intake!
Drugs are not the only way to do this, however. It's true that
a significant component of this mechanism is genetically linked,
but specific nutrients, in specific amounts, when combined with
an effective training programme, can markedly improve the lean/fat
ratio of adult humans. MET-Rx is one such nutrient re-partitioning
agent, and several companies are trying to duplicate its successes
[warning: one of the authors of this article has a significant
financial stake in Substrate Technologies, the makers of MET-Rx].
<a name="LINK9"></a>
9 -- You can't grow if you only work each body part
once a week.
If you work out -- work out intensely-- then it can
take 5-10 days for the muscles to heal. Although the following
should be taken with a grain of salt when determining your own
exercise frequency, a study in the May 1993 issue of the Journal
of Physiology revealed it can take weeks for muscles to recuperate
from an intense workout. The study involved a group of men and
women who had worked their forearms to the max. All of the subjects
said they were sore two days after exercising, and the soreness
was gone by the seventh day, and the swelling was gone by the
ninth day. After six weeks, the subjects had only gained back
half the strength they had before the original exercise! By no
means are we advocating that you wait two months between workouts,
but we are trying to prove the point that it takes muscles longer
to heal than what you might have previously thought. For some
people, especially natural bodybuilders, waiting a week between
body part workouts might be just what the doctor ordered for size
and strength gains! <a name="LINK10"></a>
10 -- You can't make gains if. you only train with weights
three days a week.
Although you probably couldn't find a single steroid-assisted
athlete who trains only three days a week [well, I was, and I
made fantastic gains!], there's absolutely no reason why a three-day-a-week
routine couldn't work for many natural athletes. As long as your
routine attacked the whole body and you worked to failure on each
set, you could easily experience great gains on this sort of routine.
However, you need to pay even more attention to your diet if you
only train three days a week, especially if your job involves
little or no physical activity, and you like to spend your idle
time eating. Ignore those who say three-day-a-week bodybuilders
are only 'recreational lifters'. Think quality and not
quantity. <a name="LINK11"></a>
11 -- You should only rest 45 seconds in between sets.
That's true if you're trying to improve cardiovascular health
or lose some bodyfat. But in order to build muscle, you
need to allow enough time for the muscle to recuperate fully (ie.
let the lactic acid buildup in your muscles dissipate and ATP
levels build back up). In order to make muscles grow, you have
to lift the heaviest weight possible, thereby allowing the maximum
number of muscle fibers to be recruited. If the amount of weight
you lift is being limited by the amount of lactic acid left over
from the previous set, you're only testing your ability to battle
the effects of lactic acid. In other words, you're trying to swim
across a pool while wearing concrete overshoes. When training
heavy, take [at least!] two and three minutes between your sets.
Notice I said, "when training heavy." The truth is,
you can't train heavy all the time. Periodization calls for cycling
heavy workouts with less intense training sessions in an effort
to keep the body from becoming overtrained. (See 'Periodization'
by Brad Jeffreys on p. 85 of the Feb/March 1993 issue of MM2K)
<a name="LINK12"></a>
12 -- You have to use fancy weightlifting equipment
in order to make the best gains.
Futuristic-looking, complex machinery designed to give your
muscles the 'ultimate workout' is typically less effective
than good-old barbells and dumbbells. Using simple free weights
(barbells and dumbbells) on basic multi-joint exercises, like
the squat, bench press, shoulder press, and deadlift, is still
the most effective means of resistance exercise ever invented.
Scientific research has shown that many exercise machines lack
the proper eccentric component of an exercise that's necessary
to stimulate muscle tissue to remodel (grow). (See the article
titled 'Research Confirms that Bodybuilders Should Pay Heavy Attention
to Negative Reps' by Bill Phillips on p.18 of the Feb/March issue
of MM2K) <a name="LINK13"></a>
13 -- Weight training makes you big; aerobic exercise
cuts you up.
Manipulations in your nutrient intake are the main factor in
getting cut up, and how you do it doesn't matter. If your daily
caloric expenditure exceeds your daily caloric intake on a consistent
basis, you will lose fat and get more cut.
Aerobic exercise is generally meant to improve cardiovascular
efficiency, but if you do it long enough, you will burn up calories
and in the long run drop the fat. However, weightlifting can do
the same thing, only better. Studies have shown that the body
burns far more efficiently if exercise is performed at a moderate
pace for periods longer than 20 minutes. (It generally takes that
long for the glucose in the bloodstream to be 'burned up', causing
the body to dip into glycogen reserves for its energy) Once the
glycogen reserves are used up, the body must metabolize fatty
acids for energy. That equate to lost bodyfat.
In the long run, bodybuilding is more efficient than
aerobics for burning up calories. Let me explain--if researchers
were to undertake a study of twins whereby one twin performed
daily aerobics and the other practiced a bodybuilding programme
where the end result was increased lean body mass, the bodybuilding
twin would ultimately be a more efficient fat burner than his
aerobic twin. Why? Well, by adding lean body mass, that person's
metabolic requirements are higher--muscle uses energy even while
it is not being used. The aerobic twin might use more calories
during the time period of exercise itself, but the weight-lifting
twin would use a higher amount during rest time, leading to a
higher net 24-hour expenditure. The weight lifter burns fat just
sitting there. <a name="LINK14"></a>
14 -- You can completely reshape a muscle by doing isolation
exercises.
You can't limit growth to only one area of a muscle. Larry
Scott, for whom the 'biceps peaking' Scott curl was named, had
tremendous biceps, but he didn't have much of a peak. The
shape of your biceps, or for that matter, any muscle, is determined
by your genetic makeup. When you work a muscle, any muscle, it
works on the all-or-nothing principle, meaning that each muscle
fiber recruited to do a lift -- along the entire length of that
muscle -- is contracted fully. Why would a certain number of them,
like the ones in the middle of the biceps, suddenly start to grow
differently or at a faster rate than its partners? If anything,
the muscles that are closest to the insertion points are the most
prone to mechanical stress, and you don't see them get any bigger
than the rest of the muscle. If they did, everyone would have
proportions like Popeye.
This is true of any muscle, but you're probably thinking, what
about quads? I know that when I do hack squats with my feet together,
it tends to give me more sweep in my legs. Sure it does, but the
quadriceps are made up of four different main muscles, and doing
hacks with your feet together forces the vastus lateralis
muscles on the outside of the leg to work harder; consequently,
they grow proportionately along their entire length and give the
outer quads more sweep.
