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MUSCLEMYTHS

50 HEALTH &FITNESS MISTAKESYOU DON’T KNOWYOU’RE MAKING

Michael Matthews

Copyright © 2012 Oculus Publishers,Inc.

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This eBook is solely for information andeducational purposes and is not medicaladvice. Please consult a medical orhealth professional before you begin any

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Because these risks exist, you should notuse such products or participate in suchactivities if you are in poor health orhave a pre-existing mental or physicalhealth condition. If you choose toparticipate in these risks, you do so ofyour own free will and accord

knowingly and voluntarily, assuming allrisks associated with such activities.

Specific results mentioned in this bookshould be considered extraordinary andthere are no “typical” results. Asindividuals differ, then results willdiffer.

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Published by: Oculus Publishers, Inc.

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Visit the author’s website:

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ABOUT THEAUTHOR

Hi, I’m Mike and I’ve been trainingfor nearly a decade now.

I believe that every person canachieve the body of his or her dreams,and I work hard to give everyone thatchance by providing workable, provenadvice grounded in science, not a desireto sell phony magazines, workoutproducts, or supplements.

Through my work, I’ve helpedthousands of people achieve their healthand fitness goals, and I share everythingI know in my books.

So if you’re looking to get in shape

and look great, then I think I can helpyou. I hope you enjoy my books and I’dlove to hear from you at mysite,www.muscleforlife.com.

Sincerely,

Mike

TABLE OFCONTENTS

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Who is Mike Matthews and how can hehelp you?

You Have Been Lied to, andIt’s Time to Learn the Truth

The health and fitness industry isnotorious for scams, fallacies, and

pseudo-science.

The War Against BS andBroscience

Learn about the biggest lie factories inthe industry, and how to inoculateyourself.

SECTION ONE:Weightlifting Myths

Myth #1: I have bad genetics

Myth #2: I’m a hard gainer

Myth #3: Deadlifts are bad for your back

Myth #4: Squats are bad for your knees

Myth #5: You have to work your absmore to get a six-pack

Myth #6: You can turn your fat intomuscle

Myth #7: Low weight and high reps getsyou toned

Myth #8: Women should train differentlythan men

Myth #9: The more sets you, do thebetter

Myth #10: You can "shape" your muscleswith certain exercises

Myth #11: You need to "feel the burn"and get a huge pump to grow yourmuscles

Myth #12: You should always stretchbefore working out

Myth #13: You can get rid of fat byworking out a particular area of yourbody

Myth #14: It's okay to cheat if you'regoing heavy

Myth #15: Once you stop training, allyour muscle turns to fat

Myth #16: You should eat whatever youwant when you're bulking

Myth #17: Weight training makes youinflexible

SECTION TWO: CardioMyths

Myth #18: When doing cardio, you wantto get your heart rate into the "fat burningzone"

Myth #19: Your body kicks into fat lossmode after 20 minutes of cardio

Myth #20: You have to do cardio to getlean

Myth #21: You shouldn't do cardio whenbulking

Myth #22: You should do cardio beforelifting weights

Myth #23: You should warm up withcardio before lifting

Myth #24: Sweating more during cardioburns more fat

SECTION THREE: Diet &Nutrition Myths

Myth #25: Exercising on an emptystomach burns more fat

Myth #26: Fruit juice is good for you

Myth #27: The body can only digest 30

grams of protein per sitting

Myth #28: I won't have to watch what Ieat if I exercise a lot

Myth #29: Don't eat at night if you wantto lose weight

Myth #30: Stay away from egg yolks

Myth #31: Eating fats makes you fat

Myth #32: Don't drink water whileeating because it interferes withdigestion

Myth #33: Diet sodas are good fordieting

Myth #34: Salt is bad for you

Myth #35: Certain foods have "negativecalories"

Myth #36: I don't need to count caloriesif I watch my portions

Myth #37: Eating a lot of protein is badfor your kidneys

Myth #38: Most carbs are bad

Myth #39: One cheat day per week isokay

Myth #40: Meal timing doesn't matter

SECTION FOUR:

Supplement Myths

Myth #41: Steroids make you lookawesome

Myth #42: Store-bought test/HGHboosters work

Myth #43: Fat burners get you ripped

Myth #44: Creatine is hard on thekidneys

Myth #45:Protein bars are a good snack

SECTION FIVE: Lifestyle

Myths

Myth #46: Stress and cortisol make yougain weight

Myth #47: Sleep isn't that important

Myth #48: I don't have thetime/opportunity to diet and exercise

Myth #49: Alcohol doesn't affect musclegrowth or fat loss

Myth #50: I'm overweight because Ihave a slow metabolism

BONUS REPORT

Muscle Meals: 15 Recipes forBuilding Muscle, Getting Lean, andStaying Healthy

If you hate dieting and wish you couldeat tasty, nutritious food and still buildmuscle or lose weight, then you want toread this special report.

WOULD YOU DO ME AFAVOR?

You’re awesome for buying my book,and I have a small favor to ask...

OTHER BOOKS BY

MICHAEL MATTHEWS

More practical health and fitness adviceto help you get into the best shape ofyour life.

You Have BeenLied to, and It’s

Time to Learn theTruth

This is the book I wish I had when Istarted training nearly a decade ago—back when I was full of wrong ideas.

I thought that my genetics weren’t

good enough, that it took hours and hoursof grueling cardio to lose weight, that Iwas a hardgainer, that a really sick pumpwas the key to muscle growth, that Ishouldn’t eat at night if I didn’t want toget fat, and many other fallacies thatwere foisted upon me by workoutmagazines and trainers (many of whomget their information from magazines).

Like many other people, I would hitthe gym regularly only to see little or noresults. Naturally, this leads tofrustration and many people eventuallyquit or turn to steroids or developunhealthy eating habits. Fortunately, Ichose the path of better education, and Istarting writing books to help people get

great results from training naturally andeating healthily.

Because the fact is—and this isprobably the biggest lesson I’ve learnedover the last ten years—building a greatbody just isn’t that complicated. It’s likegood sex—sure, it requires effort, butthe principles are few and simple and ifyou stick to them, you get the job done.

Here’s what it boils down to: Ifyou’re willing to train for 45 minutes perday, 3 – 5 times per week, and follow asensible eating plan, you can have agreat body that you’re proud of. And ifyou’re not already a seasoned lifter, youcan easily gain 15 – 20 pounds of lean

mass in your first 10 – 12 weeks oftraining—a pretty dramatic change. Ifyou’re looking to lose weight, you canlose the same amount in the same period.

In this book I’m going to address abunch of myths and bogus claims in ascientific and straightforward manner.I’m not going to bother with a bunch ofpictures or fluff material because youcan get more than your fill of that inother fitness books or on variouswebsites. I’m going to give you thestraight facts and help you approach yourtraining and nutrition in a smarter way.

But first I want to talk about the liefactories that spawn many of these bunk

fallacies and how you can avoid themany more variations that are sure tocome. So let’s get to it.

The War AgainstBS and Broscience

A couple decades ago, there wasn’tenough information on working out.

These days, with the Internet andmagazine racks full of glossed-upmagazines featuring chemicallyenhanced athletes, the workoutinformation market is like a mountainousgarbage dump. Somewhere in the muck

are the basic, workable truths—the stuffwe’re actually looking for—but they’regreatly out-numbered by the worthlesscrap.

If you hit the Internet and startparticipating in health and fitnessforums, you’re entering a land ruled bybroscience and idiocy, where it’s almostimpossible to sort out what’s true andworkable, and what’s not.

“What’s broscience,” you ask?Broscience is the predominant brand ofreasoning used by amateur bodybuildersand fitness enthusiasts where theanecdotal stories of people that reallyhave no idea what’s going on inside their

bodies takes precedence over crediblescientific research. Just because a guy isbig thanks to steroids or a woman is thinthanks to starvation diets that wreck yourbody doesn’t necessarily mean they havegood advice for you.

A million bad advices fall under theheading of broscience. You should dohigh reps and low weight to tone yourmuscles—BZZZT. The more sets you do,the better—BZZZT. Deadlifts are badfor your back—BZZZT. Womenshouldn’t lift weights because they’ll getbulky—BZZZT. Wrong, wrong, wrong,bro.

And what about the magazines?

Here’s a fun fact that you probablydidn’t know: MuscleMag, IronMan,Flex, Muscular Development, Muscle &Fitness, Muscle Media, and the rest ofthe mainstream bodybuilding magazinesare owned by supplement companies andare used simply as mouthpieces for theirproducts. Yup. MuscleMag is controlledby MuscleTech; IronMan is controlledby MuscleLink; Muscular Developmentis Twinlab’s shill piece; Muscle &Fitness and Flex are owned by JoeWeider, and are thus promotioncatalogues for his companies, such asWeider, Metaform, MuscleTribe, andseveral others; and MuscleMedia is theEAS cheerleader.

The primary goal of these magazinesis to pimp supplements for thecompanies controlling them, and theywork damn well. The magazines pushproducts in various ways. They havepretty advertisements all over the place,they regularly run “advertorials”(advertisements disguised as informativearticles), and they balance the salespitches with some articles that actuallyprovide workout and nutrition advice(which also, in many cases, end withproduct recommendations of some kind).

So, this is the first blow thatmagazines deal to you: They give you alot of “advice” that is geared first andforemost to selling you products, not

helping you achieve your goals.

The supplement companies knowthat if they can just keep getting thesemagazines into people’s hands, they willkeep selling products. So, how do theyensure that you will keep buying? Bycoming up with a constant flow of newadvice and ideas, of course.

And this is the second, probablymore harmful, blow: They inundate youwith all kinds of false ideas about whatit takes to get into great shape. If theytold the simple truth every month, theywould have maybe twenty articles or sothat they could re-print over and over.Instead, they get quite creative with all

kinds of sophisticated (but useless)workout routines, “tricks,” and diets(that include certain supplements toreally MAXIMIZE the effectiveness, ofcourse).

The bottom line is that you can’t trustthese types of magazines. They’renothing more than shiny lobbyists for thesupplement companies.

So how do you get good information,you wonder? Well, this book will giveyou a great head start. Forgive theshameless plug, but another book ofmine, Bigger Leaner Stronger, is alsoan excellent resource that gives youeverything you need to create your own

training program and diet that will helpyou achieve your goals as efficiently aspossible.

Alright, now that we have all that outof the way, let’s get to the myth busting,shall we?

Section One

Weight Lifting Myths

MYTH #1

I have bad genetics

This one gets tossed around a lot.Genetics are a favorite scapegoat forpeople who can’t build enough muscleor lose enough fat. But how much dothey actually influence your results?

A lot less than these people want tobelieve. Sure, your genes determinecertain things like which muscle groups

tend to be your “strong points,” yourhormone levels, how much fat you tendto hold on your body, and where youtend to gain fat, but they’re not standingin your way in terms of gaining muscleor losing fat. You can get in amazingshape if you know what you’re doing.Period.

I’ve known quite a few“hardgainers” over the years that havegained 30, 40, and even 50 pounds intheir first year or two of trainingcorrectly (and with no drugs). I’veknown countless men and women whowere convinced that they weregenetically programmed to be fat get inthe best shape of their lives once they

fixed what they were doing wrong.

Now, genetics can make it easier orharder. Some people have naturally hightestosterone levels, which means fastermuscle growth and an overall leanerphysique. Some people’s metabolismsare naturally faster than others, makingweight loss an easier endeavor. Geneticsalso play a role in the shape of yourmuscles. Not all guys can have thatperfect square chest or ridiculous biceppeak, and not all women can have agravity-defying, round butt. But none ofthese things are limitations.

So, who cares if you gain muscle orlose fat slower than the other person? As

long as you get to where you want to be,the added time is irrelevant. And bigdeal if you can’t have the sameaesthetics as a fitness cover model. Youcan still look awesome and feel great,and that’s what it’s all about.

MYTH #2

I'm a hard gainer

This is a cousin of the “badgenetics” myth and is a common gripe ofskinny guys everywhere.

They believe that their bodies aregenetically programmed to stay scrawnyand that they can’t gain large amounts ofmuscle, regardless of how hard theytrain or how much they eat. Sometimes

they turn to steroids and sometimes theyjust quit.

