Training Myths Debunked
We reveal the truth behind 10 of the oldest misconceptions in fitness
by Sean Hyson, C.S.C.S., and the MF Training Team
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Most of the ideas you hear circulating in your local weight room today have about as much basis on scientific fact as the notion that the world is flat. MF calls out these myths once and for all and tells The Truth about how to train.
1) Lactic acid causes muscle fatigue.
How It Started: Research conducted nearly 100 years ago (on frog muscles, no less) suggested that lactic-acid levels within muscles increased with fatigue.
The Truth: "Lactic acid increases with fatigue because it's fueling your muscle contractions," says Chad Waterbury, a strength coach in Los Angeles. It causes the painful burning sensation in your muscles that makes you want to stop lifting, but your liver is also converting lactic acid into more energy, so it's actually helping to offset fatigue. Muscle fatigue is prompted by an accumulation of protons within the muscles, which is caused by the breakdown of glycogen, the stored carbohydrate that helps to fuel exercise.
2) It's safer to lift weights slowly.
How It Started: In rehabilitation settings, patients are told to perform exercises at slow tempos in order to retrain their bodies to execute a movement pattern smoothly. Consequently, some trainers got the idea that training slowly reduces the risk of injury.
The Truth: "As long as you always control the lifting and lowering phases of an exercise," says Waterbury, an expert in neurophysiology, "you won't set yourself up for injury." In fact, Waterbury tells all his injury-free clients to perform their reps with speed "because it trains the muscles to react quickly in unexpected, real-world situations, which is how you really protect yourself from injury." Furthermore, lifting weights with speed activates more muscle fibers, leading to greater muscle gains.
3) Light weights and high reps tone muscles.
How It Started: Bodybuilders have long used lightweight, high-rep sets in the weeks prior to a contest. The more reps they're able to perform, they figure, the more calories (and fat) they burn, helping them get as lean as possible.
The Truth: Bodybuilders always accompany this kind of training with low-carb, calorie-restricted diets; that's what accounts for their rapid fat loss. "A toned appearance is dependent on your level of body fat and muscle development," says Jim Smith, C.S.C.S., a strength coach in Sayre, Pa. In other words, to see more muscle tone, you need to get bigger muscles and lose flab.
4) Machines are safer than free weights.
How It Started: Exercise-machine manufacturers advertise that their equipment isolates target muscles and prevents injury by having the trainee perform an exercise through a preset path of motion, thereby eliminating room for error.
The Truth: The restrictive movements of machine exercising might actually increase the risk of injury. "Machines are fixed and rigid and therefore limit the natural movements of the lifter," says Smith. They can't accommodate a person's individual limb length and strength curve, and as a result can place shearing forces on joints. "When you use free weights," says Smith, "your body naturally makes adjustments throughout the exercise's range of motion according to your strength level, speed of movement, and proficiency at executing your reps." Machines don't allow this.
5) You need to "shock" your muscles to make gains.
How It Started: It's hard to target the exact origin of this one, but it most likely began with bodybuilders who noticed that if they changed up their training after several weeks of using the same routine, they made quicker gains.
The Truth: Switching up exercises, sets, and reps is one thing, but purposely overloading your nervous system is a sure precursor to overtraining and injury—not muscle gains. "Your muscles operate under the laws of science, not trickery," says Vince DelMonte, a personal trainer in Ontario. Making gains is simply a matter of outdoing your previous workout. Once you can perform one more rep or lift one extra pound over what you did last week, "you've achieved progressive overload," says DelMonte, "and it's time to move on to the next muscle group."
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