As further evidence, take a look at a picture of any young
professional bodybuilder before he was developed enough to become
a pro. He will have virtually the same structural lines as he
does today. All that has changed is that his muscles are now bigger.
<a name="LINK15"></a>
15 -- If you get a pump , you're working the muscles
adequately to ensure muscular hypertrophy, or if your muscles
are burning, that means you are promoting muscle growth.
A pump, despite what Arnold Schwarzenegger said about it "feeling
better than coming", is nothing more than the muscle becoming
engorged with blood from capillary action. It can be achieved
easily by curling a soup can fifty times. It by no means equates
to the muscular intensity needed to promote growth. The same is
true of the coveted 'burn' that Hollywood muscleheads advise the
public to 'go for'. A burn is simply an accumulation of lactic
acid, a by-product of chemical respiration. You can get a burn
by peddling a bicycle or simply extending your arm straight out
and moving it in tiny circles [or sitting in a burning fireplace!].
It does not necessarily mean you are promoting muscle growth.
For hypertrophy to occur, you have to subject the muscles to high
levels of tension, and high tension levels are best induced by
heavy weights. <a name="LINK16"></a>
16 -- If you do hundreds of sit-ups a day, you will
eventually achieve a narrow, washboard-type midsection.
There is no such thing as spot-reduction. Doing thousands and
thousands of sit-ups will give you tight abdominal muscles, but
they will do nothing to rid your midsection of fat. Thigh adductor
and abductor movements will give women's thighs more firmness,
but they will do nothing to rid the area of fat, or what is commonly
[and erroneously] called cellulite. Nothing will rid the body
of fat, unless it is a carefully-orchestrated reduction in your
daily energy intake; in other words, if you burn more calories
than you ingest (or do that in conjunction with a nutrient partitioning
agent. See #8) <a name="LINK17"></a>
17 -- Training like a powerlifter --deadlifts, heavy
squats, bench presses--will make your physique look blocky.
Blockiness, like baldness or a flat chest, is a genetic trait.
If you were born blocky, then powerlifting will simply make you
a bigger blocky person. The only way to offset a blocky appearance
is to give special emphasis to the lats, the outer muscles of
the thighs, and to a fat-reducing diet which will keep the midsection
as narrow as possible. With these modifications, you will give
your body the illusion of a more "aerodynamic" appearance.
The truth is, powerlifting exercises are excellent for bodybuilding.
<a name="LINK18"></a>
18 -- High repetitions make your muscles harder and
more cut up.
Although there is some evidence to suggest that high repetitions
might induce some extra capillary intrusion into a muscle, they
will do nothing to make the muscle harder or more cut up. If a
completely sedentary person began weightlifting, using either
low reps or high reps, he or she would experience a rapid increase
in tonus, the degree of muscular contraction that the muscle
maintains even when that muscle is relaxed, but that would happen
regardless of rep range. The only way that high repetitions would
make a muscle more cut up is if, by doing a higher number of reps,
your body as a whole was in negative energy balance, and you were
burning more calories than you were ingesting. The truth is, heavy
weights, lifted for 5-8 reps per set, can build rock-hard muscles.
You just have to get the fat off them to see how "hard"
they are. <a name="LINK19"></a>
19 -- Instinctive training is the best way to promote
gains.
If bodybuilders followed their instincts, they'd go home and
pop open a Bud [much prefer Toohey's Red myself!]. Instinctive
training is a wonderful catch-phrase, and it might even work for
drug-assisted athletes since the very act of opening up a Bud
would probably induce muscular growth in them. However, in a natural
bodybuilder, the approach to long-term, consistent gains in muscular
mass has to be, shall we say, a bit more scientific. Research
results conducted by exercise physiologists recommend a systematic
approach such as the one encompassed by periodization where the
bodybuilder, through a period of several weeks, lifts ever-increasing
pre-set percentages of a one-rep lift. This heavy period is also
periodically staggered with a lighter training phase 'cycle'.
Ultimately, the percentages increase, the maximum one-rep lifts
increase, and lean body mass increases. There is nothing instinctive
about it. <a name="LINK20"></a>
20 -- Women need to train differently than men.
On a microscopic level, there is virtually no difference between
the muscle tissue of men and the muscle tissue of women. Men and
women have different levels of the same hormones, and that's what
is responsible for the difference in the amount of muscle a man
can typically put on and the amount of muscle a woman can typically
gain. There is absolutely no reason why either should train differently
than the other sex, provided they have the same goals. The only
difference in training might be as a result of cultural, sexual
preferences. A woman might desire to develop her glutes a little
more so she looks better in a pair of 'Guess' jeans. Conversely,
a man might want to build his lats a little more so that he fits
the cultural stereotype of a virile man. <a name="LINK21"></a>
21 -- There are food supplements available that are
just as effective as steroids, yet safer.
The only things as effective as steroids are other steroids.
Despite the proclamations of some supplement distributors, usually
in giant, 35-point type, no currently available supplement works
like steroids. However, nutrients and supplements can be extremely
effective, especially if your diet is lacking in some critical
component or you're genetically predisposed to accept that nutrient
or supplement. Biochemically, individuals vary enormously, and
the interaction of genetics, coupled with the widely varying diets
that each of us eats, makes it virtually impossible to gauge just
what will work for one individual and what won't. That is why
some supplements work better than others for some people, just
as some people are genetically predispositioned to accept steroids
more readily than others. Food supplements do have benefits that
can't be overlooked -- they're generally safe, and they won't
get you thrown into jail. But none of them build muscle
as fast or as well as steroids. <a name="LINK22"></a>
22 -- Professional bodybuilders represent the epitome
of health and fitness.
The ultimate irony is that the IFBB is facing in trying to
get bodybuilders into the Olympics is that while every athlete
in every other sport is presumably the healthiest they've
ever been so that they are able to compete athletically
and break records, the bodybuilder is so weak on competition day
that he or she would have trouble fending off the attacks of an
enraged toy poodle. The weeks of constant dieting, workouts that
continually tax the body almost beyond recovery, and a constant
influx of potentially harmful drugs and diuretics have brought
most of them to total exhaustion.
