7 Muscle-Building Myths I Wish I’d Avoided (And the One Truth That Actually Works)
I started lifting at thirteen or fourteen with a set of York plastic plates filled with what I’m pretty sure was sand. Maybe gravel. Maybe hope. Either way, it felt like Christmas came early when my parents got me that set. Happy as Larry, I was—though I’ve still no idea who Larry is or whether he actually is that happy, or if he just sets the bar for British emotional expression.
At the time, I was a wiry little sod with delusions of grandeur and walls plastered with posters of Shawn Ray, Arnold, Bruce Lee, an F-14 Tomcat, and a B-52 bomber. All male icons, all aggressive. Looking back, I’m not sure if I was trying to sculpt a Greek god physique or start a war.
I weighed next to nothing, transitioning from cross-country to sprinting, with a bit of judo thrown in. The only thing more chaotic than my training was my understanding of what actually builds muscle. Now I’m staring down the barrel of fifty, weighing in at a not-too-shabby 95kg with a reasonably muscular build and enough joint pain to make yoga seem like a violent sport.
In hindsight, here are seven myths I wish I’d roundhouse kicked out of my life sooner—and one truth that’s actually worth tattooing on your soul.
1. You Build Muscle by Tearing It to Bits (Microtears)
I used to believe that growth came from carnage. Tear the muscle to shreds, crawl out of the gym, and wait for the phoenix to rise from the ashes. I’d annihilate my legs so thoroughly on a Monday that I’d spend Tuesday walking like a panther that just got a surprise prostate exam.
The idea of microtears made sense at the time. Pain equals progress, right?
Not exactly.
Turns out, microtears aren’t even a thing. And muscle damage, that DOMS-inducing soreness we wore like a badge of honour, isn’t a reliable contributor to muscle growth at all (PMID: 21297557).
DOMS is like that loud mate who turns up to every party and contributes absolutely nothing. Loud. Memorable. Useless.
What really triggers hypertrophy is something called mechanical tension. We’ll get to that soon, but the point is: wrecking your body doesn’t build it.
2. Free Weights Are Superior to Machines
Ah, the old iron gospel. Free weights were the mark of the hardcore. Machines were for gym tourists and those dodgy hotel fitness rooms with treadmills that smell like mildew and broken dreams.
I used to fill every programme with free weights, convinced they activated some secret network of stabiliser muscles, as though those muscles were holding my joints together with emotional support and cling film.
But here’s the real deal: any muscle can be a prime mover or a stabiliser depending on the lift. Machines and free weights both build muscle and strength equally well (PMID: 37535335). And if your goal is athletic performance? Same story. No meaningful difference (PMID: 37340878).
Use the tool that suits the job. If you can’t focus on the target muscle because you’re worried about wobbling like a drunk giraffe, get on a machine and train like a grown-up.
Admittedly, I mostly train from home these days using dumbbells, kettlebells, and resistance bands—much like my younger self did, albeit with fewer Backstreet Boys posters in the background. But give me a cable machine or a solid, chest-supported rowing station, and I’m on it like a pensioner on reduced custard creams. Love me a bit of machine.
And let’s be honest, I was fully suckered into the CrossFit and Gym Jones cult. Proper hook, line, and sweaty chalk bucket. Then there was the YouTube era of Zach Even-Esh, Elliott Hulse, and Joe DeFranco, telling me that free weights were the only choice for a real man.
Whatever the fuck that means. I’m a real man. Are you a real man? What even is that anymore? Beast mode bollocks. All bravado, no biomechanics.
3. Muscles Don’t Know the Weight You’re Lifting
This one came from a good place. I used to say it to stop lads ego lifting with their backs more than their biceps.
But now? I think this phrase does more harm than good. It plants fear. It suggests form is more important than force. And while good form matters, muscles absolutely do know the weight you’re lifting. In fact, they adapt because of it.
More load equals more intramuscular force. This is the foundation of the size principle and the force-velocity relationship—the more effort required, the more your body goes, “Right, time to get bigger or die trying.”
Form matters, yes. But don’t let the obsession with textbook form stop you from progressing the load. Chase force production. Not just elegance.
4. Train Fibres According to Their Type
I remember poring over muscle fibre charts like a lunatic, trying to match reps and sets to whether a muscle was full of slow-twitch or fast-twitch fibres. I programmed high reps for type I dominant muscles and low reps for type II, as though I was writing a meal plan for picky children.
Turns out, most muscles are a near 50/50 split between fibre types. And better yet—no, worse yet—there’s no solid evidence that training differently affects fibre recruitment in a meaningful way (PMID: 28834797).
All rep ranges build muscle. The difference? Heavier loads with lower reps are more efficient and less fatiguing (PMID: 28447186).
