The fitness myths thread

[crazyfacials]

I think it's about time we have a thread like this, you do get a lot of bro science stuff out there that tell you to do something that is completely incorrect, and thought maybe this thread would save people from making mistakes, here is a popular one

 

Fasted training in the morning is the best method to burn fat.

 

Sounds good on paper, but then someone sane would ask you if you'd drive your car with no gas in the tank and you start to think about if this is a good/bad idea, here and here  are articles that are against the fasted cardio idea and are in simple easy to read English,  If you want ones that are in more detail have a  look at this or this, of course in this day and age you'll find for every PRO post there is an ANTI post that you'll find people supporting the fasted training, but this should help out.

 

 

 

feel free to post your myths

[HarryB]

Drugs can compensate for shit genetics. (Anyone can be a beast!)

Imo yeah you can always be a bigger, stronger version of yourself... but drugs don't make a champion out of a chihuahua...

[Realtalk]

cardio makes you small and weak.

If you think you're going to lose gains or muscle mass because you did 30 minutes worth of cardio a few times a week, missed a meal or missed a workout then you are a person suffering from extreme mental poverty. The fear of muscle loss across the entire lifting community boggles my fucking mind sometimes. Same goes for competing I hear people stressing about loosing muscle all the time.... Well did they ever maybe just think that once they stripped away all that fat that perhaps they didn't have as much muscle as they thought they did? No, no that's impossible lol must have lost muscle.

[nate225]

Wearing a belt keeps your waist small.

Not blowing out in the off season keeps it small, and as usual genetics predominantly determine the size of your waist.

Inb4 an IFBB Pro said it so it must be true! Unless it's worn 24/7 like a corset it ain't happening!

[HarryB]

Bodybuilders aren't strong.

I guess this might be something people say about bodybuilders not being as strong as they look but for the most part you get a bodybuilder and put him next to most guys his height and weight and he'll do more than ok. At the elite level most bodybuilders are as strong as hell.

[crazyfacials]

No carbs in the evening is also a popular one, seen people who swear by it, what if you have a job that requires graveyard shift, and what difference does it make, does your body go oh shit, it's 6pm, I better store all carbs as fat?

[maccaz]

No carbs in the evening is also a popular one, seen people who swear by it, what if you have a job that requires graveyard shift, and what difference does it make, does your body go oh shit, it's 6pm, I better store all carbs as fat?

 

lol when cutting i used to religiously use myfitnesspal

brb 11.50 pm and want a snack but gone over calories for the day, wait 10mins till its next day to use those calories instead

[crazyfacials]

lol when cutting i used to religiously use myfitnesspal

brb 11.50 pm and want a snack but gone over calories for the day, wait 10mins till its next day to use those calories instead

haha IIFYM I guess 

[Skeletor]

Powerlifters are all failed bodybuilders or are out of shape. A lot of powerlifters could clean up in bodybuilding shows.

[HarryB]

Powerlifters are all failed bodybuilders or are out of shape. A lot of powerlifters could clean up in bodybuilding shows.

Sure could. As they get more advanced they often have a lot of imbalance though in terms of aesthetics. Which aren't readily apparent when you see them in powerlifting competition but which become very evident onstage in posing trunks.

[soundsgood]

A lot of bodybuilders would make shit powerlifters

False

If you took their work ethic, and applied the same kind of dedication to nutrition and programming you would see some more epic totals being posted.

Look at Big Darren Farrow, Tom Mac and myself for example.

Steve Orton would go 320/220/300 raw minimum with 4 weeks prep no worries at all.

[Realtalk]

Depends on training philosophy and principles followed. I wasn't a great bodybuilder either. Average bro. Can't diet, that why I u110s and not u100s lol.

[soundsgood]

Okay so the principle of powerlifters just being bodybuilders who couldn't diet hard enough applies to both me and you then lol

[HarryB]

Gotta have pre, post and intra workout drinks or you're not gonna gain... God knows how the early guys did it????

[crazyfacials]

I guess someone being a hard gainer can also be a myth too, do you find yourself as a hard gainer now that you are not eating KFC anymore Harry?

[HarryB]

I guess someone being a hard gainer can also be a myth too, do you find yourself as a hard gainer now that you are not eating KFC anymore Harry?

Or the myth a guy is an easy gainer because he is big when you meet him.