And think about the huge amounts of food some steroid-using
bodybuilders eat. In all the longevity sites in the world where
people routinely live to be one hundred, the only common denominator
is that they all either under-eat or eat just enough to meet their
daily caloric requirements. By ingesting less food, they ingest
less harmful chemicals, and fewer free radicals are formed in
the body. The average professional builder probably eats at least
four or five times what these aforementioned people eat. As a
result, bodybuilders often suffer from high cholesterol and high
blood pressure. Plus, with all that extra mass, the heart has
to work that much harder and will probably stop beating years
before it was designed to. That's why professional bodybuilding
is the ultimate act of vanity. It was done strictly to fulfill
some misguided notion of the superhuman ideal, and health was
not even a consideration. Almost without exception, these guys
and gals are not healthy, and they'll probably be among the first
to tell you so. However, weight-training and consuming a nutrient-rich
diet is very healthy, as long as it is not carried
to extremes. <a name="LINK23"></a>
23 -- Training with weights causes your muscles to get
tight and hinders flexibility and, consequently, athletic performance.
If anything, when done properly (slowly and using a complete
range of motion), weight training increases flexibility. Many
athletes now engage in weight training in order to improve their
performance in their chosen sport -- witness Evander Hollyfield
or any number of track athletes, basketball players, or gymnasts;
the list goes on and on.
This lie goes all the way back to the 1930s. Companies that
were selling isometric exercise programmes by mail were trying
to convince people _not_ to exercise with barbells, simply because
it wasn't practical to send weights through the mail. So they
made up the 'muscle-bound' lie.
This lie might have been fueled from the feeling of 'tightness'
that accompanies an intense workout. If the workout was intense
and a sufficient number of muscle fibers were recruited and microscopically
damaged, then even the normal tonus (the normal amount of contraction
experienced by a relaxed muscle) is more than enough to cause
a feeling of pain and tightness. The tightness is compounded by
the 'tugging' of the tendons on the muscles. Stretching, however,
would do much to alleviate this tightness, and stretching is a
recommended part of any athletic pursuit.
The only possible confirmation of this lie concerns a baseball
pitcher's arm. An intense weight training programme might affect
a pitcher's ability to throw a fast ball, but it wouldn't be because
of a lack of flexibility. The speed a pitcher can generate seems
to be determined more by a complex relationship of tendon length
and strength and nervous system efficiency as opposed to muscular
strength, and weight training could, possibly, upset this delicate
balance. <a name="LINK24"></a>
24 -- Loading up on carbohydrates is an excellent way
to enhance your athletic performance.
The traditional manner in which athletes 'carb up' for an athletic
competition usually involves first depleting the body's stores
of carbohydrates through exercise and diet. This is then followed
by rest and a high carbohydrate intake. However, studies have
shown that this type of preparation is unnecessary. An athlete
who eats a balanced, high-carbohydrate diet and is in reasonably
good shape has plenty of carbohydrates in his or her system to
meet the demands of short-duration exercises that don't exceed
roughly one hour. Anyone that does exercises that last more than
an hour, like long-distance running or cycling, may benefit from
'carbing up', but the ability of muscles to use fat as a source
of energy rather than carbohydrates in endurance events may be
even more important to performance at that level. <a name="LINK25"></a>
25 -- Consuming foods high in sugar before training
provides your body with extra energy to sustain workouts.
Simple sugars like sucrose don't need to be broken down by
the body's enzymes to be used as energy like complex carbohydrates
do. Therefore, they elicit a rapid release of insulin, the hormone
that regulates blood-sugar levels. The trouble is, the sudden,
rapid influx of sugar into the system causes the body to release
insulin in what must be considered a haphazard method, ie. the
amount released is usually more than what's needed to metabolise
the sugar. Consequently, your blood sugar often temporarily drops
to a point that is actually lower than it was _before_ you had
the sugar, which might cause you to become more exhausted much
earlier than it normally would. Your body is then forced to dip
into its glycogen reserves in order to correct the imbalance.
To ensure that you have enough energy to complete a workout,
eat nutrient- rich foods with low glycemic indices (those that
elicit a smooth, steady stream of sugar into the bloodstream)
like barley, lentils or beans. <a name="LINK26"></a>
26 -- All anabolic steroids are extremely toxic and
dangerous.
Here's a good trivia question borrowed from Dan Duchaine's
Underground Steroid Handbook [highly recommended]: if you
lined up a bottle of Dianabol (a popular steroid), a bottle of
Lasix (a diuretic used by heart patients and bodybuilders who
want to 'cut up' for a competition), a bottle of Valium, a bottle
of aspirin, and a bottle of Slow-K (a potassium supplement), which
one, upon eating a 100 tablets, wouldn't kill you? Well,
most likely the Dianabol. This isn't an endorsement of steroids;
it's just an effective illustration of the stigma generally associated
with all steroids: 'they'll give you brain tumors like Lyle Alzado
. . . they'll cause your heart to enlarge and eventually give
out [they cause spontaneous decapitation . .]'. Maybe, but all
steroids are different. Some are more dangerous than others. Birth
control pills are steroids. Testosterone patches have been used
with great success to enhance the quality of life for elderly
men. Some of the steroids that bodybuilders use are very mild,
and the risk associated with them is virtually negligible. Still,
there _are_ dangerous steroids, and that's all the more reason
that athletes who choose to use them must be more knowledgeable
about them. This is what Bill Phillips' Anabolic Reference
Guide [_very_ highly- recommended] is all about -- education.
Of course, the physical changes that steroids bring about might
cause adverse psychological effects in the user, and that fact
shouldn't be ignored. <a name="LINK27"></a>
27 -- If you stop working out, your muscle will turn
into fat.
This is almost too preposterous to address. Muscle can no sooner
turn to fat than gold can turn into lead. Muscle is made up of
individual cells--living, 'breathing' cells that undergo all kinds
of complex metabolic processes. Fat cells are simply storage packets
of lipids. The possibility of one changing into another is akin
to the bowling ball in your storage closet turning into your Aunt
Edna. If you stop working out, if you stop applying resistance
to your muscles on a consistent basis, they will simply adapt
to the new condition. In other words, they'll shrink. If the degree
of inactivity or immobilization is severe, the muscles will shrink
faster than the surrounding skin, and a temporary condition of
loose skin might be experienced, but that too would remedy itself
with time. <a name="LINK28"></a>
28 -- Ingesting MCT . (medium-chain triglyceride) oils
will give you tons of energy, but they won't make you fat.
MCTs first gained prominence for treating persons suffering
from fat mal- absorption, pancreatic deficiency, or stomach or
esophageal diseases. Researchers found that MCTs, because of their
better solubility and motility, underwent a rapid hydrolysis by
salivary, gastric, and pancreatic enzymes. Consequently, they
were able to reach the liver and provide energy much more quickly
than long-chain triglycerides (Guillot, et al., 1993). There was
also some evidence that MCTs reduced lipid deposition in fat stores
compared with that resulting from LCTs under identical energy
intake conditions. However, this is no reason to believe that
ingesting these oils in excess will not result in a positive energy
balance which the body stores as fat. MCTs, like regular oils,
like regular fats, have nine calories per gramme. Even though
they are metabolized differently, using them in excessive amounts
will add inches to your waistline. <a name="LINK29"></a>
29 -- If everyone took the same amount of steroids,
everyone would look like a professional bodybuilder.
