Copyright (c) 2010 Nick Clipton

People that are interested in muscle building are often subjected to urban myths that are downright silly, if not dangerous, if followed without looking at the fallacies behind them. A few of the strongest ones are:

You need supplements to build muscle. Supplements are just that - additions to the food you should already be eating. Muscles are only are built when you exercise, eat, and sleep in the right ways. Supplements are meant to add whatever trace elements might be missing and should be thought of as vitamins and such. Be careful of what you're taking in since it just might be an empty powder full of artificial food coloring and flavoring.

"It's my parents' fault!" Aside from your height and general build, there is nothing else you can blame your parents for, except for maybe your physical coloring. But your size totally depends on you. No matter what your parents look like, with the right type of exercises, guidance, and determination, you can change your body shape to its optimum.

"Steroids will pump me up quickly." Of course they will, they're drugs and are also given to chickens, pigs, and cows that need to be bulked up in a short amount of time. However, these animals have a culled life-span and you don't hear about the other side-effects. You do see them in people that have resorted to steroids though. Everything from emotional imbalances to cancer, baldness, heart disease, and lowered sex drives are the pluses you get from them. Stay away from these dangerous growth hormones, thyroid pills, and steroids.

Targeting parts of your body is good. Although this has been a really common fallacy, it still is a fallacy. You can't just target certain parts of your body, this causes you to overwork them. Neither should you just concentrate on one body part for each time you work out. When you train, aim for an overall, or for an upper- and lower-body workout if you must split your exercise time. Your muscles don't grow when you work out, by the way, but only when you get enough food and rest for them to build up again.

"I want a perfect workout." Sorry, no such banana. Workouts aren't based on what's in but on what works best for you. The principles of bulking up remain the same, in fact, Charles Atlas' teachings are still being followed up to now. Don't be swayed by that exercise machine or new pill.