Doing varied weight workouts might hurt your muscles a little less than doing the same routine over and over—but you still gain just as much muscle, meaning you don’t need to feel wrecked to get stronger.

You don’t need to be sore after a workout to build muscle—some workouts cause less soreness but still make you just as strong and muscular as the super-painful ones.

Getting stronger from lifting weights doesn’t always mean your muscles are getting bigger—and vice versa. Strength and size don’t go hand in hand.

Getting stronger from lifting weights doesn’t always mean your muscles are getting bigger—and vice versa. Strength and size don’t go hand in hand.

Whether you use machines that change resistance as you lift or keep the same weight all the way through, after 20 weeks of training, healthy men gain about the same strength and muscle size either way.

If you're new to lifting weights, whether you switch up your weights and reps (variable training) or stick to the same routine (conventional training), you'll build muscle at about the same rate—neither method is better than the other for getting bigger muscles in the first few months.