So unless you enjoy 20-rep Romanian deadlifts (you sociopath), train with loads that allow for real progression. Not just a deep burn and a puddle of sweat.
5. Big Lifts Boost Testosterone
Squats. Deadlifts. Bench press. The Holy Trinity. I was convinced that doing these movements would flood my bloodstream with testosterone and turn me into a walking erection with a barbell.
And yes, squats and deads do boost testosterone. But by how much?
About 3–10%, and only for half an hour (PMID: 32297287).
By contrast, taking anabolic steroids boosts testosterone by 1000% around the clock (PMID: 8637535).
So, yes, technically your T-levels bump up slightly after leg day. But so does your heart rate after a strong cup of coffee. Neither is turning you into Conan the Barbarian.
Do big lifts if you like them. If they fit your plan. If they make you feel alive. But don’t romanticise them as hormonal holy grails.
6. Big Arms Won’t Make You Happy
I’m calling bullshit on this one.
I’ve heard the purists say, “Arm training isn’t functional.” What? Have you ever tried lifting a sausage dog with a neutral spine and hip hinge? I curl things every day. Bags. Dogs. My own dignity off the floor.
Big arms are functional. They’re functional for intimidation. For self-confidence. For that moment when you rest your elbow on a car window and turn every suburban street into your catwalk.
Yes, muscle isn’t a proxy for joy. But neither is deliberately avoiding it because some twat in board shorts says compound lifts are king. Train your arms. They’re the curtains on your physical house. And I’d like mine to be velvet, thanks.
7. Volume Is the Main Driver of Muscle Growth
I have tried every high-volume programme imaginable. German Volume Training. Arnold’s Double Split. Bro splits that had me doing twenty sets of chest in one go and wondering why I was still shaped like a fridge.
There is a dose-response relationship with volume. To a point. But it’s non-linear. More sets don’t mean more gains forever. There’s a threshold—after which you’re just stacking fatigue with no added benefit.
A solid approach? Start at 3–5 sets per muscle group, twice per week, staying within 0–2 reps from failure. Progress from there. If your loads are going up and your form is holding steady, there’s no urgent reason to add volume. Unless you’re bored and want to train like an anime character.
So What Does Build Muscle?
In the end, it all comes down to mechanical tension. Not “time under tension,” which has been bastardised into holding light weights for absurd durations. I’m talking about the force your muscles have to produce to overcome resistance, especially as they near failure.
This is where the magic happens—when your muscle fibres are forced to slow down because they’re running out of strength. That’s when they shout, “Oi! We’re not strong enough for this bollocks!” and send the signal to grow.
Mechanical tension is the king. The emperor. The Supreme Overlord of Hypertrophy.
It’s the quality of effort under heavy load, not the quantity of fluff, that drives growth.
You want to build muscle? Focus on progressive overload with movements that let you safely create high mechanical tension. Go close to failure. Track your lifts. Stop chasing soreness, chasing variety, chasing novelty. Start chasing the quiet brutality of hard sets done properly.
Final Thoughts From an Ageing Meathead
I look back at that skinny lad with plastic weights and dodgy posters and I want to give him a hug—and maybe a copy of PubMed. Well, to be fair, that information wasn’t really available or even understood by lay people—myself included—even to this day. I mostly rely on reading summaries or waiting for some boffin to break it all down for my numb nugget brain to digest it.
Muscle building isn’t complicated. But it is easy to get wrong. And the cost of those errors isn’t just time—it’s missed potential, wasted effort, and the kind of chronic joint pain you can predict weather patterns with.
So here’s what I’d tell him:
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Train hard, but don’t destroy yourself.
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Don’t worship exercises—worship effort.
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Lift heavy enough to make your muscles whisper obscenities.
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And always, always curl your dog.
If you’ve made it this far, congratulations. You’re no longer a tourist in the House of Gains. You’ve got a passport, a visa, and a barbell-shaped sceptre.
Now go forth and get jacked. The smart way.
Bibliography
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Schoenfeld, B. J. (2010). The mechanisms of muscle hypertrophy and their application to resistance training. PubMed [PMID: 21297557]
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Schwanbeck, S., et al. (2023). Resistance training with free weights vs machines. PubMed [PMID: 37535335]
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Carroll, K. M., et al. (2023). Athletic performance and training modality. PubMed [PMID: 37340878]
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Jenkins, N. D. M., et al. (2017). Muscle fibre type response to resistance training. PubMed [PMID: 28834797]
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Schoenfeld, B. J., et al. (2017). Effects of resistance training volume on muscle hypertrophy. PubMed [PMID: 28447186]
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West, D. W. D., et al. (2020). Acute hormonal responses to resistance training. PubMed [PMID: 32297287]
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Bhasin, S., et al. (1996). Testosterone dose-response relationships in healthy men. PubMed [PMID: 8637535]