While it’s true that some people havean easier time putting on muscle thanothers due to hormone levels and geneticpredispositions, nobody is doomed tohave a forever-frail physique.

The thing is, every person I’veknown that has made the hardgainerclaim was training and eating incorrectly—every single one. They were allmaking several (or in some cases, all) ofthe following mistakes: working out toolittle or too much (not giving your bodyenough rest is severely detrimental togains), lifting too light and wussy, doing

the wrong exercises (relying mainly onisolation machines and not doingcompound mass-builders is a sure wayto stay small and weak), and eating wayless than they should’ve been eating eachday. I’ve also seen quite a fewex-“hardgainers” start training andeating correctly and get big fast.

If you’re an ectomorph type who hashad trouble putting on size, I actuallyenvy you. Your natural leanness is ablessing because when you start liftinghard and eating properly, you’ll buildmuscle like the rest of us, but you’ll puton less fat, making you look better. Andwhen you want to cut down to super-leanbody-fat levels, you’ll find it much

easier than most.

Yet another benefit of being an ectois that you don’t need as much musclemass to look big when you’re lean.Fifteen pounds put on a lean frame canbe quite a dramatic change, and if youknow what you’re doing, that’s two tothree months of work, tops.

If you want to know exactly what todo to accomplish that, then I recommendyou read my book Bigger LeanerStronger for the full answer, but I’llsummarize a few points here:

1. You must eat enough to grow.Here’s a simple way to calculate yourneeds:

• Eat 1 gram of protein per poundof body weight per day.

• Eat 2 grams of carbs per pound ofbody weight per day.

• Eat 1 gram of healthy fat per 3pounds of body weight per day.

That’s where you start. For a 150-pound male, it would look like this:

• 150 grams of protein per day

• 300 grams of carbs per day

• 50 grams of fat per day

This would be about 2,250 calories

per day (protein has about 4 calories pergram, as do carbs, and fats have about 9calories per gram), which should beenough to maintain steady musclegrowth.

If you aren’t gaining weight orstrength or your energy levels are lowafter a couple of weeks of bulking, youshould up your calories by about 300 perday for another week or two and see ifthat fixes it. The easiest way to add thecalories is to eat about 70 more grams ofmore carbs per day.

As long as you’re training correctly,you will start gaining muscle once youhit the dietary “sweet spot.”

2. You should eat 4 – 6 times perday. It’s very hard to get enough caloriesand protein, carbs, and fat each day ifyou only eat 2 – 3 meals. Instead, eat 4 –6 smaller meals per day (one every 3 – 4hours) that add up to your total caloricand nutritional requirements.

3. Lift heavy and make sureyou’re doing compound exercises. Theideas that you have to “feel the burn”and “get a huge pump” are myths that Iwill be addressing in this book. Musclegrowth comes from overload, notfatigue, and overload is caused by onething: heavy weight.

The training method that has worked

best for me and countless other peoplewho wanted to gain muscle fast hassimple principles:

• Go to near-failure or failure everyset.

• Adjust your weight so you canonly do 4 – 6 reps. When you cando six, go up in weight.

• Train one muscle group per day(five training days per week).

• Do 9 heavy sets per muscle group.

And in terms of exercises, you mustbe doing the following exercises everyweek:

• Squats

• Deadlifts

• Barbell or dumbbell Bench Press

• Military Press or Dumbbell Press

These are the primary mass buildersand I promise you that you’ll never builda great physique without doing themregularly and heavily.

MYTH #3

Deadlifts are bad foryour back

Most guys that use this myth to skipDeadlifts are really just saying, “I don’tlike them because they make my va-jay-jay sore.”

The fact is deadlifts are one of themost intense and rewarding exercises

you can do, whether you’re a guy or agirl (along with Squats). And much tothe contrary of this myth, Deadlifts aregood for your back and actuallystrengthen it from bottom to top—whenthey’re done correctly. When doneincorrectly, well, it can be pretty scary(search for “bad Deadlift” on YouTubeif you want to cringe).

Proper Deadlifts have other benefits.They train quite a few other musclessuch as the biceps, traps, abs, calves,quads, and hamstrings. They also triggerincreased growth hormone andtestosterone production, greatlyenhancing your gains from all of yourworkouts.

As long as you don’t have an existingback condition, I highly recommend youstart deadlifting right away.

Before you do, however, make sureyou have perfect form down. Keepreading to learn what most people willnever know about how to deadliftproperly.

Deadlift Setup and Movement

Always start with the bar on thefloor—not on the safety pins or on therack.

Your stance should be a bit narrowerthan shoulder-width, and your toesshould be pointed slightly out. You

should stand with the bar above themiddle of your feet (the top of yourinstep).

Bend at your waist and grip the barby placing it into the middle of yourpalms, not in your fingers. Both palmsshould be facing in to build grip strength.The other grip option is the “alternate”method where one palm faces in (usuallythe non-dominant hand) and the otherfaces out, which can allow for heavierweight to be lifted.

Your arms should be just outsideyour legs, leaving enough room for yourthumbs to clear your thighs.

Bend through your knees until your

shins touch the bar, and then lift yourchest until your back is in a neutralposition and tight. Don’t overarch yourback, and don’t squeeze your shoulder-blades together like with the Squat. Justpush your chest up and your shouldersand back down. Your elbows should becompletely straight.

Here’s what this position looks like:

You’re now ready to pull.

Take a deep breath, look forward,and start the upward movement byengaging the quads to begin thestraightening of the knees. This will pullthe bar up your shins, and once theweight is off the ground, join your hips

into the upward movement and keep yourback neutral and tight the whole way up.You should try to keep the bar on asvertically straight of a path as possible(absolute isn’t attainable, but thereshould be little lateral movement of thebar as you lift it up).

The bar should move up your shins,and roll over your knees and thighs. Atthe top, your chest should be out andyour shoulders down. Don’t lean back,shrug the weight, or roll your shouldersup and back.

Here’s how the entire first half of thelift looks:

The next half of the movement islowering the weight back down to thefloor in a controlled manner (yes, it mustgo all the way back to the floor!). This issimply a mirror image of what you did tocome up.

You begin to lower the bar bypushing your hips back first, letting thebar descend in a straight line until it

reaches your knees. At that point, youbend your knees and lower it down yourshins. The back stays locked in its tight,neutral position the entire time.

Here’s how it looks:

http://amzn.to/2gvpvcJ

Deadlift Tips

Don’t start with your hips too low.Remember that the Deadlift starting

position is not the same as the Squatbottom position. The Deadlift requiresthat your hips be higher than the bottomof the Squat.

When you’re lowering the weight, ifyou break your knees too early, you’ll hitthem with the bar. To avoid this, beginyour descent by pushing your hips backfirst and don’t bend your knees until thebar reaches your knees.

If you start the upward motion withbent elbows, you’ll end up puttingunnecessary strain on your biceps. Keepyour elbows straight for the entire lift.

Deadlifting in shoes that have aircushions or gel filling is a bad idea. It

compromises stability, causes powerloss, and interferes with proper form.Get shoes with flat, hard soles likeChuck Taylors.

Wear long pants and long socks onthe day that you’ll be deadlifting toprevent shin scraping. Shin scraping canbe caused by poor form, but can also beunavoidable depending on the length ofthe limbs and body type.

Too wide of a stance or grip willmake the exercise awkward. TheDeadlift stance is narrower than theSquat stance, and the Deadlift requiresthat the hands be just outside the legs.

Don’t strain to look up while

deadlifting. Keep your head in a neutralposition and in line with your spine.

If you start the upward lift with yourhips too high, you’ll turn the Deadliftinto a Stiff-Legged Deadlift, which ismore stressful on the lower back andhamstrings. Make sure that you get yourhips low enough in the starting position(but not too low!).

Explode the bar up from the floor asfast as you can. Apply as much force asquickly as possible and you’ll be able tomove more weight.

Try to crush the bar with your grip. Ifyour knuckles aren’t white, you’re notsqueezing hard enough.

Use the alternating grip if your gripisn’t strong enough to allow you to usethe overhand style.

MYTH #4

Squats are bad foryour knees

If by “bad for my knees” you mean“will make my hair gel run,” then yes,Squats are “bad for your knees.”

In all seriousness, the worst legexercise for your knees is actually theleg extension machine, which puts a ton

of strain on your kneecap. The Squat,however, is a very natural, functionalmovement that allows you to work outyour legs in the way they were intendedto move. It’s also the best overall legexercise that you can do. Put simply:You’ll never have great legs unless youdo Squats.

As with Deadlifts, however, the keyto keeping Squats safe is to have perfectform. The most common mistake I seepeople making is loading the bar up andthen performing half- or quarter-reps.That is bad for your knees. Anotherdangerous habit is leaning too farforward at the bottom of the squat,putting undue strain on your neck and

lower back.

When performed correctly, the Squat is asafe, incredibly powerful exercise thatyou will come to love because of howbeneficial it is to your entire body.

Squat Setup

Always squat in a Power Rack orSquat Rack, with the safety bars/pins setsix inches or so below the height of thebar at the bottom of the rep (whichyou’ll learn about in a minute). Do thiseven if you have a spotter.

Position the bar on the rack so it cutsacross the upper half of your chest. Thismight feel a bit low, but it’s better to

have it on the lower side than trying totippy-toe heavy weight off the rack.

Face the bar so you can walk it outbackward. Don’t ever walk the bar outforward, as trying to re-rack it bywalking backward is very dangerous.

Get under the bar and place yourheels at about shoulder-width apart, withthe toes pointed out at about 30-degreeangles (your right foot at about 1o’clock, and your left at about 11o’clock, if that helps with the visual).

When you’re ready to unrack the bar,bring your shoulder blades together,tighten your entire upper back, raise yourchest up, and straighten your lower back.

Put the bar below the bone at the top ofyour shoulder blades, solidly acrossyour upper back muscles and reardeltoids.

Use a narrow grip because this helpsyou maintain upper-back tightness. Placeyour thumbs on top of the bar.

Here’s a picture to help:

Notice how all of the weight isresting on his back, with none on hishands. This is important. The wide gripthat many people use slackens the backmuscles, which provide crucial supportfor the weight, and transfers the load tothe spine. Don’t follow their lead.

This position will probably feel a bitawkward at first, and you might need tostretch your shoulders to get your handsinto the proper position. Whatever youdo, do NOT put the bar on your neck!

If you really can’t get the bar thislow yet due to shoulder inflexibility,that’s okay. Place it as close to thisposition as possible and as you continue

to train, work on getting to this idealposition. As long as you don’t feel itresting on your neck or feel your handssupporting the weight, you’ll be fine.

Squat Movement

Once you’ve unracked the weight,take one or two steps back, and assumethe proper squatting position as outlinedabove (heels shoulder-width apart, toespointed out).

Pick a spot on the floor about six feetaway, and stare at that for the entirety ofthe set. Don’t look up at the ceiling assome people advise as this alonecompletely ruins form—it makes italmost impossible to reach the proper

bottom position, it throws off proper hipmovement and chest positioning, and itcan cause a neck injury.

You’re now ready to start thedownward motion, which isaccomplished by sitting the butt straightdown while keeping the chest up, and theback straight and tight.

Many people have the tendency towant to transfer the load to the quads asthe squat gets deep. One way to do thisis to slide the knees forward, which canlead to weird pains and problems. Agood rule of thumb is that any forwardmotion of the knees should occur in thefirst third or half of the descent, and the

knees should go no further than just infront of the toes. Once the knees are outof the way and in place, the movementbecomes a straight drop of the hips,followed by a straight lift of them.

The bottom of the squat is the pointwhere your hips are back and slightlylower than your kneecap (which causesyour femurs to be a little lower thanparallel with the ground), your knees arejust a little forward of the toes andpointing in the same direction as yourfeet (out about a 30-degree angle, notin), and the back is as straight aspossible and at an angle that places thebar over the middle of the foot.

I know that’s a bit hard to visualize,so here’s a simple diagram to help:

As you can see, the bar is low on theback, the back is completely flat andinclined at about a 45-degree angle, thehips are a little lower than the knees, thefemurs are slightly past parallel, the feetare flat on the floor, and the knees are alittle forward of the toes. This is theproper bottom of the Squat.

