Bodybuilder Myths and How to Get Over Them

There are tons of myths floating around out there when it comes to lifting weights, strength training, and the general idea of a bodybuilder. I’ll be the first to admit that there’s a big subculture of bodybuilding that can be quite intimidating for an outsider, and it’s obvious that a lot of people feel the same way — just look at the fitness solutions that sprung up in the last 15 years that promised an easier entry into the world of fitness (Curves for Women, or no-grunting-allowed gyms come to mind).

As a result of people feeling intimidated by the culture of “bench pressing” and bodybuilding competition, a lot of walls have gone up between the two separate worlds of fitness, and these have had negative effects on both sides — but especially for people who want to get in shape and don’t want to spend the next 5 years aimlessly floating from one dubious weight-loss/fitness solution to another.

One of the ways you can avoid this is by realizing what is myth and what is not, and start learning useful lessons from all the years of bodybuilding that have been going on — lessons you can start applying to your workouts, today – no matter what your age, fitness level, or especially — gender.

Myth: All Those Compound Lifts are Just For People Who Want to Get Big

Kettlebells, deadlifts, and squats recently entered the vocabulary of even people who don’t spend any time in gyms — if you read an article about how the actors of the film 300 got in shape you probably heard about these tools and routines.

The myth that’s out there is that all of these exercises, unbelievably beneficial as they are, are just for serious bodybuilders looking to bulk up. Nothing could be further from the truth — the real reason these exercises made such a splash is because they work wonders on the body, allowing people to work far more muscles than with “spot” exercises and seriously getting you in shape in a much more efficient way than was previously done.

And there is absolutely no reason these exercises need to be limited to serious bodybuilders. No reason at all. The problem is that they aren’t very easy exercises to do when you’re starting out, and as a result people are intimidated by them, or don’t want to ask for multiple demonstrations, or stand around the free weights or the squat cage, and as a result stick only to the machines (or worse — just the cardio machines).

Don’t fall for it! Talk to your trainer at the gym, hire a personal trainer, or watch a bunch of my workout videos — these aren’t just for professionals. More than any exercise machine, any BS diet solution, or any kind of “workout smarter” all-in-one tool, these compound lifts are the ultimate way people are working out more efficiently and seeing faster results in 2010.

Those Websites With Huge Guys Don’t Apply to Me — I Just Want to Get Toned

It can be tough to parse through some of the ultra-technical stuff on the big bodybuilding websites, and when every one of them is completely full of photos of people with very well-developed muscles, straining like all hell during a particularly demanding set, it can really make you think — “hey, maybe this subculture here just isn’t for me.”

You aren’t wrong — there’s no doubt some of those sites could be a little bit more approachable to the average gym user, but a lot of bodybuilders have spent so much time both dealing with typical misconceptions and with studying the intricate techniques required to really get your body so terrifically built up that they just don’t have time to constantly be answering “newbie” concerns.

Why My Site is Different and Can Help You.

Since I’m a personal trainer, I’m much more used to starting from zero with a lot of my clients, so my site is and will always be a place where you can easily find a way in to better, smarter fitness.

One of the best ways to get toned — whether you’re a man or woman, in shape or completely out of it — is to start paying attention to the kind of compound strength training that I promote on my site. It works wonders.

Don’t fall for the “15 minutes of cardio every 2 days and you’ll look like a fitness model!” stuff. This takes hard work. But you can do it, and lessons learned in the world of bodybuilding can help. Bookmark my site now, or sign up for my newsletter — this is my invitation to stop being intimidated by the bodybuilding world and start putting what we’ve learned to work for you, no matter what kind of shape you want to be in.