Debunking 11 Muscle Growth Myths: What Science Actually Says

Building muscle is possible with a consistent routine that follows a science-backed approach. Unfortunately, the world of health and fitness can be a confusing and overwhelming place. 

You’re often presented with conflicting information that can derail your gym progress if you’re not careful. This is largely thanks to the rise of fitness influencers and companies pushing their products and supplements. In most cases, you’re left following gym routines that offer little benefit and using products that simply don’t work.

Understanding the common muscle growth myths and how to combat them is vital for making meaningful gym progress. Once you’ve got over the initial confusion, there’s no limit to what you can achieve.

In this article, we’ve broken down our top 11 most common muscle gain misconceptions. We’ve explained what the science says and provided some handy tips to grow muscle at the end of the article.

11 Muscle Growth Myths

If you want to learn the truth about building muscle, here are the 11 most common fitness myths debunked. We’ve discussed what each one is and how you can fix it. 

You Have To Lift Heavy To Build Muscle

Saying you have to lift heavy to build muscle is one of the top muscle-building lies. Whether you’re learning how to bulk or looking to drop fat and build muscle, this also applies. 

Lifting heavy is effective in building muscle and improving your strength, to a certain extent. It doesn’t always require you to lift maximum loads.

To ensure adequate muscle growth, or muscular hypertrophy, use a mixture of repetition ranges. The majority of your training should be done with moderate weights, with each set consisting of 8–12 repetitions. Some of your training can be done using 1–5 repetitions to improve your strength, but not all of it. 

A good way to gauge your intensity is to use the rating of perceived exertion (RPE) scale. This measures how hard you’re working and how many repetitions you have in reserve. This scale ranges from 1–10, with 10 being the hardest you can work, with no repetitions left.

Aim to work at an RPE of 8 for most of your training. This means that you would be able to perform an extra two repetitions at maximum.

This ensures the correct exercise technique, which is important for correct muscle engagement. It also helps build a good mind-muscle connection, which is thinking about the muscle being worked. Both are vitally important for efficient muscle growth. 

You Need To Train Every Day

Another common muscle growth myth is that training every day builds muscle faster. Within this, some people think that muscle turns into fat if you stop training. Neither of these myths is true. 

If you want to know how to gain muscle, you need to learn how to manage your training frequency. This refers to how often you train. 

Your training frequency determines the amount of rest you get. This means that there’ll be a sustained period where you’re not in the gym. It can consist of active rest, such as stretching, light activity, and general house chores. 

It’s important to know that muscle growth happens when you’re resting, not in the gym. Your muscle fibers are broken down in the gym, but build back up during recovery. 

If you don’t rest enough, you increase your chances of overtraining. This means that your exercise routine has exceeded your body’s capacity to recover. Common side effects include increased injury risk, fatigue, and decreased gym performance. 

Allow a minimum of 48 hours between sessions that work the same muscle groups. Depending on your training program, this means you can perform 3–5 well-rounded weekly workouts. This would ensure enough training volume and adequate recovery. 

During your rest period, prioritize your sleep, nutrition, and recovery. Follow a consistent routine and you’ll be growing muscle in no time at all. 

Soreness Equals Muscle Growth

If you’re a fan of bodybuilding, you’ll have heard the old no pain, no gain myth. Iconic historical figures such as Arnold Schwarzenegger and Ronnie Coleman regularly used it. However, does soreness mean muscle growth? 

Muscle soreness, also known as delayed onset muscle soreness, does not provide a reliable indicator of muscle growth. Rather than signaling that muscle growth is happening, it often results from excessive loading and unfamiliar exercises. It does not mean that you’ve had an effective training session. 

It’s important to know that you can build muscle without feeling sore after every session. Track your progress through changes in workout volume, strength levels, and visual appearance. If these are going up, you’re likely building muscle. You might feel sore occasionally, but it should not be your main goal, and not all the time. 

More Sets Equal More Muscle

Resistance exercise sets are the number of times you perform a certain number of repetitions. As we discussed above, this should be between 8–12 for most of your sets. 

That said, when you’re performing a hypertrophy workout, do more sets equal more muscle? 