One of the ironies of steroid use is that some people are genetically
'gifted' in terms of steroid receptors. That means that they have
a large number of receptor sites in the muscles with which a particular
steroid can combine and exert its mass-building effects. The man
or woman who won the last contest might very well have the most
active steroid receptors rather than being the most dedicated,
knowledgeable bodybuilder. On the other hand, some people might
possess very few receptors for a particular steroid. That's why
they experience very little, if any, growth on a particular steroid.
Another factor that influences receptor affinity is age. The highest
receptor affinity seems to occur in late teenage years. This is
a generalization, but it seems to be true for a good number of
people. Since there is a greater uptake in these individuals,
they are often able to take lower dosages for longer periods of
time and make better gains than older users. The truth is, two
bodybuilders could take the same steroid stack, train and eat
the same, and one could turn out to be in the Olympia, and the
other might never even win a local contest. The difference in
how people react to these drugs is incredible. <a name="LINK30"></a>
30 -- Someone with a well-built body must be knowledgeable
about fitness and physique development.
Despite popular belief, just because some guy has 20"
[51cm] arms or 30" [77cm] thighs, that does not automatically
credential him as a bodybuilding expert. Unfortunately, in a society
where looks count for so much, well-built lifters are often regarded
as bodybuilding scientists. The unfortunate fact is, many well-built
athletes, even pro bodybuilders, have no idea how they got where
they are. Many of them are so genetically gifted and embellish
their genetic potential even further by using tons of bodybuilding
drugs that they actually succeed in spite of themselves.
With few exceptions, elite bodybuilders are the last people in
the world you want to turn to for bodybuilding advice if you're
genetically average like 98% of us. You're more likely to find
expert advice from someone who has 'walked a mile in your shoes'.
The above has been reprinted from the October/November edition
of Muscle Media 2000.
For subscription information to this excellent publication,
contact:
Muscle Media 2000
PO Box 277
Golden CO 80402
1-800-637-1572
From: jp@cairo.anu.edu.au (jp)
Newsgroups: misc.fitness
Date: 13 Jan 94 07:58:09 GMT
Organization: Australian National University
Okay, people, the response has been quite decisive and now
I shall make good my pledge to reprint Muscle Media 2000's
'30 Biggest Lies' article (which is now unavailable commercially).
As always, feel free to contact me (jp@cairo.anu.edu.au) if you
have any further queries about my postings, or bodybuilding in
general.
Also note: My apologies for typos and the like, but I suffer
from a strange syndrome whereby my brain thinks one thing and
my fingers type another.
MUSCLE MEDIA 2000 EXPOSES
30 OF BODYBUILDING'S BIGGEST LIES
THAT STAND BETWEEN YOU AND SUCCESS!
By T.C. Luoma and Bill Phillips.
1 -- You can get as big as a pro bodybuilder... (http://www.frankpr.net/BB/30_lies.htm#LINK1)
2 -- In order to get really big... (http://www.frankpr.net/BB/30_lies.htm#LINK2)
3 -- If you eat a low-fat diet... (http://www.frankpr.net/BB/30_lies.htm#LINK3)
<a href="http://www.frankpr.net/BB/30_lies.htm#LINK4" target="_blank">4 -- The more you work out, the more you'll
grow.</a>
5 -- The longer you work out, the better. (http://www.frankpr.net/BB/30_lies.htm#LINK5)
<a href="http://www.frankpr.net/BB/30_lies.htm#LINK6" target="_blank">6 -- You don't have to be strong to be
big</a>
<a href="http://www.frankpr.net/BB/30_lies.htm#LINK7" target="_blank">7 -- The training programmes that work
best...</a>
8 -- You can't build muscle... (http://www.frankpr.net/BB/30_lies.htm#LINK8)
9 -- You can't grow if... (http://www.frankpr.net/BB/30_lies.htm#LINK9)
10 -- You can't make gains if... (http://www.frankpr.net/BB/30_lies.htm#LINK10)
<a href="http://www.frankpr.net/BB/30_lies.htm#LINK11" target="_blank">11 -- You should only rest 45 seconds
in between sets.</a>
<a href="http://www.frankpr.net/BB/30_lies.htm#LINK12" target="_blank">12 -- You have to use fancy weightlifting
equipment...</a>
<a href="http://www.frankpr.net/BB/30_lies.htm#LINK13" target="_blank">13 -- Weight training makes you big;
aerobic exercise cuts you up.</a>
14 -- You can completely reshape a muscle... (http://www.frankpr.net/BB/30_lies.htm#LINK14)
15 -- If you get a pump... (http://www.frankpr.net/BB/30_lies.htm#LINK15)
<a href="http://www.frankpr.net/BB/30_lies.htm#LINK16" target="_blank">16 -- If you do hundreds of sit-ups a
day...</a>
17 -- Training like a powerlifter... (http://www.frankpr.net/BB/30_lies.htm#LINK17)
<a href="http://www.frankpr.net/BB/30_lies.htm#LINK18" target="_blank">18 -- High repetitions make your muscles
harder and more cut up.</a>
<a href="http://www.frankpr.net/BB/30_lies.htm#LINK19" target="_blank">19 -- Instinctive training is the best
way to promote gains. </a>
<a href="http://www.frankpr.net/BB/30_lies.htm#LINK20" target="_blank">20 -- Women need to train differently
than men.</a>
<a href="http://www.frankpr.net/BB/30_lies.htm#LINK21" target="_blank">21 -- There are food supplements available
that...</a>
<a href="http://www.frankpr.net/BB/30_lies.htm#LINK22" target="_blank">22 -- Professional bodybuilders represent
the epitome of health and fitness. </a>
23 -- Training with weights causes... (http://www.frankpr.net/BB/30_lies.htm#LINK23)
24 -- Loading up on carbohydrates... (http://www.frankpr.net/BB/30_lies.htm#LINK24)
25 -- Consuming foods high in sugar... (http://www.frankpr.net/BB/30_lies.htm#LINK25)
<a href="http://www.frankpr.net/BB/30_lies.htm#LINK26" target="_blank">26 -- All anabolic steroids are extremely
toxic and dangerous.</a>
<a href="http://www.frankpr.net/BB/30_lies.htm#LINK27" target="_blank">27 -- If you stop working out, your muscle
will turn into fat. </a>
28 -- Ingesting MCT... (http://www.frankpr.net/BB/30_lies.htm#LINK28)
<a href="http://www.frankpr.net/BB/30_lies.htm#LINK29" target="_blank">29 -- If everyone took the same amount
of steroids...</a>
<a href="http://www.frankpr.net/BB/30_lies.htm#LINK30" target="_blank">30 -- Someone with a well-built body
must be knowledgeable about fitness and physique development.</a>
<a name="LINK1"></a>
1 -- You can get as big as a pro bodybuilder. without
taking steroids; it just takes longer.
