Muscle and Fitness

Workout consistency often feels unattainable in our busy lives. For many people faced with handling multiple family and professional responsibilities, it oftentimes feels easier to believe we can’t find the time instead of working to make the time to get in a good sweat. Some of us would rather lean on a whole bunch of justifications and rationalizations, which in reality are just polite code words for excuses. At the same time, they place their fitness goals—and the time needed to achieve these goals—at the bottom of the priority scale and instead accept the increased risk of long-term health issues.

At this stage, there really are no more excuses for not working out, yet many people still struggle to squeeze in a workout, but have you thought about a lunch break workout? Some reasons for not working out are valid: Successfully juggling a demanding career and taking care of family commitments normally requires long hours out of your day. But if you’re spending your precious spare moments managing a handful of fantasy football teams or staying current with every new Netflix drama—it’s on you.

The golden age of bodybuilding (think Arnold Schwarzenegger before Terminator and Predator) produced much of the training wisdom that trickled down to everyday lifters in commercial gyms. They were ahead of the curve and the science, figuring out a lot of what you use in today’s workouts. Many of the classic ideas also missed the mark but live on in the gym next to you.

Here are four classic updated training principles and training myths that will keep your muscles up and progressing toward your fitness goals.

The golden age of bodybuilding (think Arnold Schwarzenegger before Terminator and Predator) produced much of the training wisdom that trickled down to everyday lifters in commercial gyms. They were ahead of the curve and the science, figuring out a lot of what you use in today’s workouts. Many of the classic ideas also missed the mark but live on in the gym next to you.

What’s your reason for training? Are you active with multiple sports looking to improve performance? Or are you the weekend beer league warrior who doesn’t want to lose a step to the younger guys but also doesn’t want to be dragging himself out of bed in DOMS-induced agony for the following week? Or maybe you just don’t want to be winded climbing a flight of stairs.