Strength Training Myths & Facts

Now that we’re into the new year, you may be starting a strength training regimen…or thinking of doing so. Strength (or weight) training has many benefits: flexibility, improved circulation, increased bone density, enhanced cardiovascular function, an increase in metabolism (even while at rest!) as well as strength and conditioning. Unfortunately, many people do not get all these benefits because they hold misconceptions about strength training. For example, some women avoid strength training because they think it will give them “bulky” muscles like a man. Others think they need to train two or three hours a day in order to see results. The myths are endless. So let’s take a few minutes to clear up some of the most commonly-held myths. I will also reveal the reality behind each situation. So let’s dig in!

Myth #1: “To Get Into Top Shape, You Need To Train Two Or Three Hours Per Day”

Fact: The logic, of course, behind this statement is that “more is better”. However, that’s not true when it comes to weight training. Why? Because it is the intensity of effort - not the duration of effort – that determines muscular growth. Muscular growth is also NOT determined by total amount of work or how much weight you lift in one session. Again, it’s the intensity of the effort that determines growth. For example, an athlete who runs a marathon does more total work than a sprinter who runs a 100 yard dash. But the energy systems (muscles) that are being stressed are two different systems or two different types of muscle fibers. I don’t want to get too technical here, but long distance runners do not ordinarily look like sprinters. Sprinters, however, have more intense sessions than marathon runners. And, as a result their muscles grow larger. Again, intensity - not duration of effort - is the key. In fact, recent studies show that 45-60 minutes is the optimal amount of time for a strength-training session. Anything longer than that hinders your body’s ability to recover fully. Also: you do not grow muscles while you are lifting weights! Quite the contrary. During your workout you break down your muscles! You only build muscle after your session is completed and you recover. Muscle growth is overcompensation. You must give your body time to recover from the stress of the workout to overcompensate. That’s when your body builds new tissue. So don’t worry: you don’t have to be in the gym from dawn til dusk to build muscle!

Myth No. 2: “If Women Lift Heavy Weights, They Will Build Bulky Muscles Like A Man”

Fact: This is one of the most common myths when it comes to women and strength training. The fact of the matter is, unless the woman has an abnormal hormone level, it is literally impossible for that woman to build bulky muscles! The reason women can’t build bulky muscles is the same reason men can’t breast-feed. They don’t have the right hormones in their system! It is impossible for a normal woman to build large, bulky muscles. However, what they do build are small, shapely muscles. And they may gain two or three pounds of muscle mass maximum. The average woman simply doesn’t have the hormonal make-up to support the type of muscle mass a man can. So, ladies: don’t let the fear of bulky muscles keep you out of the gym.

Myth No. 3: “The Only Way to Burn Fat Is to Do Cardio”

Fact: The reality is, “cardio” is not the only way to burn fat. Most people call aerobic training “cardio”. Aerobic training means “in the presence of oxygen”, while anaerobic training means “not in the presence of oxygen”. That means during aerobic activity, you burn oxygen. In anaerobic activity, you burn sugar. The “burn” you get in your muscles from anaerobic training is the waste product of sugar being burned. However, with aerobic activity, your body has time (because the intensity is low enough) to access fatty acids from your fat cells to burn fat at the moment you’re exercising. Anaerobic exercise (like weight training) can also be a cardiovascular workout. For example, you can do weight training at a very rapid pace (called “supersets”) and thus keep your heart rate elevated throughout the entire workout. While this is not considered traditional “cardio”, it’s still aerobic exercise. Every exercise you do at a rapid pace which raises your heart rate to a given zone of stress is, in fact, “cardio”. My recommendation is to split your workout into two segments, with the weight training first. Once the weight training is done, you begin to burn fat at a more rapid rate. Why? Because you’ve burned through all your sugar stores. And to recover, your muscles have to break down fatty acid molecules for the energy that’s needed to replace the glycogen (sugar) that is stored in the muscle. In other words, the energy that is produced from the fatty acid breakdown is used to replace the glycogen stores used in the workout. In addition, your body’s entire metabolic rate is boosted by weight training. Weight training indirectly burns fat after the workout. That’s tied to muscle fibers. Because of this, you will burn more fat weight training than you would doing “cardio” or aerobic activity by itself. So, for the ultimate in fat loss, you want to combine both anaerobic and aerobic with the weight training coming first, aerobic last.

Myth # 4: “Certain Foods Are More Fattening Than Others” / Or: “Carbs Are Fattening”

Fact: Carbs are not fattening at all. You could live on (not that I would recommend this) chocolate
milk and sugar doughnuts if you needed 1500 calories a day and you burned 2000 calories a day in your daily activities! It’s simple math. You would indeed lose body fat. A pound of fat is roughly 3500 calories. So if your maintenance calorie level is 2000 calories per day and you took in 1500 calories a day (from any source), you would lose exactly 1 pound of fat per week! You would have a 500 calories per day deficit. 500 x 7 days = 3500 calories, or one pound of bodyfat. So, if your maintenance calorie level is 2000, and you had 1500 calories per day of chocolate milk and doughnuts, you would lose 1 pound of fat per week. A calorie is a calorie. Now, obviously you need to make sure you’re getting a balanced diet, the right amount of protein, fiber, vitamins, etc. My point is that no one type of food is inherently “fattening”.

Myth #. 5: “You Can Lose More Than Two Pounds Of Fat Per Week”

Fact: This is false. Even the most active man - even if he’s doing manual labor - rarely burns more than 3000 calories per day. So for him to lose two pounds of fat per week, he would have to be at 2000 calories per day with a 3000 calorie per day expenditure. In other words, he would need a 1000 calorie per day deficit to lose more than two pounds of fat per week. That is about the maximum I see people do. Usually when someone tries to lose more than two pounds of fat per week, they end up pushing their body into “starvation mode”. This means the body hoards calories and slows down metabolically. While they might lose more than two pounds on the scale, most of the time of it’s water weight and even worse, muscle mass. See, a pound of muscle is only 800 calories because muscle is 80 percent water. A pound of fat is only 15 percent water. So if you dump a bunch of water in a crash diet, you are losing much of the water from your muscles – and sometimes you even burn the muscle tissue itself! When you see people on TV shows like “The Biggest Loser”, who shed more than two pounds per week, what they are really losing is water and muscle weight. People often say, “I want to lose 10 pounds in two weeks.” And I say, “Well, I can chop your leg off below the hip.” That’s the quickest way to lose 10 pounds in two weeks, because you not going to lose 10 pounds of fat. It’s impossible. I told a woman recently to focus on losing one pound per week. That may not seem like much, but it is. Look at that pound of butter above. That is a pound of fat! Now imagine a pound of butter dropping off your body each and every week. Your scale weight may go up a pound or two, but a pound of fat per week is a significant loss. That same lady has now lost 40 pounds! And more importantly, her strength stayed the same. She has not lost muscle and doesn’t look gaunt. Success stories like this are possible for you, too. All you have to do is get in the gym and start strength training! I hope this article has cleared up some of the myths surrounding weight training. It truly is one of the cornerstones of a healthy lifestyle!