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Over the years, I've had many people say some dumb stuff to me about bodybuilding, lifting weights, dieting, nutrition. Sometimes it's stuff they've heard from other people. Sometimes it's their own assumptions they've made. Let's look at some of those more recent comments!
1. “My doctor told me I need to eat more protein, but I don't want to become all muscular.”
If you're doctor’s telling you to eat more protein, eat more protein! The reason your doctor’s saying that is because you have a protein deficiency. The minimal daily intake of protein for your health is 0.7 grams per kilogram of weight. That is an extremely low amount of protein per day. Right now, you're not even getting that much.
Just by eating protein, you will not become muscular. In order to put on muscle from eating protein, you would need to be eating 1.8 grams per kilogram of body weight. That is more than double the minimal amount, which you're currently not getting. You would also need to be lifting weights, which I'm guessing because you don't want to put on muscle, you're not doing. Sothere is no need to be worried about putting on too much muscle. Listen to your doctor. They are telling you this for a good reason.
2. “My chiropractor said that the incline bench press is bad for my shoulders and I should be doing decline bench press to lift my boobs up.”
I have a lot of respect for chiropractors, but this chiropractor is an idiot. First of all, the incline bench press is not bad by design. But you shouldn't be lifting the barbell down all the way to your chest. Now for the standard flat-bench bench press, for the most part, you should be going down to chest height. But for the incline bench press, lowering the barbell down to your chest means that you're overextending, which puts load on your joints. Instead of going down to chest,you should be stopping up about two inches, or five centimeters, above your chest. So your chiropractor’s half right that if you do it wrong, yes, there is a risk of injury. But that doesn't mean don't do it at all. It means you should know how to do the lift safely and properly. You shouldn't just avoid it.
In regards to the second part of that comment about the decline bench press lifting up the boobs, that is absolutely wrong. The decline bench press works the pectoralis minor. This is a small muscle located in the lower part of the chest. Working that muscle will not lift your boobs up. Working the incline bench press, however, will lift your boobs up. The incline bench press primarily works the pectoralis major, which is the large muscle in the top half of your chest. By building up that muscle, your chest appears to lift up higher.
3. “Too much muscle is also probably not healthy.”
This is a bit of a tricky one. They’re not wrong. Too much muscle can be unhealthy. Bodybuilders that compete on a world champion level usually suffer from sleep apnea. Basically, they have so many muscles around their neck that when they're sleeping, it kind of chokes off their windpipe. So during the middle of their sleep, they actually start choking. This has the obvious risk of, you know, possible death, but also it does impact the quality of sleep. It prevents your body from getting enough oxygen. So you're going to also wake up less recovered. But this is a world champion level bodybuilder. This comment was said to me directly after saying “Wow, you're jacked!” I mean, yeah, I am big, but I'm not world champion big. I don't suffer from sleep apnea, and that would have to be extreme levels before I did.
4. “I heard a lot of bodybuilders don't train their legs.”
To this day, I still don't know the reason why this comment was said to me. Maybe they were trying to get permission not to train their legs. Maybe they were trying to get a rise out of me. I don't know. I kind of wanted to pick the person up right there and start squatting with them. I think if you're at the point where you're calling yourself a bodybuilder, you're training your legs. Sure, I've known some bodybuilders that have had chicken legs, but they haven't skipped leg day. That's been caused by poor training programing. Instead of doing squats and deadlifts, they've just been doing leg presses and other machine exercises.
I do leg day twice a week. Right now, I squat and lift twice a week. That's not variations, that's actual squat and deadlift. I have never skipped a leg day in my life. All the other bodybuilders I communicate with have also never skipped a leg day in their life. And since the whole meme of not skipping leg day, I don't think anyone actually skips leg day anymore. I mean, I get why leg day has a lot of hate. It is hard. But moving heavy weights is the most fun part of lifting weights. That moment in a squat where you're being crushed by a heavy barbell only to push it back up, or when you're pushing through a grueling deadlift, really struggling to get the weight up and then locking out and succeeding, that's just pure ecstasy. Honestly, that's the most fun part of weightlifting. I very much doubt the person who said this to me is watching this video. But if you're looking for an excuse not to train your legs, I'm sorry, but I'm not giving it to you. Train your legs.
5. “I'm trying to lose the fat from just around my tummy.”
Everyone's got a specific point about their body that they don't like. For this person, it's the fat around their tummy. For someone else, it might be the fat around their thighs or the fat at the back of their arm here. The only way to reduce fat locally, just the one body part, is liposuction, and I do not recommend that.
In order to lose fat for that body part in a healthy way, you need to reduce your entire body fat. Only by getting your body fat percentage down will you start to reduce the body fat around that body part. But by strategically building muscle, you can make that body part look smaller. For example, if you're worried about the fat around your stomach, then if you build up your chest to have more muscle, then your waist will actually look smaller. If you're worried about the fat in your upper arm, then you're probably worried about how it wobbles and how it doesn't look so good. By building up your triceps and putting some muscle on your upper arm, it'll look more firm, so it'll look like it has less fat. But these are more illusions and not actually losing fat around that body part. The only way to lose fat for that body part is to lose fat from all your body parts.
6. “Why do you lift weights?”
I think it'd be rather obvious. It's fun. If it wasn't fun, I wouldn't be doing it. As well as being fun, we have the added benefit of, you know, physique looks pretty good. Plus there's also the health benefits. Lifting weights has been shown to improve cardiovascular ability. It fights off osteoporosis. It obviously prevents muscle deterioration. It also helps create a healthy hormonal balance.
Then we have the mental health benefits. Lifting weights regularly has been shown to decrease stress. If I didn't lift weights, I think I'd be stressed all the time. Lifting weights is probably the biggest impact on my stress levels. Sure, it releases dopamine, which is that feel good hormone. But also there's something about being under the bar. You're fully focused on it. Everything else around you just disappears. It's you and the bar. Honestly, it's not dissimilar to meditation. Aside from, you know, the strenuous effort, you have to be fully focused on your breathing, on how your body is moving, on how it feels. It's extremely therapeutic.
Then we also have the added benefit of a boosted metabolism. I can eat a lot of food, and that's all thanks to lifting weights and bodybuilding. I like eating food. I like enjoying food with friends and family. Having a higher basal metabolic rate means I can do more of that. It also means that when I go on a fat loss diet, it's much easier for me to succeed. Why do I lift weights? I think the better question is "Why aren't you lifting weights?"
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