I recommend that you practice thiswith no bar to really get a feel for it. Ifyou’re having trouble getting your kneesto point in line with your feet, you can, atthe bottom, place your elbows againstyour knees and the palms of your handstogether, and nudge your knees out.

If you need to place the bar a bit

higher on your back due to shoulderstiffness, the angles change slightly.Here’s another diagram to help:

All the way to the left is the properbottom position for the Front Squat. Themiddle is a high-bar Squat, and the farright is the low-bar Squat that I

recommend you get comfortable doing.

Once you’ve reached the bottom, youdrive your butt straight up—not forward—and bring your shoulders up at thesame pace. To do this, you must maintaina back angle that keeps the weight overthe middle of your foot. If your hips risefaster than your shoulders, you’ll starttipping forward, which puts heavy strainon the neck and back.

Don’t think about anything butdriving your hips straight up, and you’lldo it correctly. Keep your chest up andyour back straight—don’t let it hunch.

MYTH #5

You have to work yourabs more to have a

great stomach

These days, having “six-pack” abs isbasically synonymous with being sexyand in-shape. For women, it’s all abouthaving a stomach that’s flat, lean, andtoned.

Workout magazines are constantlytouting new ab workouts. There are aplethora of new supplements releasedevery week that promise to kick your fatburning into high gear and help you get alean, rippling stomach. There are quite afew “ab” gurus online selling eBooks onthe “secrets” of getting a six-pack.

Well, I have good news for you:Having awesome abs is much easier thanyou might think. You don’t have to trainyour abs every day to have a greatstomach (this would actually lead toovertraining and cause other problems).You don’t have to do 50 reps perexercise to have a six-pack.

What do you have to do? What is themystical secret to a sexy stomach?

If you’re a guy, get your body-fatpercentage under 10%. Yup, that’s thebig secret. When your body-fatpercentage reaches the 7 – 9% range,your abs will pop whether you trainthem or not (they’re actually one of thebody’s naturally stronger muscle groupsas they hold the body upright all day). Ifyou’re a woman, if you get your body fatpercentage under 15%, you’ll have aflat, lean, toned stomach. That’s all thereis to it.

So how do you get your body-fatpercentage into the right range? You

can’t burn “stomach” fat by doingcrunches or any other core exercise—that’s not how the body works. All youhave to do is follow a diet designed forweight loss, and exercise a few timesper week until you’ve reached your bodyfat percentage goal.

There are many formulas out therefor working out the proper amount offood to eat each day when you want tolose weight, but here’s a very simpleone. If you’re willing to exercise 2 – 3times per week, for 30 – 45 minutes persession, you can eat the following andlose weight, week after week:

1.2 grams of protein per pound of

body weight

1 gram of carbohydrate per pound ofbody weight

1 gram of fat per 5 pounds of bodyweight

And you can have one cheat meal perweek, where you can indulge insomething special (but keep thisreasonable—generally speaking,keeping it below 1,000 calories is best).

Now, that doesn’t mean that youshouldn’t train abs, because you should.Having a strong core helps with otherlifts and a regularly trained set of absusually looks better than one that gets no

training (I say “usually” because somepeople just have awesome abs despiterarely training them). But they should betrained like any other muscle group—work them once or twice per week, with9 – 12 sets per workout.

You should also know that somepeople’s abs are shaped better thanothers’. Some guys, like me, will neverhave a symmetrical six-pack becausethat’s just not how their muscles areformed. Some guys have small abs thatlook almost under-developed, which canbe remedied with ab training.

MYTH #6

You can turn your fatinto muscle

Sorry. This is the health and fitnessversion of alchemy. It’s a fool’s errand.

Fat and muscle are two completelydifferent substances, and you can onlydecrease and increase them—notransmogrification is possible. There’s a

catch, too: You can only focus on one orthe other—you can’t maximize both atonce. This is because losing fat requiresthat you eat less food than your bodyneeds (causing it to burn fat and, quiteoften, a bit of muscle, for the extraenergy) and gaining muscle requires thatyou eat more than the body needs (notonly allowing it to build muscle, but alsocausing it to gain some fat, too).

If this sounds like a hopelesssituation, don’t despair. If you’re a guy,when you diet correctly, you’ll losemore fat than muscle when “cutting,” andyou’ll gain more muscle than fat when“bulking,” which will allow you tojuggle these eating cycles to change your

overall body composition. This is howguys go from 150 pounds at 12% bodyfat to 190 pounds at 8% body fat—inone cycle of bulking, they might gain tenpounds of muscle and three pounds offat, followed by a cycle of cuttingwherein they lose the three pounds of fatalong with a pound of muscle. Thisleaves them as lean as before the bulkingcycle, but with seven pounds more oflean muscle. If you repeated this a fewtimes, you’d fully transform your body.

So, if you’re already fairly lean (ordon’t care about leanness at the moment)and want to put on muscle, don’t beafraid to gain some fat. Then, whenyou’re ready to lose fat, don’t be afraid

to lose a little muscle.

If you’re a woman, you have a biteasier in this regard. You don’t have tobother bulking unless you really want tofocus on growing your muscles as big aspossible. Most women just want to getlean and stay there, which is simply amatter of dieting to lose weight, and thendieting to maintain.

MYTH #7

Low weight and highreps gets you toned

To correctly address this one, let’sstart with what most people mean by“toned.” They mean lean, but withenough muscle to look like they workout. Well, doing exercises with lowweight and high reps is not going to getyou there. It won’t even get you close,

actually.

Studies have conclusively shownthat training with very light weights thatallows many reps (15+) causes littlemuscle growth and very little strengthimprovements. It isn’t an effective wayto burn fat or build muscle. Having“defined” muscles is nothing more thanhaving some muscle mass along withlow enough body-fat levels for it toshow.

This applies to you regardless ofwhat your fitness goals are. If you onlywant to gain ten pounds of muscle(which would take a normal guy fromscrawny to having some muscle to show

off), then why not do it the most effectiveway? Lift heavy, eat big, and then stripthe fat off once you’ve gained a littlemore muscle than you want (becauseyou’ll lose some while dieting).

If you’re a woman that wants to losefat and shape your arms, thighs, butt, andcore, the most effective way to get thereis to lift relatively heavy weights(weights that allow for no more than 8 –10 reps), and diet to lose weight. Whichbrings me to the next myth...

MYTH #8

Women should traindifferently than men

Most women want the same type ofbody. They want to be lean but not tooskinny; they want to have some muscledefinition, particularly in their arms,stomach, and legs, and they want to havea bubbly butt that fills their jeans. Andamen! I’m all for it.

For most women this means theyneed to lose fat and gain muscle. Justlosing the fat wouldn’t be enough asmost women lack the muscle that givesan athletic look (leaving them with thatskinny-flabby type of body).

So what is the best way to achievethese goals? Conventional “wisdom” haswomen grinding away on the treadmillevery day and working out with three-pound dumbbells. I’ve yet to see awoman achieve a fitness-model body bydoing that!

You already know what it takes to belean (diet and cardio), so what is thebest way to get some muscle definition

and a nice butt? Lifting weights, ofcourse. Lifting heavy weights, to bespecific.

Now I can already hear youdisagreeing. Women shouldn’t lift heavyweights because they don’t want to getbulky, right? Wrong. It’s incrediblydifficult for a woman to ever reach thepoint of looking “bulky,” regardless ofhow hard or often they train. Why?Because the hormone that most directlyregulates muscle growth is testosterone,and an average woman’s testosteronelevels are a mere 5 – 10% of an averageman’s.

If you’re a guy, you know how much

it takes to put on an appreciable amountof muscle. Now imagine it were 10 – 16 times harder—that’s what it’s like beinga woman.

If you’re a woman, I PROMISE youthat you will never wake up one daydisgusted with your bulky physique ifyou lift heavy weights (heavy for YOU,but light for guys). Getting to that point isa very gradual, grueling process that youwould have to consciously work atevery day, and it would take years.

Now, what qualifies as “heavy”weight for a woman? Weight that isheavy enough to limit you to 8 – 10repetitions. Sure, a woman can’t lift as

much weight as a man, but the factremains that lifting heavy weights(“heavy” relative to your strength, ofcourse) is the fastest way to change yourphysique.

If you’re a woman and you wanttoned, sexy legs and a round, tight butt,then you can’t beat an intense workout of“boy exercises” such as Barbell Squats,Romanian Deadlifts, and BarbellLunges. If you want defined, hot arms,then the quickest way to get there is bygoing heavy on exercises like DumbbellCurls, Straight-Bar Curls, and EZ-BarCurls.

So, women, it’s time to put down the

pink play weights and get sexy by liftingwith the guys! (They’ll find it pretty hot,too.)

MYTH #9

The more sets you, dothe better

I don’t know about you, but I hatelong workouts. Who wants to spend twohours in a gym every day? Only theover-zealous newbies who think that thegrueling seventeenth set is where thegrowth occurs, or the obsessed ‘roid-heads who like to squat until their noses

bleed and deadlift until they puke (yes,these guys are out there).

The fact is, too many sets canactually lead to overtraining, which notonly robs you of muscle growth andmakes you feel run-down and lethargic,but can actually cause you to losemuscle. Yes, that’s right—two hours ofintense lifting can actually make youshrink and get weaker. You are simplybreaking down the muscle too much foryour body to repair optimally. Of courseyou don’t want to under-train either bydoing too little. You want to train longenough to achieve the maximum muscleoverload and stimulation that your bodycan efficiently repair.

More sets also means more timespent working out, of course, and thistoo can become detrimental. As youexercise, your body releases hormonessuch as testosterone, growth hormone,and insulin, all conducive to musclegrowth. In response to the physicalstress, however, your body also releasesa hormone called cortisol. This hormonehelps increase blood sugar levels andfight inflammation, but it also interfereswith your body’s ability to use proteincorrectly and stops muscle growth. Oneof the best ways to control cortisol is tokeep your training sessions short.

Scientific studies such as the onedone by the University of Natal have

shown that weight training sessionsbetween 45 – 60 minutes allow forproper muscle stimulation whilemaximizing testosterone production andminimizing cortisol production. Cardiosessions between 30 – 45 minutes werefound to best for the same reasons.

Long, high-repetition workouts notonly fail to sufficiently stimulate musclesto trigger growth, but they have anotherdownfall: they flood the muscles withlactic acid, and studies have shown thathighly elevated levels of lactic acid inmuscles actually impairs growth andcauses tissues to be broken down.

So, how do you maximize muscle

growth, then? Overload. Muscles mustbe given a clear reason to grow, andoverload is the best reason. That meansheavy weights; short, intense sets of lowreps; and a workout volume of 30 – 60reps (total reps done per workout). Thistype of training causes optimal micro-tearing for strength and growth gains.

Drop sets, giant sets, and supersetsare for the magazine-reading crowd.Such training techniques simply do NOTstimulate growth like simple, heavy setsdo. And that’s the only reason we’re inthe gym, right?

The same goes for the confusedcrowd of “muscle confusion” advocates

who say you need to change your routineevery week or two. This is purenonsense. You can make incrediblemuscle gains by doing the same proven,mass-building exercises every week,steadily increasing weight and reps(progressive overload).

MYTH #10

You can "shape" yourmuscles with certain

exercises

In my dreams, I can do Cable Flyesto make my chest squarer—you know,the type of pecs that look likesymmetrical armor plates. I can then doConcentration Curls to get a scary high

peak on my biceps, followed by ReverseDecline Crunches to get symmetrical,sculpted abs.

Well, unfortunately, there’s no suchthing as a “shaping” exercise. You canmake your muscles bigger or smaller andyour genetics will determine their shape(think of “adding clay,” as Arnold put itin Pumping Iron). That being said, youcan still do quite a bit with yourphysique and compensate for weakareas.

If you feel you lack bicep peak, forexample, you should focus on growingyour biceps with good ol’ heavy weighttraining and include reverse or Zottman

Curls and Hammer Curls to work thebrachioradialis and brachialis muscles,which can push your bicep up.

If you’re unhappy with some aspectof your chest—the upper part, lowerpart, middle, etc.—make it bigger withproven mass-builders like the Dumbbelland Barbell Bench Press (I like to dothem on both flat and incline benches),and Weighted Dips.