Despite what many of the magazines say, all professional bodybuilders
use either steroids or steroids in combination with other growth-enhancing
drugs. Without manipulating hormones, it just isn't possible to
get that degree of muscularity, the paper-thin skin, and the continuing
ability to pack on mass, despite sometimes having poor workout
habits and relative ignorance of the principles involved that
many pro bodybuilders have. Many supplement distributors, in order
to sell their products, would have you believe otherwise.
Still, that's no reason to give up. By using state-of-the-art
training principles, consuming a nutrient-rich diet, and by getting
proper amounts of rest, almost every person can make incredible
changes in his or her physique. The competitive bodybuilder circuit
may not be in your future, but building the kind of physique that
gains you respect is certainly achievable, as are self-respect
and robust health. <a name="LINK2"></a>
2 -- In order to get really big, you have to eat a super-high-calorie
diet.
Well, that's true; you'll get really big if you eat a super
high-calorie diet, but you'll look like the Michelin Man's fraternal
twin. However, if you want to get big, lean-tissue wise,
then super-high-calorie diets are probably not for you unless
you are one of those very few people with metabolicrates so fast
you can burn off these calories instead of depositing them as
fat. Unfortunately, studies show that, in most people, about 65%
of the new tissue gains brought about by high-calorie diets consists
of fat! Of the remaining 35%, approximately 15% consists of increased
intracellular fluid volume, leaving a very modest percentage attributable
to increased lean muscle mass.
According to Dr Scott Connelly (MM2K, Spring 1992, p.
21), only about 20% to 25% of increased muscle growth stems from
increased protein synthesis. The rest of the muscle growth is
directly attributable to increased proliferation of the satellite
cells in the basal lamina of muscle tissue, and dietary energy
(calories) is not a key factor in the differentiation of
these cells into new myofibres (muscle cells).
Of all factors determining muscle growth, prevention of protein
breakdown (anti-catabolism) seems to be the most relevant, but
adding adipose [fat] tissue through constant overfeeding can actually
increase muscle pro- teolysis (breakdown). Furthermore, additional
adipose mass can radically alter hormone balances which are responsible
for controlling protein breakdown in muscle. Insulin balance,
for one, which partially controls anti-catabolism in the body,
is impaired by consistent overfeeding. So much for the eat-big-to-get-big
philosophy!
Stay away from the super-high calorie diets unless you're a
genetic freak, or you're woefully lean and don't mind putting
on fat [or you're using appropriate pharmaceutical supplements].
<a name="LINK3"></a>
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. <a name="LINK4"></a>
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. <a name="LINK5"></a>
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. <a name="LINK6"></a>
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). <a name="LINK7"></a>
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. <a name="LINK8"></a>
8 -- You can't build muscle on a sub-maintenance calorie
intake diet.
It may be a little harder, and it may require a little bit
more know-how and a little bit more conscientious effort, but
it can be done. The fact is, the obese state in humans and animals
is not universally correlated with absolute levels of caloric
intake and neither is the accrual of lean body mass. The ability
to realize changes in lean/fat ratios is regulated by components
of the automatic nervous system working in concert with several
endocrine hormones; this is called nutrient partitioning. For
example, certain beta-agonist drugs like Clenbuterol increase
meat production in cattle over 30% while simultaneously diminishing
bodyfat without increasing the amount or composition of
their feed. Other drugs, including growth hormone, certain oestrogens,
cortisol, ephedrine, and IGF-1 are all examples of re-partitioning
agents. All increase oxygen consumption at the expense of fat
storage--independent of energy intake!
Drugs are not the only way to do this, however. It's true that
a significant component of this mechanism is genetically linked,
but specific nutrients, in specific amounts, when combined with
an effective training programme, can markedly improve the lean/fat
ratio of adult humans. MET-Rx is one such nutrient re-partitioning
agent, and several companies are trying to duplicate its successes
[warning: one of the authors of this article has a significant
financial stake in Substrate Technologies, the makers of MET-Rx].
<a name="LINK9"></a>
9 -- You can't grow if you only work each body part
once a week.
If you work out -- work out intensely-- then it can
take 5-10 days for the muscles to heal. Although the following
should be taken with a grain of salt when determining your own
exercise frequency, a study in the May 1993 issue of the Journal
of Physiology revealed it can take weeks for muscles to recuperate
from an intense workout. The study involved a group of men and
women who had worked their forearms to the max. All of the subjects
said they were sore two days after exercising, and the soreness
was gone by the seventh day, and the swelling was gone by the
ninth day. After six weeks, the subjects had only gained back
half the strength they had before the original exercise! By no
means are we advocating that you wait two months between workouts,
but we are trying to prove the point that it takes muscles longer
to heal than what you might have previously thought. For some
people, especially natural bodybuilders, waiting a week between
body part workouts might be just what the doctor ordered for size
and strength gains! <a name="LINK10"></a>
10 -- You can't make gains if. you only train with weights
three days a week.
Although you probably couldn't find a single steroid-assisted
athlete who trains only three days a week [well, I was, and I
made fantastic gains!], there's absolutely no reason why a three-day-a-week
routine couldn't work for many natural athletes. As long as your
routine attacked the whole body and you worked to failure on each
set, you could easily experience great gains on this sort of routine.
However, you need to pay even more attention to your diet if you
only train three days a week, especially if your job involves
little or no physical activity, and you like to spend your idle
time eating. Ignore those who say three-day-a-week bodybuilders
are only 'recreational lifters'. Think quality and not
quantity. <a name="LINK11"></a>
11 -- You should only rest 45 seconds in between sets.
