A fallacy is synonymous to myth which refers to erroneous belief or unproven information and yet being practiced by some in their daily activities. One field with different myths or fallacies is muscle building. I will tell you the four popular fallacies in muscle building and you will be surprised that you are following some of these fallacies.

Fallacy 1: Rule of 12 – This is popular to weightlifters or undergoing weight training programs. Trainers instruct students to do repetitions of 12 or eight in every set. Trainers believe that it is an effective and efficient way to build the muscles.

Truth: Modern trainers believe that doing repetitions of 12 or 8 is not a magic number that will improve your muscles. What is important in weight training program is varied repetition, which depends on the progress of the training. Repetitions could be five, ten or fifteen that is apt for the student’s weight and the type of exercise being carried out.

Fallacy 2: Three Sets Standard – Repetition always come a number of set. A set is consisted of the number of times a person does a particular movement or exercise. As a common norm in muscle building, three sets give the most appropriate work out that will build the muscles fast.

Truth: In reality, one can go beyond or less than three sets as it depends on the repetition done in every set. Thus, if you are doing a repetition of eight in a particular exercise, you can go below three sets. However, if you are doing an exercise with less than eight repetitions, then you can go beyond three sets.

Fallacy 3: The Muscle Group Routine – Trainers believe that in order maximize and to fully stretch the muscles in a certain group such as the chest, back or abdomen, one must perform three to four exercises for it. This coincides with the aforementioned myths wherein you have to do three to four different exercises in three sets with 8-12 repetitions.

Truth: Although it sounds scientific and seems to be a perfect combination, experts claimed that instead of focusing on the number of varied exercises that you perform, one must try doing repetitions of at least 25 to 50.

Fallacy 4: The Abdominal Movement – Trainers teach the students to always pull the abdominal muscles to the spine when you are lifting weights to avoid back injuries and to develop the abdominal muscles.

Truth: Experts believe that it is more efficient and more proper to hold your abdominal muscles tight rather than to pull it back.

Learning that some of the famous training routines are all myths and backed with no scientific basis, we can start a new weight training that will surely tone the muscles that will give you that nice built.