If you’re not happy with the width ofyour shoulders, you can really isolate themiddle deltoid with an exercise like theLeaning Lateral Raise.

Let’s talk about women for a minute.The claims that certain forms of strength

training will make “long, lean” muscleslike a dancer’s while others will resultin “bulky, ugly” muscles like a she-maleare bogus. Whether you do Pilates, yoga,or weight training to strengthen and buildyour muscles, their shape will come outthe same, with the difference being thatweight training will grow your musclesfaster than Pilates or yoga (and yoga andPilates offer things that weight trainingdoesn’t, of course, such as flexibility,intense sweating, inner calm, etc.).

“Sculpting” best describes what isactually possible. You can build yourmuscles and reduce your body fatpercentage, which will give you thatthin, athletic “beach body” that so many

women envy.

The key takeaway here is that youcan work out your muscles in such a wayas to achieve full development, but in theend, the overall shape is going to bedetermined by your genetics.

MYTH #11

You need to "feel theburn" and get a hugepump to grow your

muscles

How many times have you heardtraining partners yelling for each other to“Make it burn!” and “Get another three

reps!”? They think that pumping out repsuntil the stinging pain is unbearablecauses maximum growth. “No pain, nogain,” right? Wrong. This is probablyone of the worst fallacies out there: thatmuscle “burn” and pump are paramountin achieving growth. Well, they aren’t.

When your muscles are burning,what you’re actually feeling is a buildupof lactic acid in the muscle, whichbuilds as you contract your musclesagain and again. Lactic acid does triggerwhat’s known as the “anabolic cascade,”which is a cocktail of growth-inducinghormones, but when lactic acid levelsbecome too elevated, studies haveshown that it actually impairs growth

and causes tissues to be broken down.

How does muscle growth work,then?

By lifting weights, you are actuallycausing tiny tears (known as “micro-tears”) in the muscle fibers, which thebody then repairs, adapting the musclesto better handle the stimulus that causedthe damage. This is the process by whichmuscles grow (scientifically termedhypertrophy).

If a workout causes too few micro-tears in the fibers, then little musclegrowth will occur because the bodyfigures it doesn’t need to grow to dealwith another minor stimulus. If a

workout causes too many micro-tears,then the body will fail to fully repair themuscles, and muscle growth will bestunted. If a workout causes optimalmicro-tearing, but the body isn’tsupplied with sufficient nutrition or rest,muscle growth won’t occur.

For optimal muscle growth, you mustlift in such a way that causes optimalmicro-tearing, and then you must feedyour body what it needs to grow andgive it the proper amount of rest.

While science hasn’t been able toisolate the “perfect” weight range andworkout volume for everyone, studieshave shown that training with weights

heavy enough to limit your sets to 4 – 6reps, including at least nine sets doneper muscle group with this weight,causes optimal muscle growth.

Working out like this also gives a“pump,” of course, but that’s justincidental.

MYTH #12

You should alwaysstretch before working

out

Some guys believe that stretchingbefore lifting makes you stronger. Othersbelieve it helps prevent injury. Others doit just because it feels good. Manypeople stretch before running or doing

other cardio activities for the samereasons.

Well, stretching before lifting isactually terrible. Studies have shown itweakens those muscles being stretchedby up to 30%, and it not only doesn’tprevent injury, but can actually increasethe risk of injury because it loosens themuscles which should be tense and tightwhile lifting to ensure everything staysin its right place. Stretching to loosenyour muscles after working out is totallyfine, however.

Stretching before doing cardio maybe equally bad. According to a studydone by the University of Hawaii-

Manoa, pre-workout stretching waslinked with a higher risk of injury inwhite, male runners (females thatstretched before running were notinjured any more than those that didn’t,and the same went for males of otherraces—strange, indeed!). A previousstudy by Dutch researchers found thatstretching before running had neither apreventative effect in terms of injury, norcaused more injuries.

Now, don’t confuse stretching withwarming up, which is very importantwith both lifting and cardio. Whenlifting, you should do 3 – 5 warm-upsets with light weights before your firstheavy, “working” set for a muscle. You

should never go to failure on warm-upsets as this saps strength that you couldotherwise use in your muscle-buildingsets.

So, to summarize, stretch afterlifting, and stretching before doingcardio may make you more likely to getinjured, while stretching afterwardcertainly does not. This not only followsscience, but common sense: The besttime to stretch your muscles is whenthey’re warmed up and able to achieve afull range of motion. Before a workout,your muscles are “cold” and tight,whereas after a workout they’recompletely warmed up and engorgedwith blood.

As a note, when doing staticstretches (stretches that you hold), makesure to hold them for 30 – 45 seconds orthey won’t have much of an effect.

MYTH #13

You can get rid of fatby working out a

particular area of yourbody

This is a myth that just won’t goaway thanks to silly advertisements andworkout products.

You can do a million side-twists, butit won’t get your obliques to emergefrom the flab. You can work your innerthighs religiously and they aren’t goingto get thinner. That’s not how fat lossworks.

The only way to make a particulararea of your body leaner is to reduceyour overall body fat percentage, whichwill reduce fat everywhere on yourbody. Now, people’s bodies aredifferent in terms of where they lose fatfirst and more easily, and which areasare more stubborn and last to lean out. Ifyou tend to accumulate fat around yourwaist, you may notice that it comes offslower than other areas of your body.

That’s okay—just have some patienceand keep reducing your overall body fatpercentage and it’ll disappear.

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’twork areas of your body that are flabby.Having tight, toned muscles looks greatonce you’ve removed the layer of fathiding them, and increasing muscle massactually helps fat loss because ofincreased overall calorie burn.

MYTH #14

It's okay to cheat ifyou're going heavy

Every day in the gym I cringe atsome people’s form. Knees wrapped,plates stacked on the bar, squatting downmaybe a foot or two before struggling tostand—that’s a knee injury waiting tohappen. Another common sight is guysloading up the bench to barely manage a

few half-reps (where their arms barelymake it past 45 degrees). Theirshoulders don’t appreciate that.

Here’s the deal: These guys are notonly risking injury, but they’re alsocheating themselves of gains. Big time.When a guy wildly swings around 130pounds on the EZ-bar for a bicepworkout, he’s actually only moving afraction of that weight with his biceps.The rest is being lifted by the lowerback, shoulders, momentum, etc. Worse,his elbows are having to bear the fullbrunt of the weight, which can lead toinjury.

In order to achieve full, optimal

muscle growth, you must engage as manymuscle fibers as possible, and youmaximize this by lifting with a full rangeof motion (good form). If you’resquatting, that means deep squats whereyour thighs are slightly below parallel tothe ground (your butt will be just belowyour knees). If you’re benching, it meansa controlled lowering of the bar to yourchest (no bouncing!), followed by aslight pause, and an explosive movementupward. If you’re curling, it means yourelbows stay at your side and themovement should contain minimalswinging.

Now, that being said, when you’relifting heavy, sometimes squeezing out

that last rep means your form gets a littlesloppy. Maybe you miss parallel by acouple inches on your squat, or thebarbell bounces a little off your chestwhile on the bench. That’s okay, but youshould always strive to keep your formas strict as possible. If you find you’recheating by the second or third rep,you’re using too much weight.

Don’t lift with ego in the gym.Throwing around heavy weights like anidiot impresses nobody. To the contrary,guys that know what they’re doingrespect good form when they see it,regardless of the weight being lifted.

MYTH# 15

Once you stoptraining, all your

muscle turns to fat

“Look at Arnold now!” people say indefense of this myth.

Arnold doesn’t have a flabbyphysique now because the muscle he

once had “turned to fat.” That’sscientifically impossible. Muscle and fatare two completely different substances.Just as you can’t transform the fat onyour body into muscle, muscle can’tmorph into fat.

Here’s what can happen, however:A guy is training and eating a lot ofcalories to ensure his body can recoverand build muscle. Because of his highamount of muscle mass, which burns alot of calories every day, he stays fairlylean. He stops training for whateverreason and keeps eating the same way.His body has not only lost the workoutsto help burn calories, but it also shedsmuscle that it no longer needs, further

reducing the amount of calories it burnseach day. Before long, the guy issheathed in a layer of fat, and if hedoesn’t curb his eating, things will justget worse and worse.

What people think is muscle turninginto fat is really just muscle beingbroken down because it’s no longerneeded and fat being added because ofovereating. If a very muscular guy wereto stop training and reduce his eatingproportionately, he would lose musclebut stay lean.

As a note, don’t think that this meansyou can’t ever take a break from trainingbecause you’ll lose muscle and gain fat.

As long as you keep your protein intakehigh, you can take 5 – 7 days off trainingwith no change in your bodycomposition. In fact, you should do thisevery 8 – 10 weeks to prevent over-training.

If you go on a 2 – 3 week vacation,you can be completely inactive andmaybe lose a little muscle, but it’ll comeback within a couple weeks of training.Or you can do what I do, which is adaily full-body workout with body-weight exercises like push-ups, pull-ups(I travel with a doorway pull-up bar thatI assemble when I arrive at mydestination), squats, and lunges. This is avery effective way to prevent muscle

and strength loss when you can’t hit thegym.

MYTH #16

You should eatwhatever you want

when you're bulking

Some bodybuilders follow gruelingyo-yo diets. They gorge for months,turning into massive balls of fat, and thendiet hard to get into competition shape.This cycle is very tough on the body.

It’s true that your body requires asurplus of energy to build muscle (youhave to eat more calories than youexpend), but don’t think of this “bulking”phase as a license to eat anything andeverything (this is known as “dirtybulking”). The problem with a dirty bulkis that you gain a lot of fat and hold a tonof water, which makes you look biggeroverall, but doesn’t get you any closer tothe final goal (it also makes your cuttingphase longer and tougher—andremember, a longer cutting phase meansmore muscle loss).

I recommend that you “clean” bulk,which means you eat controlled, albeitlarge, amounts of calories each day, and

you get them from high-quality foods.That means good carbs, such as wholewheat grains, brown rice, sweet potato,oats, and fruits; lean proteins, such aschicken, turkey, fish, and lean beef; andhealthy fats, such as those found in fish,avocado, nuts, and olive oil.

If you clean bulk correctly, youshould be able to gain 2 – 3 pounds ofmuscle for every pound of fat.

MYTH #17

Weight training makesyou inflexible

This one has been around for awhile. Athletes were once advised not tolift weights because it would make themstiff and hurt their performance.

Well, we now know better. Sure,being a hulking brute limits your

flexibility, but weight training as anactivity does not. Look at gymnasts, forexample. They push around some seriousweights and are extremely flexible.

The reality is that weight trainingwith proper form actually increasesflexibility because you’re repeatedlymoving muscles, joints, and ligamentsthrough their full range of motion. In fact,some exercises provide deep stretchesthat are hard to beat, such as theDumbbell Fly and Dumbbell Pullover.

The following exercises are not onlygreat for muscle development, but alsoflexibility:

Quads: Sissy Squat

Hamstrings: Stiff-Legged Deadlift

Calves: Donkey Raise

Lats: Dumbbell Pull-Over

Mid-Back: Dumbbell Row

Pecs: Dumbbell Fly

Shoulders: Leaning Side Raise

Biceps: Incline Curl

Triceps: Overhead DumbbellExtension

Incorporate these into your workoutsand you’ll become more flexible.

Section Two

Cardio Myths

MYTH #18

When doing cardio,you want to get your

heart rate into the "fatburning zone"

Like much BS advice in the healthand fitness industry, this myth is given anair of scientific legitimacy.

Many cardio machines show prettygraphs indicating where your heart rateshould be for “fat burning” versus“cardiovascular training.” You calculatethis magical heart rate by subtractingyour age from 200 and multiplying thisnumber by .6. If you keep your heart rateat this number, the legend says, you’ll bein the “fat burning zone.” The (il)logicgiven for this is that by keeping yourcardio training at a low intensity, it willburn fat instead of carbs (huh?).

Well, it’s a crock. You can’t trickyour body’s complex metabolic systemby making your heart beat a certainnumber of times per minute. There is nospecial way of exercising that will get

your body to burn only fat for its energy—it will always use a combination ofglucose and glycogen (substances yourbody creates from the carbs you eat),and fat, and even a bit of muscle too.