That's true if you're trying to improve cardiovascular health
or lose some bodyfat. But in order to build muscle, you
need to allow enough time for the muscle to recuperate fully (ie.
let the lactic acid buildup in your muscles dissipate and ATP
levels build back up). In order to make muscles grow, you have
to lift the heaviest weight possible, thereby allowing the maximum
number of muscle fibers to be recruited. If the amount of weight
you lift is being limited by the amount of lactic acid left over
from the previous set, you're only testing your ability to battle
the effects of lactic acid. In other words, you're trying to swim
across a pool while wearing concrete overshoes. When training
heavy, take [at least!] two and three minutes between your sets.
Notice I said, "when training heavy." The truth is,
you can't train heavy all the time. Periodization calls for cycling
heavy workouts with less intense training sessions in an effort
to keep the body from becoming overtrained. (See 'Periodization'
by Brad Jeffreys on p. 85 of the Feb/March 1993 issue of MM2K)
<a name="LINK12"></a>
12 -- You have to use fancy weightlifting equipment
in order to make the best gains.
Futuristic-looking, complex machinery designed to give your
muscles the 'ultimate workout' is typically less effective
than good-old barbells and dumbbells. Using simple free weights
(barbells and dumbbells) on basic multi-joint exercises, like
the squat, bench press, shoulder press, and deadlift, is still
the most effective means of resistance exercise ever invented.
Scientific research has shown that many exercise machines lack
the proper eccentric component of an exercise that's necessary
to stimulate muscle tissue to remodel (grow). (See the article
titled 'Research Confirms that Bodybuilders Should Pay Heavy Attention
to Negative Reps' by Bill Phillips on p.18 of the Feb/March issue
of MM2K) <a name="LINK13"></a>
13 -- Weight training makes you big; aerobic exercise
cuts you up.
Manipulations in your nutrient intake are the main factor in
getting cut up, and how you do it doesn't matter. If your daily
caloric expenditure exceeds your daily caloric intake on a consistent
basis, you will lose fat and get more cut.
Aerobic exercise is generally meant to improve cardiovascular
efficiency, but if you do it long enough, you will burn up calories
and in the long run drop the fat. However, weightlifting can do
the same thing, only better. Studies have shown that the body
burns far more efficiently if exercise is performed at a moderate
pace for periods longer than 20 minutes. (It generally takes that
long for the glucose in the bloodstream to be 'burned up', causing
the body to dip into glycogen reserves for its energy) Once the
glycogen reserves are used up, the body must metabolize fatty
acids for energy. That equate to lost bodyfat.
In the long run, bodybuilding is more efficient than
aerobics for burning up calories. Let me explain--if researchers
were to undertake a study of twins whereby one twin performed
daily aerobics and the other practiced a bodybuilding programme
where the end result was increased lean body mass, the bodybuilding
twin would ultimately be a more efficient fat burner than his
aerobic twin. Why? Well, by adding lean body mass, that person's
metabolic requirements are higher--muscle uses energy even while
it is not being used. The aerobic twin might use more calories
during the time period of exercise itself, but the weight-lifting
twin would use a higher amount during rest time, leading to a
higher net 24-hour expenditure. The weight lifter burns fat just
sitting there. <a name="LINK14"></a>
14 -- You can completely reshape a muscle by doing isolation
exercises.
You can't limit growth to only one area of a muscle. Larry
Scott, for whom the 'biceps peaking' Scott curl was named, had
tremendous biceps, but he didn't have much of a peak. The
shape of your biceps, or for that matter, any muscle, is determined
by your genetic makeup. When you work a muscle, any muscle, it
works on the all-or-nothing principle, meaning that each muscle
fiber recruited to do a lift -- along the entire length of that
muscle -- is contracted fully. Why would a certain number of them,
like the ones in the middle of the biceps, suddenly start to grow
differently or at a faster rate than its partners? If anything,
the muscles that are closest to the insertion points are the most
prone to mechanical stress, and you don't see them get any bigger
than the rest of the muscle. If they did, everyone would have
proportions like Popeye.
This is true of any muscle, but you're probably thinking, what
about quads? I know that when I do hack squats with my feet together,
it tends to give me more sweep in my legs. Sure it does, but the
quadriceps are made up of four different main muscles, and doing
hacks with your feet together forces the vastus lateralis
muscles on the outside of the leg to work harder; consequently,
they grow proportionately along their entire length and give the
outer quads more sweep.
As further evidence, take a look at a picture of any young
professional bodybuilder before he was developed enough to become
a pro. He will have virtually the same structural lines as he
does today. All that has changed is that his muscles are now bigger.
<a name="LINK15"></a>
15 -- If you get a pump , you're working the muscles
adequately to ensure muscular hypertrophy, or if your muscles
are burning, that means you are promoting muscle growth.
A pump, despite what Arnold Schwarzenegger said about it "feeling
better than coming", is nothing more than the muscle becoming
engorged with blood from capillary action. It can be achieved
easily by curling a soup can fifty times. It by no means equates
to the muscular intensity needed to promote growth. The same is
true of the coveted 'burn' that Hollywood muscleheads advise the
public to 'go for'. A burn is simply an accumulation of lactic
acid, a by-product of chemical respiration. You can get a burn
by peddling a bicycle or simply extending your arm straight out
and moving it in tiny circles [or sitting in a burning fireplace!].
It does not necessarily mean you are promoting muscle growth.
For hypertrophy to occur, you have to subject the muscles to high
levels of tension, and high tension levels are best induced by
heavy weights. <a name="LINK16"></a>
16 -- If you do hundreds of sit-ups a day, you will
eventually achieve a narrow, washboard-type midsection.
There is no such thing as spot-reduction. Doing thousands and
thousands of sit-ups will give you tight abdominal muscles, but
they will do nothing to rid your midsection of fat. Thigh adductor
and abductor movements will give women's thighs more firmness,
but they will do nothing to rid the area of fat, or what is commonly
[and erroneously] called cellulite. Nothing will rid the body
of fat, unless it is a carefully-orchestrated reduction in your
daily energy intake; in other words, if you burn more calories
than you ingest (or do that in conjunction with a nutrient partitioning
agent. See #8) <a name="LINK17"></a>
17 -- Training like a powerlifter --deadlifts, heavy
squats, bench presses--will make your physique look blocky.
Blockiness, like baldness or a flat chest, is a genetic trait.
If you were born blocky, then powerlifting will simply make you
a bigger blocky person. The only way to offset a blocky appearance
is to give special emphasis to the lats, the outer muscles of
the thighs, and to a fat-reducing diet which will keep the midsection
as narrow as possible. With these modifications, you will give
your body the illusion of a more "aerodynamic" appearance.
The truth is, powerlifting exercises are excellent for bodybuilding.
