Myth no. 1: Having big muscles will slow down your movements.

The body part that is responsible for every movement we make is the muscle. Muscles are the ones creating motion to allow each of our bodily movements. Thus, having more muscles gives us more flexibility. Stronger muscles allow for better movements.

If you want to run faster or swing a bat harder, you must have stronger muscles. An athlete can play better if there are more strong muscles. Thus, there is really no truth at all to the statement that muscles will just slow you down.

Myth no. 2: Muscles will just turn into fats.

This statement is actually impossible because muscle tissues and fat tissues are different from each other. Saying that fat will turn into muscles is just equally unlikely. Muscle maintenance requires a lot of energy due to it being an active tissue. In fact, 60 calories per day are burned by one pound of muscle.

Thus, if you gained 10 pounds of muscles, you will need an additional 600 calories a day in order to maintain the added muscle mass. That would mean additional food intake to supply the needed calories.

Once you stop weight training, your muscles will start to shrink and the additional calories are not anymore needed. But if your appetite is still the same and you are still consuming the same amount of food as when you are training, then you will start gaining excess fats; hence, the statement above.

Building more muscles can actually help in losing body fats. As mentioned, if you gained more muscle mass, your body needs additional calories to burn for the maintenance of the muscles. If you do not change your eating habits and your calorie intake remains the same, your body will then burn more of the available calories in your body. That easily translates to fat loss.

Myth no. 3: For muscle mass, you need low reps; while for definition, you need high reps.

Muscle definition is brought about by muscle mass and the lack of body fat. To get better definition and build more muscle, you need to increase your workout intensity progressively day by day. If you just want to maintain its size, just do the same workout every time.

And if you want it to get smaller, just don’t exercise the muscle. This myth should actually be corrected with low body fat for definition and low, heavy reps for muscle mass.

Resistance training is the most important part. This is the weight lifting, the pumping iron that everyone immediately thinks of when considering body building. The only way to make your muscles bigger is to break them down and build them up again. You will need to lift weight, a lot of weight, in order to accomplish this.

The beginner will want to hit the gym at least three times a week (preferably more often). Using a set of core exercises, work the major muscle groups regularly. When trying to gain peak mass, one will want to do reps to failure.

That is, start with a weight that you can only do 5 reps of, and do all five. Try for the sixth. Make sure that when you are benching free weights, you have a spotter helping you. Never workout out alone – not only is it not safe, but you will be able to work harder if you have a friend there to help push you further.

The more experienced bodybuilder will want to develop a staggered training schedule. Here you divide the body up into the four regions, arms, legs, chest and back, and work only two regions on each occasion. Thus you alternate your workouts. This allows you to increase the frequency that you hit the gym, while still giving each muscle enough time to recover.

The idea of recovery time is important. When you lift weights you are stretching and tearing the muscles. The plan is to have them grow back larger and stronger. However, if you do not give yourself enough time to recover after a workout, the muscles will not grow at their peak rate. You will be wasting the effort that you are expending.

In order to maximize your workouts you are going to need to watch your diet. The primary requirement for building mass will be your protein intake. Thus, you will want to make sure you are eating enough foods like eggs, chicken and fish in order to meet you protein goals. Some people recommend having a protein shake before and after every workout, in order to provide and replenish the protein and carbs you need and use while working out.

There are other supplements that promise muscle growth. At the far end are the steroids, which promote the muscles to heal faster in order to allow for a greater frequency of workouts. There are serious drawbacks to steroid use, however, which is the reason they are a controlled substance.

There are other supplements that have a similar, if lesser, effect. It is important to remember that a supplement does not replace the need for hard work, and nothing in a pill will help you if you do not get to the gym.