Long, low-intensity cardio sessionstend to negatively impact muscle growthand burn relatively few calories, thusrendering them ineffective in helpingwith fat loss.

Studies such as those conducted byLaval University, East Tennessee StateUniversity, Baylor College of Medicine,and Florida State University have shownthat shorter, high-intensity sessions,however, not only cause less muscle

breakdown than low- intensity, steady-state cardio, but they burn more caloriesand stimulate more fat loss.

Therefore, I recommend doing HIITfor all cardio, and keeping your sessionsbetween 20 – 30 minutes long. Here’show it works:

• You start your workout with 2 – 3minutes of low-intensity warm-up.

• You then go all-out, as fast aspossible, for 1 minute.

• You then slow it down to a low-intensity recovery period for about1 minute.

• You repeat this cycle of all-outand recovery for 20 – 30 minutes.

• You take the last 2 – 3 minutes tocool down at a low intensity.

You can apply the HIIT style to anytype of cardio that you would normallydo. You can head outside and walk andsprint, or you can hop on the ellipticaltrainer or recumbent bike to get it done.

Give it a try next time you’replanning on losing weight. You’ll beamazed at how much more effective it is.

MYTH #19

Your body kicks intofat loss mode after 20

minutes of cardio

If you’ve been working out for awhile, you’ve probably heard this onebefore: “Your body doesn’t start tappinginto fat stores until you’ve done about 20minutes of cardio.”

This is rubbish and has no basis inscience. Your body is producing energy24 hours per day, and what matters in fatloss is the difference between total dailycalories consumed and total dailycalories burned.

If you eat less energy than youexpend by the end of the day, your bodywill burn fat to make up for this deficit.Cardio helps you shed fat by burningcalories directly, and temporarilyspeeding up your metabolism, which isknown as the “afterburn” effect ofexercise.

MYTH #20

You have to do cardioto get lean

How many people have you seen thatspend hours on the treadmill everyweek, yet never get lean?

How many people have you seen thatseem to only lift weights and never docardio who were ripped?

What gives? “Everybody knows”that cardio is required to get lean andweight lifting is just for getting biggermuscles, right?

Not exactly. First and foremost, yourbody fat percentage is determined byyour diet. Doing cardio doesn’tmagically “burn fat”—it simply burnscalories, which, if you’re eatingcorrectly, will come partially from fat. Ifyou eat too much, however, your bodywill have no reason to burn fat forenergy as it’s getting plenty from thefood you’re eating.

Weight lifting actually burns aboutthe same amount of calories per hour as

low-intensity cardio, but weight liftingburns more calories after the workoutand also builds muscle. This extramuscle burns extra calories every day.

While I recommend cardio for itsmany health benefits, if you’re willing tobe strict with your diet, you can getpretty lean by only lifting weights andnot even bothering with cardio.

Here’s how to do it: First, you needto calculate a starting point in terms ofdaily calories and then adjust as needed.As covered earlier, here’s how tocalculate your starting point:

Here’s how to calculate your startingpoint:

• Eat 1.2 grams of protein perpound of body weight per day

• Eat 1 gram of carbs per pound ofbody weight per day

• Eat 1 gram of healthy fats per 5pounds of body weight per day

That’s where you start. For a 200 lbmale, it would look like this:

• 240 grams of protein per day

• 200 grams of carbs per day

• 40 grams of fat per day

This would be about 2,120 calories

per day, which is a good starting pointfor a 200 lb guy looking to lose weight.

If, after a couple of weeks, you’renot losing 1 – 2 pounds with minimalstrength loss, then you should cut yourcalories by 200 per day and see if thatfixes it within the next two weeks. To cutthese calories, simply cut your carbs by50 grams per day. Don’t eat less proteinor fats.

If your strength takes a serious hitwhen losing weight—a drop of morethan 10% in the weight you can handle inyour exercises—then your calories aretoo low, and you’ll lose too muchmuscle if you continue. Add 200

calories in carbs per day and see if thisstabilizes your strength (it should).

MYTH #21

You shouldn't docardio when bulking

A lot of bodybuilder types bashcardio simply because they don’t likedoing it. I know because I used to be oneof them.

The reality is, however, that cardiois not only an important part of losing

fat, but of building muscle, too. I knowthat might be hard to believe, but let meexplain.

A study conducted by the Universityof Wisconsin separated thirty untrainedmen into two groups. The first groupfollowed a weight training programthree days per week, while the secondgroup did the same, plus fifty minutes ofcycling.

After ten weeks of this, it was foundthat the cycling not only didn’t impairmuscle growth or strength gains, the menthat cycled in addition to training withweights actually experienced more thighgrowth than the other group.

Another study conducted by theUniversity of Calgary found that cardiotraining decreases myostatin levels,which is a protein that limits musclegrowth.

The bottom line is cardio, whendone correctly, actually helps you buildmuscle, and it should be a regular part ofyour exercise routine, whether you’rebulking, cutting, or maintaining.

MYTH #22

You should do cardiobefore lifting weights

Doing cardio right before or afterlifting can seriously hinder muscle andstrength gains. Why?

Researchers from RMIT Universityworked with well-trained athletes in2009 and found that “combining

resistance exercise and cardio in thesame session may disrupt genes foranabolism.” In laymen’s terms, theyfound that combining endurance andresistance training sends “mixedsignals” to the muscles.

Cardio before the resistance trainingsuppressed anabolic hormones such asIGF-1 and MGF, and cardio afterresistance training increased muscletissue breakdown.

Several other studies, such as thoseconducted by Children’s NationalMedical Center, the Waikato Institute ofTechnology, and the University ofJyvaskyla (Finland), came to same

conclusions: training for both enduranceand strength simultaneously impairs yourgains on both fronts. Training purely forstrength or purely for endurance in aworkout is far superior.

Cardio before weightlifting alsosaps your energy and makes it muchharder to train heavy, which in turninhibits your muscle growth.

MYTH #23

You should warm upwith cardio before

lifting

This one always confuses me. Whywould it make sense to walk on thetreadmill for ten minutes before workingout your chest? It doesn’t. Warming upyour chest muscles before working them

out hard makes sense.

The bottom line is that warming upwith cardio before lifting is a waste oftime, and as you now know, isdetrimental to your weightlifting goals.

Before doing your first heavy setwhen lifting, warm up the muscle groupto be trained by doing 3 – 5 light sets(50% of your “heavy” weight) of thefirst exercise, with about a minute of restin between each. This warms up themuscles, ligaments, and tendons andprepares them for the heavy loads thatyou’re going to subject them to.

MYTH #24

Sweating more duringcardio burns more fat

Many people still don heavy sweatsuits or plastic suits while doing theircardio workouts. The idea is that bymaking yourself sweat more, you’ll burnmore calories.

This has no basis in science. More

sweating doesn’t mean more fat loss.Any extra weight you lose is simplywater, and your body will quickly gain itback once you drink some liquids.

Not only does inducing heavysweating like this not do anything interms of fat loss, it can cause severedehydration and even heat stroke. Notfun. The body also interferes with fatloss when it’s dehydrated.

The journal of Medicine in Sportsand Exercise even found that colderenvironments cause the body to burnmore calories than warm environments(according to one study, 13% morecalories are burned).

Section Three

Diet & NutritionMyths

MYTH #25

Exercising on anempty stomach is the

best way to lose weight

Many people wake up andimmediately work out in order to burnmore fat.

Calling this one a flat-out “myth” is a

bit unfair because it’s true that the bodywill tap into fat stores quicker when it’sbeen without food for many hours. Theother half of the story, however, is thatwhen you haven’t eaten for severalhours, your body enters a state of“catabolism” wherein it begins to breakdown muscle tissue for energy.

If you go do cardio or weight liftingwhen your body is in this catabolic state,you’ll burn fat, but you’ll also acceleratethe muscle loss. For this reason, youshouldn’t do it.

If you train shortly after you wakeup, make sure you have a protein shake(I recommend whey, as it’s absorbed

quickly) right when you get out of bed tohalt the catabolic cycle that your bodyhas entered while sleeping. If I’m lifting,I also like to eat about 25 grams of carbsbefore training to help fuel my workout.

MYTH #26

Fruit juice is good foryou

While most fruits are healthy snacksthat don’t spike your blood sugar levels,fruit juices are another story. Juices andsmoothies that you buy in the store arealmost all full of added sugar—someeven having hundreds of grams of carbsper bottle, which is crazy.

Even if you make your own fruitjuice, you remove the flesh of the fruit,which slows the digestion of the sweetsugars that make the juice taste good.

In many cases, drinking a glass offruit juice is no better for your body thanmixing a few cubes of sugar in water anddrinking it.

Stick to whole fruits and drink waterinstead.

MYTH #27

The body can onlydigest 30 grams ofprotein per sitting

Many different numbers are used inthis myth. Some sources say 50 grams isthe max while others say 60 and stillothers still claim 20.

Who’s right? Here’s the bottom line:Science has not given any conclusiveanswer on the subject. Everyone’s bodyis different. I highly doubt that an NFLlinebacker’s body deals with protein thesame way as a computer programmer’s120 lb body.

To make a long story short, studieshave shown that it’s safe to assume thatyour body can absorb 60 – 80 grams ofprotein in one sitting. That doesn’t meanyou have to eat that much, of course, butyour body shouldn’t have a problemwith up to that amount.

It’s a good idea to spread your dailyprotein requirement over 4 – 6 meals

throughout the day. This keeps your bodyanabolic (a state wherein it growsmuscle and other tissues) and ensuresthere’s a steady stream of amino acids inthe blood for cellular repair.

MYTH #28

I won't have to watchwhat I eat if I exercise

a lot

Oh, how I wish this were true. Iwould plan epic feasts multiple days perweek and just lift extra hard those days.

The truth is that how you eat

determines 70 – 80% of how you look. Ifyou eat like crap, you’re going to looklike crap. End of story. How manypeople have you seen that work out dailyand have little to show for it because ofa coat of flab? The sad thing is that manyof them could look awesome if theywere willing to fix how they ate.

Unfortunately, you can’t ever out-exercise poor eating habits. You simplycan’t burn enough calories throughexercise to do it. The handful of cookiesyou ate for dessert requires a couplehours on the treadmill to offset. Andwhat about the pizza you ate before thecookies? Forget it—there’s another fourhours or so.

The bottom line is if you don’tfollow an eating plan and know howmany calories you’re eating every dayand why, and if you don’t get thosecalories from high-quality sources offood, you’ll never achieve the type ofbody that you dream of.

It’s okay to indulge now and again,but it needs to be the exception, not therule. When dieting to lose weight, I dono more than one cheat meal per week,and I usually do one every two weeks.That means that every meal I eat isplanned in terms of calories and, as I’mcutting, is small.

When bulking, I do no more than two

cheat meals per week. And I don’t gocrazy during these meals, either. I’llusually keep them to about 50 – 100%more calories than I would’ve normallyeaten, and I stay away from sugar.

MYTH #29

Don't eat at night ifyou want to lose

weight

This is silly advice. Losing weightrequires that you consume less energy(calories) than you expend. Meal timinghas little bearing on this.

If you overeat during the day, eatingnothing after dinner won’t help you.Weight loss is such a precise activitythat if you eat too much for breakfast(and follow your meal plan for the restof the day), you can fail to lose weightthat day.

So, instead of toughing it out forhours and hours with no food at night,plan your meals so you can eat everyfew hours and, by the end of the day,have enough of a calorie deficit to loseweight.

It’s also important when dieting tolose weight to not eat carbs withinseveral hours of going to bed. This

advice has been kicking around thehealth and fitness world for quite sometime, but usually with the wrongexplanation.

There’s no scientific evidence thateating carbs at night or before bed willlead to gaining fat, but it can hinder fatloss. How?

The insulin created by the body toprocess and absorb carbs eaten stops theuse of fat as an energy source. Your bodynaturally burns the most fat whilesleeping, and so going to sleep withelevated insulin levels interferes with fatloss.

Related to this is the fact that studies

have indicated that the production andprocessing of insulin interferes with theproduction and processing of growthhormone, which has powerful fat-burning properties. Your body naturallyproduces the vast majority of its growthhormone while sleeping, so again, ifyour body is flushed with insulin whenyou go to sleep, your growth hormoneproduction will suffer, which in turnrobs you of its fat-burning and muscle-building benefits.