<a name="LINK18"></a>
18 -- High repetitions make your muscles harder and
more cut up.
Although there is some evidence to suggest that high repetitions
might induce some extra capillary intrusion into a muscle, they
will do nothing to make the muscle harder or more cut up. If a
completely sedentary person began weightlifting, using either
low reps or high reps, he or she would experience a rapid increase
in tonus, the degree of muscular contraction that the muscle
maintains even when that muscle is relaxed, but that would happen
regardless of rep range. The only way that high repetitions would
make a muscle more cut up is if, by doing a higher number of reps,
your body as a whole was in negative energy balance, and you were
burning more calories than you were ingesting. The truth is, heavy
weights, lifted for 5-8 reps per set, can build rock-hard muscles.
You just have to get the fat off them to see how "hard"
they are. <a name="LINK19"></a>
19 -- Instinctive training is the best way to promote
gains.
If bodybuilders followed their instincts, they'd go home and
pop open a Bud [much prefer Toohey's Red myself!]. Instinctive
training is a wonderful catch-phrase, and it might even work for
drug-assisted athletes since the very act of opening up a Bud
would probably induce muscular growth in them. However, in a natural
bodybuilder, the approach to long-term, consistent gains in muscular
mass has to be, shall we say, a bit more scientific. Research
results conducted by exercise physiologists recommend a systematic
approach such as the one encompassed by periodization where the
bodybuilder, through a period of several weeks, lifts ever-increasing
pre-set percentages of a one-rep lift. This heavy period is also
periodically staggered with a lighter training phase 'cycle'.
Ultimately, the percentages increase, the maximum one-rep lifts
increase, and lean body mass increases. There is nothing instinctive
about it. <a name="LINK20"></a>
20 -- Women need to train differently than men.
On a microscopic level, there is virtually no difference between
the muscle tissue of men and the muscle tissue of women. Men and
women have different levels of the same hormones, and that's what
is responsible for the difference in the amount of muscle a man
can typically put on and the amount of muscle a woman can typically
gain. There is absolutely no reason why either should train differently
than the other sex, provided they have the same goals. The only
difference in training might be as a result of cultural, sexual
preferences. A woman might desire to develop her glutes a little
more so she looks better in a pair of 'Guess' jeans. Conversely,
a man might want to build his lats a little more so that he fits
the cultural stereotype of a virile man. <a name="LINK21"></a>
21 -- There are food supplements available that are
just as effective as steroids, yet safer.
The only things as effective as steroids are other steroids.
Despite the proclamations of some supplement distributors, usually
in giant, 35-point type, no currently available supplement works
like steroids. However, nutrients and supplements can be extremely
effective, especially if your diet is lacking in some critical
component or you're genetically predisposed to accept that nutrient
or supplement. Biochemically, individuals vary enormously, and
the interaction of genetics, coupled with the widely varying diets
that each of us eats, makes it virtually impossible to gauge just
what will work for one individual and what won't. That is why
some supplements work better than others for some people, just
as some people are genetically predispositioned to accept steroids
more readily than others. Food supplements do have benefits that
can't be overlooked -- they're generally safe, and they won't
get you thrown into jail. But none of them build muscle
as fast or as well as steroids. <a name="LINK22"></a>
22 -- Professional bodybuilders represent the epitome
of health and fitness.
The ultimate irony is that the IFBB is facing in trying to
get bodybuilders into the Olympics is that while every athlete
in every other sport is presumably the healthiest they've
ever been so that they are able to compete athletically
and break records, the bodybuilder is so weak on competition day
that he or she would have trouble fending off the attacks of an
enraged toy poodle. The weeks of constant dieting, workouts that
continually tax the body almost beyond recovery, and a constant
influx of potentially harmful drugs and diuretics have brought
most of them to total exhaustion.
And think about the huge amounts of food some steroid-using
bodybuilders eat. In all the longevity sites in the world where
people routinely live to be one hundred, the only common denominator
is that they all either under-eat or eat just enough to meet their
daily caloric requirements. By ingesting less food, they ingest
less harmful chemicals, and fewer free radicals are formed in
the body. The average professional builder probably eats at least
four or five times what these aforementioned people eat. As a
result, bodybuilders often suffer from high cholesterol and high
blood pressure. Plus, with all that extra mass, the heart has
to work that much harder and will probably stop beating years
before it was designed to. That's why professional bodybuilding
is the ultimate act of vanity. It was done strictly to fulfill
some misguided notion of the superhuman ideal, and health was
not even a consideration. Almost without exception, these guys
and gals are not healthy, and they'll probably be among the first
to tell you so. However, weight-training and consuming a nutrient-rich
diet is very healthy, as long as it is not carried
to extremes. <a name="LINK23"></a>
23 -- Training with weights causes your muscles to get
tight and hinders flexibility and, consequently, athletic performance.
If anything, when done properly (slowly and using a complete
range of motion), weight training increases flexibility. Many
athletes now engage in weight training in order to improve their
performance in their chosen sport -- witness Evander Hollyfield
or any number of track athletes, basketball players, or gymnasts;
the list goes on and on.
This lie goes all the way back to the 1930s. Companies that
were selling isometric exercise programmes by mail were trying
to convince people _not_ to exercise with barbells, simply because
it wasn't practical to send weights through the mail. So they
made up the 'muscle-bound' lie.
This lie might have been fueled from the feeling of 'tightness'
that accompanies an intense workout. If the workout was intense
and a sufficient number of muscle fibers were recruited and microscopically
damaged, then even the normal tonus (the normal amount of contraction
experienced by a relaxed muscle) is more than enough to cause
a feeling of pain and tightness. The tightness is compounded by
the 'tugging' of the tendons on the muscles. Stretching, however,
would do much to alleviate this tightness, and stretching is a
recommended part of any athletic pursuit.
The only possible confirmation of this lie concerns a baseball
pitcher's arm. An intense weight training programme might affect
a pitcher's ability to throw a fast ball, but it wouldn't be because
of a lack of flexibility. The speed a pitcher can generate seems
to be determined more by a complex relationship of tendon length
and strength and nervous system efficiency as opposed to muscular
strength, and weight training could, possibly, upset this delicate
balance. <a name="LINK24"></a>
24 -- Loading up on carbohydrates is an excellent way
to enhance your athletic performance.