While it’s true that volume is the most important factor for muscle growth, that’s only to a certain point. There’s a limit to what your body can handle without compromising your recovery. It’s great to be able to perform a long and grueling session, but it isn’t efficient for hypertrophy. 

A high volume can lead to fatigue and decreased performance. In some cases, it may also lead to muscle loss if your rest and nutrition are also inadequate. 

Research shows that 12–20 weekly sets for each muscle group are adequate for hypertrophy to occur. By aiming for this number, you will ensure enough recovery while prioritizing training quality, not just quantity. 

Write down your weekly sets using a fitness journal or log them in an app. This way, you can verify that the number of sets per muscle group matches the suggested range. 

You Must Eat Tons Of Protein Or You’ll Lose Muscle 

One of the most common questions throughout gym circles is “How much protein do you need to build muscle?” As part of this, most people think that eating more always equals more muscle. This is not necessarily the case. 

There’s no denying that protein is essential for muscle growth to occur. The amino acids contained in the protein you eat act as vital building blocks for new muscle tissue. However, you can only absorb so much, meaning there’s a threshold for its effectiveness. 

The recommended daily amount for building muscle is 0.7–1 gram of protein per pound of body weight. If you’re in a calorie deficit, an intake of 1.1 grams per pound of body weight may be needed. This means that you’re consuming less energy than you’re using. 

If you’re eating too much protein, it can be stored as fat or burned for energy. It won’t speed up your rate of muscle growth. 

Furthermore, a lot of people think that high-protein diets are bad for you. In healthy individuals, this is simply not the case. The only time this seems to cause problems is in those with underlying health conditions, such as kidney issues. 

Space out your protein intake across the day, focusing on whole food lean protein sources like chicken, fish, and eggs. Follow the guidelines above according to your circumstances. 

The Anabolic Window Is Only 30 Minutes Post-Workout 

You might be familiar with gym goers rushing to drink their favorite protein shake post-workout. More often than not, you’ll see them drinking it as they walk out of the gym. However, this is another one of the most common muscle building myths.

This might be because they believe in an old myth known as the anabolic window. It’s defined as a period when the body is thought to be most receptive to protein intake. Because of this, many people think it leads to more muscle growth.  

Nutrient timing can help to an extent. However, saying that the anabolic window is only 30 minutes is largely outdated and untrue. 

The truth is that the anabolic window extends much further than the immediate period post-training. Your muscles remain more sensitive to nutrient intake for hours rather than minutes after you exercise. 

More essential than all of this is your total daily protein intake. If you get the recommended protein quantity, when you consume it is mostly unimportant if you’re a normal gym goer. 

Aim to have a balanced meal following your training session. This should consist of protein, carbohydrates, and healthy fats. Focus on a consistent routine while ensuring you always meet your daily intake goals. 

You Can Turn Fat Into Muscle 

Another common myth being passed around throughout gym circles is that you can spot-reduce fat and gain muscle. This leads many people to believe that fat can be turned into muscle through exercise. However, this isn’t quite true.

Fat and muscle are different tissues entirely and largely serve individual functions. Fat isn’t very dense, takes up space, and serves mostly as an energy reserve. Muscle is much denser, more compact, and more metabolically active, meaning it burns more energy. 

Because of these reasons, you can’t turn fat into muscle. However, you can lose fat and build muscle at the same time, a process known as body recomposition. 

This is generally much easier for beginners compared to advanced athletes due to their higher sensitivity to new exercise stimuli. Therefore, the answer to “Can beginners build muscle and burn fat at the same time?” is yes. Advanced athletes can also do so, but it’s much harder. 

Implement a well-organized resistance training routine alongside a small calorie deficit to achieve body recomposition. Use a consistent approach, eating a high-protein diet with the suggested daily intake ranges. 

Cardio Kills Muscle Gains

There are many different types of training for muscle growth. These include hypertrophy training, bodyweight training, and strength training. 

Cardio exercise is another type. However, it should be used alongside these training types rather than as a sole focus. This may be to create a calorie deficit or improve cardiovascular health. With only one in six Americans having ideal cardiovascular health, this should be an important consideration.

Many people believe cardio kills muscle gains. While excessive cardio may interfere with muscle building in excessive amounts, it won’t stop it from happening. 