So, as a general rule, when you’retrying to lose weight, don’t eat any carbswithin 4 – 5 hours of bedtime. Youshould only consume lean proteins afterdinner.

MYTH #30

Stay away from eggyolks

Bodybuilders are known forconsuming ridiculous quantities of eggwhites. I’ve known guys that ate as manyas 30 per day when cutting (and not asingle yolk).

The reason often cited for leaving

out the yolk is that the fat it contains willraise cholesterol levels. This is untrue.According to a study done by theUniversity of Connecticut, the fat in anegg yolk actually reduces LDL levels(LDL is the “bad” cholesterol).

The yolk is actually healthy. Itcontains half of the protein and most ofthe vitamins and minerals of an egg, andit actually helps with the digestion andabsorption of the protein in the white.

If someone has high cholesterollevels, they should get in shape insteadof throwing out the yolks.

If you’re cutting and have to be verystrict with your calories, I’d recommend

that you try to do one whole egg forevery two egg whites that you eat.

If you like to use egg-white proteinsupplements (like me—too much wheybloats me and saps my energy), Irecommend the brand “Healthy ‘N Fit.”Their “100% egg protein” productscontain additional amino acids andnatural enzymes to help with digestionand absorption, and they don’t use anyartificial sweeteners, colors, orpreservatives.

MYTH #31

Eating fats makes youfat

This is a very destructive mythbecause eating healthy fats is actually animportant part of losing weight andmaintaining general good health.

It’s been exploited by fad diets for acouple decades now and many of these

programs have people slamming downsugar-laden products under the falseassumption that because they’re fat-free,they won’t cause any weight gain. Thisfallacy has significantly contributed tothe obesity epidemic in the US.

Fats are the densest energy sourcesavailable to your body. Each gram of fatcontains over twice the calories of agram of carbohydrate or protein. Healthyfats, such as those found in olive oil,avocados, flax seed oil, many nuts, andother foods, are actually an importantcomponent to overall health. Fats helpyour body absorb the other nutrients thatyou give it, nourish the nervous system,help maintain cell structures, regulate

hormone levels, and more.

Saturated fat is a form of fat foundmainly in animal products such as meat,dairy products, and egg yolks. Someplant foods, such as coconut oil, palmoil, and palm kernel oil, are also high insaturated fats. While it’s commonlybelieved that eating saturated fat harmsyour health, the opposite is actually true.Recent studies have shown that includingsaturated fats in your diet can reduceyour risk of heart disease.

Trans fat is a scientifically modifiedform of saturated fat that has beenengineered to give foods longer shelflives. Many cheap, packaged foods are

full of trans fat (such as run-of-the-millpopcorn, yogurt, and peanut butter), asare many frozen foods (such as frozenpizza, packaged pastries, cakes, etc.).Fried foods are often cooked in trans fat.This type of fat is bad news, and eatingtoo much of it can lead to all kinds ofdisease and complications. It has nonutritional value for the body and thusshould be avoided altogether.

So, you should strive to eat healthyfats every day. A little bit of saturated fateach day is okay, too. Stay away fromtrans fats completely.

MYTH #32

Don't drink waterwhile eating because it

interferes withdigestion

This has no basis in science and iscompletely false. Drinking while eatingdoesn’t interfere with digestion and

absorption of nutrients in any way.

In fact, water helps carry the food toyour stomach and it’s a vital componentof digestion, helping break the fooddown. So drink away.

MYTH #33

Diet sodas are goodfor dieting

Many people drink diet sodas to cutdown on their sugar intake and thus thenumber of calories eaten each day.Theoretically, this should help withweight loss. But that’s not how it pansout.

According to a study done by theUniversity of Texas, diet soda drinkersgained nearly the same amount of weightas regular soda drinkers. How could thisbe?

A couple reasons were identified.Studies on mice showed that theartificial sweeteners used in the dietsodas caused almost the same insulinreaction as sugar. This insulin spike andcrash leaves people feeling hungry andirritable, which leads to overeating.

People also felt they could eat morebecause they had diet soda, thus losingthe benefit of calorie savings.

MYTH #34

Salt is bad for you

Salt has gotten a pretty bad rap overthe years. It’s blamed for high bloodpressure, heart attacks and stroke, waterretention, and other health nightmares.

On the other hand, salt is a vitalnutrient that helps regulate bloodpressure (too much is as bad for yourblood pressure as too little), helps the

nervous system do its job, helps musclescontract properly, and more.

What is salt, exactly? It’s acombination of two electrolytes(substances that conduct electricalcurrents): sodium and chloride.

The Institute of Medicinerecommends 1,500 milligrams of sodiumper day as the adequate intake level formost adults (less than one teaspoon perday). According to the CDC, the averageAmerican aged 2 and up eats 3,436milligrams of sodium per day.

Too much sodium intake causeswater retention (which gives you thatpuffy, soft look) and it can lead to high

blood pressure and heart disease.

Too little sodium in your body canlead to nausea, lethargy, dizziness,vomiting, and other health problems.

Frozen and canned foods are full ofsodium, as are cured meats like baconand sausage (one slice of bacon has1,000 milligrams of sodium!).

When you add salt to foods, Irecommend sea salt or Himalayan rocksalt (sounds like fancy BS, but it’sactually great stuff) because it has manynaturally occurring minerals, while run-of-the-mill table salt has been“chemically cleaned” to remove“impurities,” which includes these vital

elements.

It’s also important to ensure yourbody gets enough potassium. Potassiumhelps balance sodium levels by pumpingit out of the cells. A goodpotassium/sodium intake ratio is one-to-two, and some good natural sources ofpotassium are bananas, avocados, fish,and beans. You can also buy potassiumtablets that you can take as a supplement.

MYTH #35

Certain foods have"negative calories"

This one has been around for a whileand it goes like this: Certain foods, suchas celery, spinach, asparagus, cabbage,and apples, require more energy todigest than they contain in calories—thus, they are said to have “negativecalories.”

Many people then believe that youcan lose weight by eating a lot of thesefoods because they make your bodyconstantly work to digest them.

While this sounds good, it’s not true.All foods have more calories than theyrequire to digest. You could theoreticallygain weight eating lettuce if you couldfigure out how to eat thousands ofcalories of it every day.

Instead of thinking of certain foodsas having “negative” calories, think ofthem as “free” foods. That is, you caneat as much of them as you want withouthaving to worry about gaining weight.Examples of free foods are asparagus,

broccoli, cauliflower, cucumber,spinach, and lettuce.

MYTH #36

I don't need to countcalories if I watch my

portions

I don’t know how many people I’veconsulted who wanted to lose weight butdidn’t want to have to count calories.This statement is about as logical assaying that they want to drive across the

country but don’t want to have to payattention to their gas tank.

Now, I won’t be too hard on thembecause they didn’t even know what acalorie was, and they just didn’t want tobe bothered with having to countsomething. Well, whether you want tocall it “counting” calories or whateverelse, in order to lose weight, you have toregulate food intake.

In order to lose fat, you must keepyour body burning more energy thanyou’re feeding it, and the energypotential of food is measured incalories. Eat too many calories—giveyour body more potential energy than it

needs—and it has no incentive to burnfat.

What people are actually objectingto with counting calories is trying tofigure out what to eat while on the runevery day or what to buy when rushingthrough the grocery store. When theyhave a 30-minute window for lunch andrun to the nearest restaurant, they don’twant to have to analyze the menu tofigure out calories. They just ordersomething that sounds healthy and hopefor the best. But, little do they know thattheir quick, “healthy” meal has hundredsof more calories than they should’veeaten. Repeat that for dinner, and a dayof weight loss progress is totally lost.

Well, that’s the problem—not“having to counting calories.” They aremaking it unnecessarily hard by failingto plan and prepare meals. It might seemeasier to just heat up a big plate ofleftovers or grab Chipotle for lunch andcarry on with your day, but thatconvenience comes with a price: little orno weight loss.

I recommend that you buy a foodscale if you’re new to dieting becauseyou need to be very precise with yourportions. The good thing is that mostpeople eat only 15 – 20 different foodson a regular basis, so you’ll find it easyto learn the numbers for your foods.

After weighing things out for a fewweeks, you should be able to start “eye-balling” portions because you’ll knowwhat contains what.

This might sound really annoying,but it’s not a big deal once you get thehang of it. It also helps to know that it’sgoing to ensure you can achieve yourfitness goals.

MYTH #37

Eating a lot of proteinis bad for your kidneys

This myth causes many people to eattoo little protein, which causes manyadverse effects in the body such asmuscle atrophy, fluid retention, anemia,and fatigue.

The idea that protein is somehow

bad for the body is downright ludicrous.How did we survive before we farmedgrains? We ate meat, berries, and leafygreens (the “Paleo” diet is based on justthat).

The body needs protein for manyfunctions. It is used to make muscle, hair,nails, skin, and other tissues.Hemoglobin, which carries oxygen, is aprotein in our blood that gives it its redcolor when oxygenated. Antibodies,which fight off disease, are composed ofproteins. Certain hormones are madefrom amino acids (the substances thatproteins are made up of), and theyregulate many systems in the bodyincluding metabolism, digestion, and

nutrient absorption. There are quite afew more vital bodily functions thatrequire protein, but you get the idea.

Protein is even more important forathletes because their bodies requiremore for the large amount of tissuerepair that is constantly required.

Science has shown that high-proteindiets are usually fine for healthy adults.Studies have also shown that high-protein diets are not only great for losingweight, but also go far in helping peoplekeep the weight off.

The body has no way to store proteinlike it does excess carbs (by creatingfat), so it must be consumed regularly.

How regularly and how much should yoube eating, though?

Most experts agree that athletesshould be eating about 1 gram of proteinper pound of body weight per day.People who don’t exercise need abouthalf of that amount.

The only caveat I know of regardinghigh-protein diets is that you must eat abalanced diet. If you eat a lot of proteinand too few vegetables and healthy fats,your body can have a tough timedigesting the protein (vegetables providevital enzymes and phytonutrients thathelp with the digestion and absorption ofproteins).

In the studies I’ve seen that “linked”kidney and other health problems withprotein, the people chosen for the studieswere eating processed, low-qualitymeats, were eating little-to-novegetables, and weren’t exercising.Many were also overweight andgenerally inactive. To blame their healthissues on protein is absurd.

I guarantee you that no study willever be able to “prove” that a diet oflean, high-quality proteins, freshvegetables, fruits, and few grains leadsto health problems.

That being said, if you have any pre-existing health condition, such as kidney

disease, check with your physicianbefore following any advice in thisbook, as your body might have problemsdisposing of the waste productsproduced by the digestion of protein.

MYTH #38

Most carbs are bad

The carbohydrate is probably themost misunderstood, maligned, andfeared macro-nutrient. Thanks to thescores of bogus diet plans andsuggestions out there, many peopleequate eating carbs with getting fat.While eating TOO MANY carbs canmake you fat (just as eating too muchprotein or fat can), carbs are hardly your

enemy. They play an essential role in notonly muscle growth but in overall bodyfunction.

Regardless of what type ofcarbohydrate you eat—broccoli or applepie—the body breaks it down into twosubstances: glucose and glycogen.Glucose is commonly referred to as“blood sugar,” and it’s an energy sourceused by your cells to do the many thingsthey do. Glycogen is a substance storedin the liver and muscles that can beeasily converted to glucose forimmediate energy. When you lift weightsintensely, your muscles burn up theirglycogen stores to cope with theoverload.

Now, why is broccoli good for youbut apple pie isn’t? Because your bodyreacts very differently to broccoli than toapple pie. You’ve probably heard theterms “simple” and “complex” carbsbefore and wondered what they meant.You might have also heard of theglycemic index and wondered what itwas all about.

These things are actually prettysimple. The glycemic index is a numericsystem of ranking how quicklycarbohydrates are converted intoglucose in the body. Carbs are ranked ona scale of 0 to 100 depending how theyaffect blood sugar levels once eaten. AGI rating of 55 and under is considered

“low GI,” 56 to 69 is medium, and 70and above is high on the index. A“simple” carb is one that converts veryquickly (is high on the glycemic index),such as table sugar, honey, andwatermelon, while a “complex” carb isone that converts slowly (is low on theglycemic index), such as broccoli,apple, and whole-grain bread.