The traditional manner in which athletes 'carb up' for an athletic
competition usually involves first depleting the body's stores
of carbohydrates through exercise and diet. This is then followed
by rest and a high carbohydrate intake. However, studies have
shown that this type of preparation is unnecessary. An athlete
who eats a balanced, high-carbohydrate diet and is in reasonably
good shape has plenty of carbohydrates in his or her system to
meet the demands of short-duration exercises that don't exceed
roughly one hour. Anyone that does exercises that last more than
an hour, like long-distance running or cycling, may benefit from
'carbing up', but the ability of muscles to use fat as a source
of energy rather than carbohydrates in endurance events may be
even more important to performance at that level. <a name="LINK25"></a>
25 -- Consuming foods high in sugar before training
provides your body with extra energy to sustain workouts.
Simple sugars like sucrose don't need to be broken down by
the body's enzymes to be used as energy like complex carbohydrates
do. Therefore, they elicit a rapid release of insulin, the hormone
that regulates blood-sugar levels. The trouble is, the sudden,
rapid influx of sugar into the system causes the body to release
insulin in what must be considered a haphazard method, ie. the
amount released is usually more than what's needed to metabolise
the sugar. Consequently, your blood sugar often temporarily drops
to a point that is actually lower than it was _before_ you had
the sugar, which might cause you to become more exhausted much
earlier than it normally would. Your body is then forced to dip
into its glycogen reserves in order to correct the imbalance.
To ensure that you have enough energy to complete a workout,
eat nutrient- rich foods with low glycemic indices (those that
elicit a smooth, steady stream of sugar into the bloodstream)
like barley, lentils or beans. <a name="LINK26"></a>
26 -- All anabolic steroids are extremely toxic and
dangerous.
Here's a good trivia question borrowed from Dan Duchaine's
Underground Steroid Handbook [highly recommended]: if you
lined up a bottle of Dianabol (a popular steroid), a bottle of
Lasix (a diuretic used by heart patients and bodybuilders who
want to 'cut up' for a competition), a bottle of Valium, a bottle
of aspirin, and a bottle of Slow-K (a potassium supplement), which
one, upon eating a 100 tablets, wouldn't kill you? Well,
most likely the Dianabol. This isn't an endorsement of steroids;
it's just an effective illustration of the stigma generally associated
with all steroids: 'they'll give you brain tumors like Lyle Alzado
. . . they'll cause your heart to enlarge and eventually give
out [they cause spontaneous decapitation . .]'. Maybe, but all
steroids are different. Some are more dangerous than others. Birth
control pills are steroids. Testosterone patches have been used
with great success to enhance the quality of life for elderly
men. Some of the steroids that bodybuilders use are very mild,
and the risk associated with them is virtually negligible. Still,
there _are_ dangerous steroids, and that's all the more reason
that athletes who choose to use them must be more knowledgeable
about them. This is what Bill Phillips' Anabolic Reference
Guide [_very_ highly- recommended] is all about -- education.
Of course, the physical changes that steroids bring about might
cause adverse psychological effects in the user, and that fact
shouldn't be ignored. <a name="LINK27"></a>
27 -- If you stop working out, your muscle will turn
into fat.
This is almost too preposterous to address. Muscle can no sooner
turn to fat than gold can turn into lead. Muscle is made up of
individual cells--living, 'breathing' cells that undergo all kinds
of complex metabolic processes. Fat cells are simply storage packets
of lipids. The possibility of one changing into another is akin
to the bowling ball in your storage closet turning into your Aunt
Edna. If you stop working out, if you stop applying resistance
to your muscles on a consistent basis, they will simply adapt
to the new condition. In other words, they'll shrink. If the degree
of inactivity or immobilization is severe, the muscles will shrink
faster than the surrounding skin, and a temporary condition of
loose skin might be experienced, but that too would remedy itself
with time. <a name="LINK28"></a>
28 -- Ingesting MCT . (medium-chain triglyceride) oils
will give you tons of energy, but they won't make you fat.
MCTs first gained prominence for treating persons suffering
from fat mal- absorption, pancreatic deficiency, or stomach or
esophageal diseases. Researchers found that MCTs, because of their
better solubility and motility, underwent a rapid hydrolysis by
salivary, gastric, and pancreatic enzymes. Consequently, they
were able to reach the liver and provide energy much more quickly
than long-chain triglycerides (Guillot, et al., 1993). There was
also some evidence that MCTs reduced lipid deposition in fat stores
compared with that resulting from LCTs under identical energy
intake conditions. However, this is no reason to believe that
ingesting these oils in excess will not result in a positive energy
balance which the body stores as fat. MCTs, like regular oils,
like regular fats, have nine calories per gramme. Even though
they are metabolized differently, using them in excessive amounts
will add inches to your waistline. <a name="LINK29"></a>
29 -- If everyone took the same amount of steroids,
everyone would look like a professional bodybuilder.
One of the ironies of steroid use is that some people are genetically
'gifted' in terms of steroid receptors. That means that they have
a large number of receptor sites in the muscles with which a particular
steroid can combine and exert its mass-building effects. The man
or woman who won the last contest might very well have the most
active steroid receptors rather than being the most dedicated,
knowledgeable bodybuilder. On the other hand, some people might
possess very few receptors for a particular steroid. That's why
they experience very little, if any, growth on a particular steroid.
Another factor that influences receptor affinity is age. The highest
receptor affinity seems to occur in late teenage years. This is
a generalization, but it seems to be true for a good number of
people. Since there is a greater uptake in these individuals,
they are often able to take lower dosages for longer periods of
time and make better gains than older users. The truth is, two
bodybuilders could take the same steroid stack, train and eat
the same, and one could turn out to be in the Olympia, and the
other might never even win a local contest. The difference in
how people react to these drugs is incredible. <a name="LINK30"></a>
30 -- Someone with a well-built body must be knowledgeable
about fitness and physique development.
Despite popular belief, just because some guy has 20"
[51cm] arms or 30" [77cm] thighs, that does not automatically
credential him as a bodybuilding expert. Unfortunately, in a society
where looks count for so much, well-built lifters are often regarded
as bodybuilding scientists. The unfortunate fact is, many well-built
athletes, even pro bodybuilders, have no idea how they got where
they are. Many of them are so genetically gifted and embellish
their genetic potential even further by using tons of bodybuilding
drugs that they actually succeed in spite of themselves.
With few exceptions, elite bodybuilders are the last people in
the world you want to turn to for bodybuilding advice if you're
genetically average like 98% of us. You're more likely to find
expert advice from someone who has 'walked a mile in your shoes'.
The above has been reprinted from the October/November edition
of Muscle Media 2000.
For subscription information to this excellent publication,
contact:
Muscle Media 2000
PO Box 277
Golden CO 80402
1-800-637-1572