“Adding One Pound Of Muscle Will Burn An Extra 50 Calories Per Day.”

This is a very prevalent myth perpetuated by many “experts”. It sounds good and it would be nice if it were that easy.

Do the math: A man adding 30 lbs of muscle would then theoretically burn an additional 1500 calories per day. For an average guy that would increase his resting metabolism from 2500 to 4000 calories daily! How would he be able to keep any of that muscle gain without eating an absurd amount of food? It just doesn’t add up when you look at it in practical terms.

The reality is that the actual calorie burning benefit of adding pounds of muscle is much more subdued.

Strength training is essential, but not at the expense of good diet practices. Many professional bodybuilders who walk around with incredible amounts of muscle mass are often fatty in their off season and start dieting and mixing other forms of training to actually get cut for competition.

Many – especially women are sold this concept and are spending countless hours at the gym on a never ending array of  machines to build up their muscle mass and neglecting the activities that would actually get them the results they are looking for in a fraction of the time.

But then again, why would you have to pay for a personal trainer at the “Big Gym” if not to show you how to use the next contraption and count reps for you…