It’s very important to know wherethe carbs you eat fall on the index,because studies have linked regularconsumption of high-GI carbs toincreased risk for heart disease,diabetes, and obesity.

The simple carbohydrate does have

one use for athletes, however: the post-workout meal. When you finish training,your body is in a highly anabolic state,and it will absorb glucose, glycogen,and amino acids at a higher rate thannormal. However, if you waste thiswindow and don’t feed your body, youcan actually halt muscle growth.

Therefore, it’s vitally important toeat immediately after training (within 30– 60 minutes of finishing) and to eat asubstantial amount of medium-to-high GIcarbs (70+ on the index) and a normalserving of protein. Many peoplerecommend sugary products likeGatorade and even candy, but I preferhealthier sources of carbs such as rice

milk, bananas, and instant oatmeal.

All other carbs you eat should be inthe middle or at the low end of theglycemic index (60 and below is a goodrule of thumb). It really is that simple. Ifyou follow this rule, you’ll avoid somany problems that others suffer fromdue to the energy highs and lows thatcome with eating high-GI carbs that burnthe body out.

Pretty much all vegetables are verylow-GI. Many fruits, including apples,peaches, pears, plums, strawberries, andoranges, are low-GI. Certain types ofbread and pasta are okay, such as heavy,wholegrain, sourdough, or mixed-grain

bread, and whole wheat pasta. Sweetpotatoes and yams are great-tasting,low-GI carbs. Brown rice is much betterthan white, and barley is also very lowon the glycemic index.

Forget stuff like sugar, white bread,processed, low-quality whole wheatbread, bagels, junk cereals, muffins,white pasta, crackers, waffles, ricecakes, corn flakes, and white rice. Iwouldn’t even recommend eating thesethings often as pre- or post-workoutcarbs because they’re just not good foryour body.

Even certain fruits, such aswatermelon and dates, are bad snack

foods because of where they fall on theglycemic index. If you’re unsure about acarb you like, look it up to see where itfalls on the glycemic index. If it’s above60, just leave it out of your meals thataren’t immediately before or afterworking out.

MYTH #39

One cheat day perweek is okay

Most diets give you one day perweek to “cheat.” The idea is to give youa break from the strict eating and let youindulge a bit. Studies have also shownthat a sudden increase in calories whenyou’re on a restrictive diet can actuallyspeed up your metabolism.

Here’s the problem with cheat days:Many people gorge themselves on theircheat days, negating everything they haveworked for during the week. If yousuccessfully maintained a 500-caloriedeficit for six days and then over-ate by3,000 calories on the seventh day, you’llhave undone some of your work (notnecessarily all, as your body might beable to burn off some of the excess).

So don’t think cheat DAYS, thinkcheat MEALS—meals where you eatmore or less anything you want (and allother meals of the week follow yourmeal plan). When done once or twiceper week, a cheat meal is not onlysatisfying, but it can also actually speed

up your metabolic rate. Scientists aren’tsure why, but it might have something todo with a similar aspect of musclegrowth—overload. By “overloading”your metabolism occasionally, you makeit work extra hard, and it always has tobe ready to handle a large influx ofcalories.

I would recommend, however, thatyou don’t go too overboard with yourcheat meals—don’t eat 2,000 calories ofjunk food and desserts and think it won’tdo any harm.

How many cheat meals you shouldeat per week depends on what you’retrying to accomplish. When you’re eating

to grow and aren’t necessarily worriedabout gaining some body fat (which isjust a part of the game of bulking), twoor three cheat meals per week is totallyfine. When you’re trying to lose weight,you really want to stick with one perweek, and you want it to be a moderateone.

MYTH #40

Meal timing doesn'tmatter

Many people think that when they eatisn’t important. They believe that as longas they eat the right number of caloriesand the proper amounts of protein, carbs,and fats by the end of the day, they’ll beable to build muscle or lose fat.

While it’s true that if you eat toomuch you’ll be unable to lose fat and ifyou eat too little you’ll be unable tobuild muscle, meal timing is veryimportant. That is, when you eat whatmatters a great deal.

Probably the worst thing you can do,whether you’re trying to lose fat or buildmuscle, is to miss meals and go for 5 – 7hours without food. By making yourbody go for many hours without food,you cause it to break down muscle forenergy.

Here are the basics of proper mealtiming:

1. You should eat 4 – 6 meals per

day, starting with a meal directlyafter you wake up in the morning.You should be eating every 3 – 4hours, as studies have shown thatthe body’s anabolic response toprotein lasts for about five hours.

2. You should eat protein withevery meal to ensure there arealways adequate amino acids in theblood stream available for tissuerepair.

3. You should eat 10 – 15% of yourdaily carbs before training, and 30– 40% after, because these are thetimes when your body can bestutilize them.

4. Never miss meals. Plan aheadeach day so you can eat every 3 – 4hours. Remember that a “meal” canbe nothing more than a scoop ofprotein powder in water and anapple.

By following these four simplesteps, you can prime your body foroptimal muscle growth and fat loss.

Section Four

Supplement Myths

MYTH #41

Steroids make youlook awesome

Many people are quick to chalk up aguy’s great physique to steroids. “Whocares, he’s obviously on steroids,” theysay. The mystique of steroids lies in thefalse belief that you take them andmagically transform into a Greek god. Itisn’t that simple.

Steroids are certainly effective, andthere are certain levels of muscle sizeand density that you just can’t reachwithout them, but they are far fromwonder drugs.

First, what are they, exactly?Anabolic steroids are synthetichormones that resemble testosterone andthus trigger muscle growth (and manyother reactions).

The truth is that steroids do workincredibly well. They enable you tobuild muscle and burn fat very quickly.They speed muscle recovery anddramatically increase strength. Butthey’re also illegal—just possessing

them is a felony offense here in the U.S.

But the illegality of steroids isn’t theonly reason you should stay away fromthem. First, they don’t guarantee anythingin terms of obtaining a great physique. Ittakes a lot more than out-of-controlmuscle growth and webs of slitheringveins to look good. Many guys havehorrendously unattractive bodies thanksto steroids (bulging stomachs, severeacne, and an overall puffy, bloated lookare common side effects).

Not only that, but steroid useincreases your risk of injury becauseyour muscle strength outpaces thedevelopment of your supporting tendons

and ligaments. So, while it may feel likeyour chest, arm, and shoulder musclescan handle that massive Bench Press, atendon or ligament might tear under thestrain.

Another reason to stay away fromsteroids is that if you don’t know exactlywhat you’re doing in terms of what drugsto take together and in what dosageswhile you’re “on,” and also what to takewhen you’re off (post-cycle therapy),you can cause serious and evenpermanent damage to your endocrinesystem. Many guys have ruined theirbody’s natural balance of hormones andsuffer the consequences, which includes“man boobs” (gynecomastia), hair loss,

testicular atrophy, prostate enlargement,and other emasculating consequences.

Last but not least, I believe youshouldn’t do steroids because they’rejust not necessary to look great. Manypeople have thought I’m on steroids overthe years, which was a nice complimentconsidering the fact that I’ve never donea single performance-enhancing drug.

Through proper dieting and training,you can not only reach your fitness andaesthetic goals, you can also do ithealthily and with longevity. Many‘roiders are going to wish they hadn’tturned to the dark side when they’re intheir 50s and suffering from grim health

complications (one guy I know was a bigdrugger in the 70s, and now he can’t getan erection anymore—not worth it!).

MYTH #42

Store-boughttest/HGH boosters

work

The marketing of these types ofproducts sounds so alluring. They aremade to sound like legal steroids. Butthey’re not. They’re frauds.

No combination of herbs andextracts will ever come close to theeffectiveness of anabolic steroids. Manyof these products cite “scientific”studies that “prove” their power…butthis is always BS.

The bottom line with test/HGHboosters is that if one actually works, itcontains drugs that will soon be bannedby the FDA and thus made worthless. Ifthe FDA approves all the ingredients, itmost definitely does nothing. Save yourmoney on these scam products and investit instead in high-quality food.

The supplements that I dorecommend (because of the actual

scientific proof of their effectiveness)are glutamine, creatine, protein powder(not necessary per se, but helpful inmeeting daily protein requirements), andmulti-vitamin supplements. Thesesupplements are nowhere near aspowerful as steroids, of course, but theyare natural, safe, and healthysupplements that can improve yourstrength, muscle growth, and recovery.

MYTH #43

Fat burners get youripped

Most fat burners are more or less thesame. The common ingredients arecaffeine, green tea, B-vitamins,yohimbine, taurine, and guarana. Whilethey do speed up your metabolism, it’snot by much—you can expect a 3 – 5%increase in your metabolic rate from an

effective fat burner.

To put this into perspective, a 200 lbmale body burns about 2,100 calories ina day with no physical activitywhatsoever (known as your BasalMetabolic Rate, or BMR). A good fatburner would bump this up a mere 100calories or so—very negligible whenyou consider the fact that a pound of fathas about 3,500 calories.

A bigger benefit of fat burners is theappetite suppression effect and theenergy kick. These effects are verywelcome when you’re on an extremelystrict diet and you need to get in a dailyworkout.

Remember that weight loss requiresa daily calorie deficit—there’s just nogetting around it. Fat burners can help alittle, but they will never burn the fataway.

MYTH #44

Creatine is hard on thekidneys

There’s no science behind this claim.As long as you’re generally healthy andare willing to stay well-hydratedthroughout the day, there’s no reasonwhy you shouldn’t supplement withcreatine.

It’s a naturally occurring substancethat is found in red meat, and it increasesthe amount of energy that is available tothe cells. This has resulted in 5 – 10%increases in strength in studies ofathletes. This improved strength leads toheavier lifting, which, in turn, leads tomore muscle growth (nutrition andrecovery permitting). Creatine alsohelps with muscle recovery, enablingyou to train harder and more often.

Its safety and effectiveness has beenconfirmed by hundreds of medicalstudies, so it’s one of the few valuablesupplements that you can buy at yourlocal GNC. If you have a pre-existingkidney condition, however, consult your

physician before taking creatine.

MYTH #45

Protein bars are agood snack

I’ll admit that most protein bars arebetter snacks than Snickers bars, butthat’s not saying much.

The problem with most protein barsis they contain a large amount of junkcarbs, such as sugar and high fructose

corn syrup, and not much protein. Also,you never quite know what you’regetting in terms of nutritional contents.Over the years, many supplementcompanies have been busted for lyingabout the actual amount of protein intheir powders and other products (somewere even “cutting” their powders withflour!).

If you simply can’t get to somewhole food, or at least a shake and pieceof fruit, then do a protein bar—it’s betterthan missing a meal. And try to pick onethat is made from actual foods such asoats and nuts, and that has whey protein.But don’t rely on protein bars regularly.

Section Five

Lifestyle Myths

MYTH #46

Stress and cortisolmake you gain weight

The “stress hormone” cortisol is afavorite scapegoat of the pseudo-scientific weight-loss pill pushers. Themarketing pitch is that when your body isstressed, it releases cortisol. This causesyour body to become bloated and tostore fat, especially in the belly area.

Therefore, if you simply take some pillsthat block cortisol production orabsorption, you can lose weight withoutchanging how you eat or exercising.

It sounds enticing, but it’s bogus.

Cortisol, like every other hormone inthe body, has a specific purpose, whichincludes regulating the energy levels ofthe body. It does this by moving energyfrom fat stores to tissues that need it and,when the body is under stress, byproviding protein for conversion intoenergy.

Cortisol levels rise when the body isunder stress due to things like veryrestrictive eating, weight lifting,

traveling, getting angry, and so on. Thisisn’t bad—it’s just how the body works.

Cortisol can increase the amount offat stored in the abdominal area, but youhave to provide your body with excesscalories to store. Cortisol can’tmagically create fat if the body doesn’thave the additional calories needed toform it.

Cortisol does increase your appetite,however, so this is how the dwindlingspiral of stress and weight gain goes.You get stressed out, your cortisol levelsrise, you over-eat to feel better, and yourbody tends to store this fat in your bellyarea. Drinking alcohol when you’re

stressed leads to even more cortisolproduction.