When overdone, excessive cardio can interfere with recovery. However, well-timed moderate cardio sessions support body recomposition and improve general health. It only really becomes problematic if it’s interfering with your regular resistance training. 

After a light cardio warm-up, perform your main cardio session after your resistance training. These can also be spaced on separate days if recovery is still sufficient. 

More Exercise Variety Equals More Muscle Growth

Unless you’re new to resistance training, you might have heard people tell you that more exercise equals more muscle growth. The idea behind it is that changing exercises frequently confuses the muscles and keeps them growing, which is untrue.

Rather than getting confused, muscles adapt to the stimulus you place in front of them. With the right progressive overload, muscle growth occurs. 

Occasional variety can help prevent boredom and provide a new challenge. However, it can also stop you from progressing on any of the exercises. If you change things too often, you’ll never truly see improvements. 

Use compound exercises as the foundation for your resistance training. This should include key movements such as the bench press, the squat, and the deadlift. The rest of your training can be made up of isolation exercises. These are ones where only one muscle is used as the primary mover. 

Keep a consistent training routine, changing exercises only if meaningful progress is seen. For example, this might be needed if you’ve lost access to certain equipment. Track your progress and enjoy slow and steady muscle gains.

Your Workouts Need To Be Long To Be Effective

If you walk into any gym, you’ll often see most gym goers exercising for hours on end. They’ll start strong, before slowly tiring and struggling to the end of their session. While this might be applauded by some, it’s not doing much good for muscle growth. 

Having an effective workout isn’t about how long you train. It’s about applying the correct resistance training principles, such as training volume and intensity. If you’re focused and efficient, you can stimulate enough muscle growth within a 45-minute session. 

Extended workouts often lead to fatigue and poor recovery. This includes sleep, which should be seen as a vital period for muscle growth and general health. If you think sleep doesn’t affect muscle growth, think again. 

You Need To Take Supplements To Grow

Supplements are great muscle-building aids when used correctly. However, you don’t need them to grow. 

You can build muscle effectively with a well-rounded diet and well-organized training routine. This should include a diet full of lean protein sources, complex carbohydrates, and healthy fats. 

However, supplements do have their place when used correctly. Use them to plug potential nutritional gaps rather than replace your dietary intake. 

Here are some of the best supplements for muscle growth to consider. These include protein powders, creatine, fish oils, and multivitamins. On this note, if you’re wondering, “Is creatine a steroid?”, it’s not.  If you want to combine multiple supplements, we’ve also reviewed some of the best muscle-building stacks.

Tips To Grow Muscle 

If you had to focus on five main tips, these are the ones to use. See them as the most important factors, whether you’re on a bulking diet or cutting fat.  

• Implement Progressive Overload — This refers to the intentional manipulation of your training variable to create an adaptive response in your muscles. Change your workout volume, intensity, and rest times as needed to make your workouts progressively harder. Use the suggested repetition ranges, changing one of the variables when you consistently reach the top of them. 
• Follow A High-Quality Diet — Your diet should consist of high-quality protein sources, complex carbohydrates, and healthy fats. Focus on your protein and fat intakes to hit the suggested daily amounts, with carbs making up the rest. It’s false that carbs kill muscle growth and fat makes you fat when bulking. 
• Use Appropriate Supplements — Use supplements to enhance a well-rounded dietary intake, not to replace it. These can plug potential nutritional gaps, improve health, and enhance gym performance. Ones to consider include protein powder, caffeine, creatine, and multivitamins. 
• Prioritize Your Recovery — Your muscles grow when you’re resting, not in the gym. Ensure you follow the suggested recovery periods between your sets and workout sessions. This is proposed to be approximately 1–2 minutes between sets when hypertrophy is the main goal.
• Monitor Your Progress — Use the help of a workout journal or fitness app to track your program and compare it between weeks. Monitor changes in workout volume, intensity, and mood. Make adjustments as needed to ensure the progressive overload principle is being used. 

Conclusion

Determining the muscle growth facts vs. myths is often an uphill battle. However, learning our 11 most common myths and how to combat them is a great place to start. You’ll still need to put them into practice, but you’ve got a good foundation to build on.

Take note of each of our common bodybuilding myths and use them to inform your training approach going forward. Stick with us and you’ll have the body you’ve always dreamed of in no time at all!

Frequently Asked Questions