Bodybuilding Myths, Nonsense and Lies!!!!

This article is not going to list all the nonsense and myths that are out there, as there seems to be more of that on the internet then there is reliable information. It is an article about why there is so much nonesense out there.

If anyone has any ideas that I have not touched on below then please email me at mike@proteincomparison.co.uk.

When I first started becoming interested in fitness and began scouring the internet and bodybuilding magazines for useful information I was under the impression that there was a big conspiracy regarding bodybuilding information. I knew a lot of what I was reading had to be garbage because it was so inconsistent. I thought people were lying just because they didn’t want to share valuable information that would create more competition in the bodybuilding world. Now I know there are a whole host of reasons which I have listed below and I hope you find enlightening.

1) A lot of people are trying to make money of you. There are no bodybuilding secrets that you can buy in an ebook for $49.99 that will give you rock hard abs in 6 weeks. There is no information contained in these books that isn’t already out there and no one can tell you how long it will take you to gain rock hard abs with out you telling them first your weight, percentage of body fat, metabolism and current diet and training regime
2) A lot of people are trying to make money of you! But this time they are doing it by writing an article that they think is useful info that they just picked up from other websites. They are hoping lots of people will visit the article and then click on adverts or affiliate ads and therefore they make money. Not all people doing this won’t know what they are talking about but a fair share won’t have a clue. Tomorrow they’ll be writing about how to change a bicycle tire and setting up affiliate schemes with bike retailers. [I don’t have any websites on changing a bicycle tire just for the record :-) ]
3) Some people, usually those who have not had much success in their half hearted attempts at fitness prefer to try and become coaches on the subject instead. Trying to help people where they think they went wrong without having any actual success.
4) The human body is immensely complicated so a lot of the time people are just wrong. If you had designed the perfect workout and did it every week the laws of diminishing gains would kick in and anything else you tried no matter how bad an idea it is would appear to work better, just because it is a change. Sometimes people experiencing this think they have made some sort of great fitness discovery.
5) People are in different circumstances, the main one being that the majority of successful bodybuilders are on steroids. Look at a bunch of massive bodybuilders and tell me how many still have hair on their heads. You think it’s a coincidence that they all prefer to have short or no hair. It’s a side affect of serious steroid abuts. A better thing to do is to look at pictures of natural bodybuilders. They are the biggest bodybuilders that can pass a drugs test and they are not very big at all compared to professional bodybuilders! A workout regime that works for someone on steroids will not work for someone who is training naturally. Steroids is just one example that makes a big difference to how we should train and eat, there is also age, gender and lots of genetic factors including natural testosterone levels, how fast you recover from a workout and your metabolism.
6) Some people have already been paid to write the nonesense they are going to write e.g. ‘scientific studies’, especially studies sponsored by supplement companies. There is nothing worse then reading about two studies that come to the opposite conclusion. This is insanity at it’s worse. Usually this relates to supplements. I once seen a study where a product designed for providing you with protein through out the night had a graph comparing the product with the affects of having a cup of hot chocolate before bed. I assumed the hot chocolate was made with milk. You’ll be please to know it did a little bit better then hot chocolate.


Please email me with any more reasons you can thing of and I will happily add them. Sorry for the negative article!

No Whey, Why Whey Protein Powder is not Worth your Money.

This is the first post on my first ever blog so bear with me....the aim is to share useful information that will help other to lose fat, gain muscle, be fitter, feel better and in this post, save money by stopping you from spending too much on Whey Protein.

Whey protein is designed to be fast absorbing. It is true that is has a great amino acid profile, about the same as eggs for most commercial products. This is means that the makeup of the protein in Whey is similar to the protein in our muscle so therefore in theory we should be able to utilise lots of it.

The problem is that Whey protein is too fast absorbing. It is absorbed at a rate of about 10 grams per hour. Compare this to Casein which is 6 grams per hour and eggs which is only 1.6 grams per hour.

The problem is, absorbing protein is not the same as utilizing it. If our bodies utilised 1 gram of protein every hour then that would be 24 grams of protein gain per day, which is 8.7kg or about 20 lbs of protein per year. Muscle is about 30% protein so this would mean you would gain over 60 lbs of muscle a year and be ready for your first professional bodybuilding competition at the end of 2 years.

Some protein absorbed is used for repairing damaged muscle so the above isn’t completely true but you get the idea, we don’t need much protein per hour but you do need a consistent supply.

Let’s say you have a shake that contains 20 grams of whey protein. That protein will be gone in 2 hours. It will have been used either for energy or converted and stored as fat. Protein shakes are not a cheap way of supplying yourself with energy and you are better of using a slow releasing source like oats anyway.

A 20 gram shake of casein protein on the other hand will provide protein for 3 and a bit hours at which point you can top up so you are able to build muscle through more of the day and even more importantly at night which is when the most muscle repair and growth takes place.

When our bodies use protein for energy it also causes increased dehydration which is bad for your health and fitness.

Ideally whenever you take protein it should be with carbs as our bodies will always break down protein if it needs the energy so it is best to have some carbs to get your blood sugar levels up at the same time.

The counter argument for whey protein is that is apparently has an anabolic affect on the body and that more of it is absorbed when we perform weight training workouts so I personally use a shake with Whey in before and after a workout but that is the only time.

I’ve tried to keep this short and hopefully gave you enough information for it to be useful. All feedback is welcome, I could do with some as it is my first blog!

Thanks for reading.