So, as you can see, there is value inkeeping your cortisol levels low. Itdoesn’t require that you take cortisolsuppressors though. Taking Vitamin Cand glutamine every day helps reducecortisol levels. More importantly,though, you should try to remove thecauses of stress in your life. Simplestress busters are getting enough sleep,eating healthily, and exercising regularly.You might be surprised how far thesesimple actions go in making you feelgood.

MYTH #47

Sleep isn't thatimportant

Many people work long hours andcut down on their sleep to make extratime for themselves at night. While Itotally understand this and have done itmany times myself, it’s not a good habitto get into (and don’t think that you canjust “make up” the lost sleep by sleeping

in on the weekends—it takes moreadditional sleep than you might think tohandle your “sleep debts”).

Not getting enough sleep has beenscientifically linked to many health andperformance problems, such as obesity,depression, memory loss, fatigue, and aninability to concentrate.

You see, when your body is asleep,it’s very busy repairing tissue andproducing hormones (the majority ofgrowth hormone is created duringsleep). These functions are especiallyimportant to an athlete who is subjectinghis or her body to increased levels ofstress every day through exercise.

Scientific studies have shown thatadults should sleep 6 – 12 hours pernight.

Oh and don’t worry about the whole“before or after midnight” thing. There isno scientific evidence that sleep hoursafter midnight are less beneficial thanthose before midnight, or that you shouldget to bed before midnight for propersleep.

MYTH #48

I don't have thetime/opportunity to

diet and exercise

This is always a problem of priority,not of time or work or anything else.

Consider this: If you eat and trainproperly, you can make great gains with

2 – 3 hours of exercise per week, andyou’d never need more than 5 – 6 hoursper week. Just about anybody can figureout how to steal 2 – 6 hours per weekfor their health.

Fitting in cardio workouts isespecially easy because you don’t needa gym or more than 20 – 30 minutes oftime, 3 – 4 days per week (if you want tolearn more about this, check out my bookCardio Sucks! The Simple Science ofBurning Fat Fast and Getting inShape).

Fitting weight training into a verybusy schedule is a bit tougher. If youwant to lift weights and are really

crunched for time, I recommend that youdo a 3-day “Push-Pull Legs” routine.Here’s how it works:

Day One—Pull

Deadlifts—5 sets x 5 reps

Rows (barbell, dumbbell, or t-bar)—5sets x 5 reps

Weighted Pull-ups—5 sets x 5 reps

Day Two—Push

Flat or incline Barbell or DumbbellPress—5 sets x 5 reps

Military Press—5 sets x 5 reps

Weighted Dip or Close-Grip BenchPress—5 sets x 5 reps

Day Three—Legs

Barbell Squat—5 sets x 5 reps

Leg Press—5 sets x 5 reps

Standing or Seated Calf Raise—3 sets x10 – 12 reps

If you rest for 2 – 3 minutes inbetween sets, you should be able tofinish these workouts in about an hour.

This type of routine has endured fordecades because it works—it worksevery major muscle group in the bodyand relies on heavy, compoundmovements (movements that engagemultiple muscle groups) to producemaximum strength and size gains.

Regarding your workout schedule,plan your times and stick to them. Iprefer to train first thing in the morningbefore work because I have more energyfor training and also enjoy higher energylevels throughout the day, and nothingcan interfere with my plans at 7 am.

Regarding sticking to a diet whenyour life is hectic, it’s actually easier

than you might think. Pick one or twodays per week, cook the meals you needfor the next week, and store them inTupperware in the fridge. Then you justbring your daily meals to work (orwherever) and keep them refrigerated.You can also work foods into your dietthat don’t require preparation, such aslow-fat yogurt, low-fat cottage cheese,nuts, packaged tuna, and fruit.

If you’d like to know a bunch ofdelicious foods that you cook for bothcutting and bulking, check out mycookbook The Shredded Chef: Recipesfor Getting Ripped and Healthy.

MYTH #49

Alcohol doesn't affectmuscle growth or fat

loss

Yes, it certainly does. In fact,drinking alcohol is one of the mosteffective ways to halt muscle growth andfat loss. Why?

First, alcohol is very calorie dense,with between 25 – 100 calories perounce, and it provides no nutritionalvalue. To make matters worse, whenalcohol is in the system, the body willburn it for energy over fat, stopping fatloss. I’ll repeat this point: If alcohol isin your system, your body will not burnfat for energy until the alcohol has beenburned off. Studies have shown that thiscan take up to twelve hours.

The body also tends to store excesscalories from alcohol as visceral fat,which is fat that encases your organs.That’s where the “beer belly” comesfrom. Visceral fat is harder to lose thansubcutaneous fat, which is the fat in

between your muscles and your skin.

Alcohol stimulates the appetite,which often leads to over-eating (andover-drinking). And what kinds of fooddo watering holes provide? Fatty,processed, junk like pizza, chickenwings, hamburgers, etc. I’m not done yetthough. The case against alcohol is stillbuilding.

Studies show that alcohol suppressestestosterone production in the body,which leads to less muscle growth andmore fat storage.

Last but not least, alcohol impairsyour strength and endurance. If you havejust a few alcoholic beverages at night,

your workout the next day will suffer.This effect can last up to 48 hours,which means that two nights of evenmild to moderate drinking can ruin fourtraining days that week.

If you can’t give up alcohol, Irecommend that you pick one day perweek (ideally one where you don’t trainthe following day) and limit yourself totwo drinks. Don’t drink the sugary mixeddrinks.

But the bottom line is that if youwant to get the most from your hardwork in the gym and discipline with yourdiet, stay away from alcohol altogether.

MYTH #50

I'm overweightbecause I have a slow

metabolism

I don’t know how many times I’veheard an overweight person chalk up hisor her condition to a “slow metabolism.”It’s an easy excuse, really. If a diet orexercise routine failed, it’s not that he or

she did it wrong, it’s just that dang slowmetabolism.

Well, the fact is, almost everyonethat leans on this old crutch is wrong. Isay almost everyone because somepeople actually do have an under-producing thyroid, which can causeweight gain and prevent weight loss.Other symptoms of a low-functioningthyroid are depression, sleepiness andfatigue, loss of sex drive, constipation,hair loss, and more. If you suspect thatyou might have a thyroid problem, youshould see a doctor to get your hormonelevels checked.

Most people that “can’t lose weight

due to a slow metabolism” haveperfectly functioning thyroids and theirmetabolism is more than adequate forweight loss.

The biggest problem these peoplehave, in my experience, is that they’rehorrible at estimating how manycalories they’re actually eating. I’veknown overweight people “on a diet”whose lunches were (literally) 1,000-calorie salads thanks to cheese, croutonsor other crunchies, eggs, and massivedollops of creamy dressing. Yet theydidn’t see it like that—they thought theywere being good because “it’s a salad.”

People that underestimate the amount

of food they eat also tend tooverestimate the amount of energy theyexpend. They think that a 30-minutestroll on the treadmill can undo the plateof pasta they ate for dinner.

Now, before I go any further, I wantto make sure that we’re on the same pagein terms of what is meant by ametabolism “speeding up” or “slowingdown.”

Your body burns a certain number ofcalories regardless of any physicalactivity, and this is called your basalmetabolic rate. Your total caloricexpenditure for a day would be yourBMR plus the energy expended during

any physical activities.

When your metabolism is said to“speed up” or “slow down,” what isactually meant is that your basalmetabolic rate goes up or goes down.That is, your body burns more calorieswhile at rest (allowing you to eat morecalories without putting on fat) or burnsless (making it easier to eat too muchand gain fat).

Scientific studies have shown thatpeople with naturally “fast” metabolismshave BMRs that are only about 10 –15% higher than people considered tohave “slow” metabolisms. When yourBMR slows down due to restricting your

calories when dieting to lose weight, itonly slows down by about 10%.

“How can so-and-so eat nothing butpizza and ice cream and never gainweight, then?” you might be thinking. Ican guarantee you that this persondoesn’t eat nearly as much junk food asyou might think. Or he or she somehowburns thousands of calories every day(Michael Phelps eats over 10,000calories per day because he needs theenergy for his hours of daily training.)

Nobody has a metabolism so fast thatthey can do no exercise and eatthousands of calories day in and day outwithout gaining weight.

Now, if you want to speed up yourmetabolism, the best way to do it isbuild some muscle because it burnsmore calories than fat (which is the otherbig disadvantage of being overweight—fat costs your body very little energy tomaintain).

BONUS REPORT

Finally! Escape the Horrors

of “Dieting” and BuildMuscle or Lose Fat by

Eating Tasty, NutritiousFood!

If you want to know how to buildmuscle and burn fat by eating healthy,delicious meals that are easy to cookand easy on your wallet, then youwant to read this special report.

Do you lack confidence in thekitchen and think that you just can’tcook great food?

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Would You Do MeA Favor?

Thank you for buying my book. I’mpositive that if you just follow what I’vewritten, you will be on your way tolooking and feeling better than you everhave before.

I have a small favor to ask. Wouldyou mind taking a minute to write a blurb

on Amazon about this book? I check allmy reviews and love to get feedback(that’s the real pay for my work—knowing that I’m helping people).

Click here to leave me a review onAmazon.com

Click here to leave me a review onAmazon.co.uk

Also, if you have any friends orfamily that might enjoy this book, spread

the love and lend it to them! (Not surehow? Click here to learn how to lendyour Kindle books.)

Now, I don’t just want to sell you abook—I want to see you use whatyou’ve learned to build the body of yourdreams.

As you work toward your goals,however, you’ll probably have questionsor run into some difficulties. I’d like tobe able to help you with these, so let’sconnect up! I don’t charge for the help,of course, and I answer questions fromreaders every day.

Here’s how we can connect:

Like me onFacebook: www.facebook.com/muscleforlifefitness

Follow me onTwitter: www.twitter.com/muscleforlife

Add me onG+: www.gplus.to/muscleforlife

And last but not least, my websiteis www.muscleforlife.com and if youwant to write me, my email addressis mike@muscleforlife.com.

Thanks again, I hope to hear fromyou, and I wish you the best!

Mike

P.S. Turn to the next page to checkout other books of mine that you mightlike!

OTHER BOOKS BYMICHAEL

MATTHEWS

Bigger Leaner Stronger: The SimpleScience of Building the Ultimate Male

Body

If you want to be muscular, lean, andstrong as quickly as possible, withoutsteroids, good genetics, or wasting

ridiculous amounts of time in the gym,and money on supplements... then you

want to read this book.

Click here to view this bookon Amazon.com

Click here to view this bookon Amazon.co.uk

Thinner Leaner Stronger: The SimpleScience of Building the Ultimate

Female Body

If you want to be toned, lean, and strong

as quickly as possible without crashdieting, “good genetics,” or wasting

ridiculous amounts of time in the gymand money on supplements...regardlessof your age... then you want to read this

book.

Click here to view this bookon Amazon.com

Click here to view this bookon Amazon.co.uk

Cardio Sucks! The Simple Science ofBurning Fat Fast and Getting in

Shape

If you're short on time and sick of thesame old boring cardio routine and want

to kick your fat loss into high gear byworking out less and...heaven

forbid...actually have some fun...thenyou want to read this new book.

Click here to view this bookon Amazon.com

Click here to view this bookon Amazon.co.uk

The Shredded Chef: 120 Recipes forBuilding Muscle, Getting Lean, and

Staying Healthy

If you want to know how to foreverescape the dreadful experience of

“dieting” and learn how to cooknutritious, delicious meals that makebuilding muscle and burning fat easyand enjoyable, then you need to read

this book.

Click here to view this bookon Amazon.com

Click here to view this bookon Amazon.co.uk

Awakening Your Inner Genius

If you'd like to know what some ofhistory's greatest thinkers and achievers

can teach you about awakening yourinner genius, and how to find, follow,

and fulfill your journey to greatness,then you want to read this book today.

(I'm using a pen name for this book, aswell as for a few other projects not

related to health and fitness, but I thoughtyou might enjoy it so I'm including it

here.)

Click here to view this bookon Amazon.com

Click here to view this bookon Amazon.co.uk