Some guys assume they're hard gainers cos they don't put the CONSISTENT effort in because apparently unless you gain overnight you're a hard gainer. Or they assume someone else is an easy gainer because that person doesn't SEEM to put the effort in that they think they do. "Must be steroids..." or "it's just genetics, he's a lazy guy in the gym"

Oh and to answer your question, I've always been a hard gainer I've just been at it consistently for a really really long time

[Realtalk]

Hard gainer... I hate that term, I really fucking do. No such thing as a hard gainer. If you gym hard for 3 months then take 3 months off then go back to it then yeah you are going to find it hard to gain. I did my first bbing comp 11 years ago I weighed 74kg. Now I weigh 108kg. This shit takes time it isn't fast. People need to be realistic with muscle gain, and what muscle gain actually is. Muscle gain is LBM gain. Not fat gain, not water gain. Lean body mass gain.

[GyzzBrah]

Neh I think there are a few exceptions. (im not a hard gainer just saying)

Like theres always those really really scrawny guys and they really do put in the effort but after a few years their still like that.

 

Then again zyzz etc was like that but got jacked from gear so idk.

 

Then again people like ant hawthorne / frank medrano are still skinny but jacked as fk and Ant is one of the strongest deadlifters out there at 60 kgs

[Realtalk]

Neh I think there are a few exceptions. (im not a hard gainer just saying)

Like theres always those really really scrawny guys and they really do put in the effort but after a few years their still like that.

 

Then again zyzz etc was like that but got jacked from gear so idk.

 

Then again people like ant hawthorne / frank medrano are still skinny but jacked as fk and Ant is one of the strongest deadlifters out there at 60 kgs

Nah. Nah. They are still skinny cause they don't put in all the effort. How would you know if they put effort in or didn't? The answer is you wouldn't. But results would suggest they didn't.

I'm not talking about the 1%er exceptions anyway, so don't use them as an excuse for yourself. I'm speaking generally which is the other 99% of people who say they are.

[maccaz]

Nah. Nah. They are still skinny cause they don't put in all the effort. How would you know if they put effort in or didn't? The answer is you wouldn't. But results would suggest they didn't.

I'm not talking about the 1%er exceptions anyway, so don't use them as an excuse for yourself. I'm speaking generally which is the other 99% of people who say they are.

 

exactly

from memory tomleegolf was "hard gainer".. look at him now lol

[Tonkintechnique]

Getting the pump is as good as cumming

 

thanks Arnie

[HarryB]

Getting the pump is as good as cumming

thanks Arnie

Insert something about a forearm pump here perhaps..... ???

[Dinahlady]

Re: hardgainers
 

If you read studies on metabolism there really isn't much difference between people .... Even in extreme cases the difference is max 15%... so several hundred calories at most and so not really such thing as a "hardgainer". 

Even if you did entertain the idea, you could easily cut down the calories you need to eat to gain weight by 500 - 1000 per day just by sitting down slightly more, walking slightly less, doing less cardio, or training slightly less often - e.g train 4 days a week instead of 6  - not saying that someone should cut all these things out completely lol but basically doing small things to cut down expenditure would cut down the calories you need to eat to gain weight way more than any supposed "individual difference" in metabolism would be...   

Most of the time if you're not putting on weight you're not eating enough calories for your expenditure. It's not always because you can't use a IIFYM calculator... it can be due to inaccuracy... and people are known to favorably estimate... so someone who is trying to gain weight is likely to overestimate what they are eating and underestimate the energy they are expending daily. 

Likewise...  If you want to lose weight and you're not losing weight you're eating too many calories/binge eating away your deficit/underestimating your food intake and overestimating you energy expenditure....  

[Pseudonym]

Wow. I'd never considered that, but you're absolutely right, Dinahlady. There would be confirmation bias in the way people estimate their calories - which is totally counter-productive. Interesting!

 

Having said that, they may not be "hardgainers" or have radically different metabolisms to anyone else, but don't you agree that some people seem to build muscle faster than others?

[GyzzBrah]

Yeah I never believed the metabolism shit obviously some people can stay leaner than others but I never believed it had anything to do with muscle gain.

Some people I seen just cant build muscle at all imo. Or not to a satisfying degree.

Then others big without ever training in gym in their life.

Nothing to do with metabolism.