What are the possible harmful effects of using anabolic steroids to increase muscle mass and strength?

If you’re serious about making a solid commitment to a muscle-building program, you need to be very careful of who you take advice from. Bodybuilding and fitness is literally a multi-billion dollar industry with new websites popping up every single day. Many of the so-called “experts” out there really don’t have a clue of what they’re talking about and are only motivated by pushing expensive pills, powders and “miracle programs” on you that you don’t really need. If you don’t watch your step you may end up falling for some fatal muscle-building pitfalls that will literally destroy your gains and prevent you from ever achieving the impressive, muscular physique you desire. In this article I’m going to expose 4 very common muscle-building myths in order to keep you on the proper path to the mind-blowing muscle and strength gains you deserve.

Myth #1: In order to build muscle, you must achieve a “pump” during your workout. The greater the pump you achieve, the more muscle you will build.

For those of you who are just starting out, a “pump” is the feeling that you get as blood becomes trapped inside the muscle tissue when you train with weights. The muscles will swell up and leave your body feeling bigger, tighter, stronger and more powerful. While a pump does feel fantastic, it has very little, if anything to do with properly stimulating your muscles to grow. A pump is simply the result of increased bloodflow to the muscle tissue and is certainly not indicative of a successful workout. A successful workout should only be gauged by the concept of progression. If you were able to lift more weight or perform more reps than you did in the previous week, then you did your job.

Myth #2: Building muscle will cause you to become slower and less flexible.

This one goes back to the old days when people described bodybuilders as being “muscle bound” and “bulky”. Contrary to what you may think, building a significant amount of lean muscle mass will actually speed you up rather than slow you down. Muscles are responsible for every movement that your body makes, from running to jumping to throwing. The bottom line is that the stronger a muscle is, the more force it can apply. Having stronger, more muscular legs means increased foot speed, just as having stronger and more muscular shoulders means the ability to throw farther. Strong muscles are able muscles, not the other way around.

Myth #3: You must always use perfect, textbook form on all exercises.

While using good form in the gym is always important, obsessing over perfect form is an entirely different matter. If you are always attempting to perform every exercise using flawless, textbook form, you will actually increase your chances of injury and simultaneously decrease the total amount of muscle stimulation you can achieve. Remember, we are not robots! It’s very important that you always move naturally when you exercise. This could mean adding a very slight sway in your back when you perform bicep curls, or using a tiny bit of body momentum when executing barbell rows. Loosen yourself up a bit and move the way your body was meant to be moved. Obsessing over perfect form will actually work against you rather than for you.

Myth #4: If you want your muscles to grow you must “feel the burn!”

This is another huge misconception in the gym. The “burning” sensation that results from intense weight training is simply the result of lactic acid (a metabolic waste product) that is secreted inside the muscle tissue as you exercise. Increased levels of lactic acid have nothing to do with muscle growth and may actually slow down your gains rather than speed them up. You can limit lactic acid production by training in a lower rep range of 5-7, rather than the traditional range of 10 and above.

Numerous bodybuilders pursue weight lifting to enhance self confidence levels, with some being overweight and needing both muscle gain and fat loss, while many others begin the process significantly below what they feel is a comfortable body weight, and because they consider themselves to be excessively thin, decide to pursue bodybuilding with the hopes of naturally rectifying this unwanted trait. The first place they visit for advice are either bodybuilding magazines or Internet web sites that offer weight gain diet techniques, and the feeling is, by following such eating strategies when combined with intense weight lifting, the body will begin to systematically gain weight, and appearance will greatly improve. The flaw in such thinking is that many variables are necessary in constructing an effective muscle building routine, and when a weight lifter aims to gain weight, he or she is not seeking a larger waistline or a second chin, but rather lean muscle gains, which improve appearance and enhance body weight, accomplishing both goals simultaneously. Although most weight gain diet strategies are designed to accomplish their stated goal, which is to increase body weight, many accept this as a sign that such a plan is worth pursuing, but doing so fails to consider that the type of weight gained may be undesirable. A bodybuilding strategy can easily produce more body fat increase than muscle gain if designed improperly, and because of this, the term “weight gain diet” can easily refer to rapid, unnecessary and unwanted body fat increase. Unfortunately, many bodybuilders are not aware of this fact, and pursue common bodybuilding weight gain diet strategies blindly, believing that such routines will lead to improved self confidence. Yet, in reality, they find that although the scale increases regularly, mirror appearance begins to worsen as the body accumulates massive amounts of fat, which is diametrically opposed to achieving bodybuilding caliber results. Despite this fact, many bodybuilders continue to follow such weight gain diet tactics, believing that if they remain persistent, their goals will become a reality, and if the scale continues to note progress, there is no need to change direction. But after several months of such flawed weight gain diet practice, a bodybuilder will begin to feel the sense that he or she is unappealing physically, but for a far different reason, as body fat levels have hidden newly built muscle, and eliminated all definition, creating a physique that is far from aesthetically pleasing. If a bodybuilder continues to believe that he or she must weigh a certain amount to have achieved success, then body fat will remain, and the goal of developing a pleasing physical appearance will essentially become impossible, unless the bodybuilder’s diet routine changes dramatically. The most important point to remember is that common weight gain diet plans overload the body with carbohydrates, causing a surge in body fat percentage, instead of properly balancing protein, carbohydrates and fat for sustained muscle gain, without rapid expansion of body fat levels. In many cases, body fat will need to rise as muscle is gained, since many metabolisms cannot increase muscle mass without some fat accumulation, but common weight gain diet techniques encourage the greatest amount of fat gain, as opposed to providing a balanced approach that offers consistent muscle building, while minimizing body fat increases. The more body fat that is accumulated during the weight gain process, the longer a bodybuilder must waste burning fat in the future, and the easier he or she will regain that body fat due to conditioning fat cells to accept a far higher level of body fat than otherwise would have been possible when following a properly designed bodybuilding weight gain diet strategy. So, when attempting to rectify a thin frame, remember that the goal is to produce lean muscle gains and minimize body fat levels, which requires avoiding common weight gain diet advice which you will find plastered on the covers of bodybuilding magazines, and instead balance nutrients properly so that the body can receive sufficient food for consistent muscle gains, without the accompanying body fat intrusion. The worst possible scenario for a bodybuilder is to spend much time attempting to build muscle, while following a flawed weight gain diet strategy that causes body fat to encompass the vast majority of weight gained, so make sure to consider the importance of a correctly designed weight gain diet plan prior to embarking on a bodybuilding quest.