Steven Tyrie Interview - Beginners Guide to Muscle Building

We think you'll enjoy hearing what Steven has to say, so put down your energy bar and pull up an armchair!

An Interview with Steven Tyrie

1. Hi, Steven. What inspired you to start your site, BuildUpYourMuscles.com?

Hi, Lee. Well, my initial inspiration to create my site has its roots in my own experiences.

When I first started to frequent the gym I really didn’t have any clue what I was doing! I had no consideration or understanding of the nutritional side of building muscle, rest periods, integrating cardio and lifting weights together sensibly, tracking my results or creating a carefully planned weight training regime – and that is just to mention a few of the many, many mistakes I made. I would literally down a protein shake and then hit the weights working each muscle group in isolation until I was finished.

Sounds crazy, and it was, but what I find even more crazy is that this is the exact same thought process for the vast majority of beginners who begin to work out. They have absolutely no clue that muscle building is a science and simply believe that ‘if I lift weights I will get bigger’. Knowing this, I decided to create BuildUpYourMuscles.com so that beginners could get access to the correct information to muscle building and weight training and start off on the right foot...unlike me a few years ago. 

In my earlier years it was my friend Ryan who started me on the right path to muscle building success.

I had been working out for over a year and had achieved very little in respect to building muscle size, when I met Ryan who helped to steer me in the right direction. Although, looking back, some things he said turned out to be quite simply wrong and inaccurate, a lot of what he taught me was correct muscle building strategies.

From this point I began reading a great deal of books written by some of the world’s leading authorities to further my understanding.

There are many credible influences I could mention, but if I had to choose one, it would be Vince Del Monte as his starting point, with regard to his body shape, was very similar to mine and it gave me the required confidence and belief I needed to finally push forward with 100% dedication to reach my goals.

Lee, it would have to be the huge percentage of beginners that fall into the ‘supplement trap’. The thing to remember about supplements is they are exactly just that – to ‘supplement’ your meals and not to replace them!

What beginners don’t realise is the level of advertising costs that go into marketing these products. They are almost mesmerised by the ridiculous claims that the companies who produce these products make – “gain 12 pounds of muscle in 6 weeks or less” and so on and so forth due to their overwhelming desire to build muscle.

It is basic human nature to try and use the least amount of time and effort possible to achieve or reach certain desired goals and these companies exploit this human weakness in this regard and, unfortunately, due to weight training beginners being unaware of these tactics, they fall straight into the trap. My advice is to simply keep it basic with your choice of supplements and if it sounds too good to be true then it normally is! 

We have received many questions of all types and varieties covering everything from supplement recommendations to queries about stretching and from integrating cardio work into your routines to the best exercises for your ab muscles.

However, there are questions which arise more commonly than others and we tried to cover the most frequent in our book ‘The Beginner’s Guide to Muscle Building’.

My personal favourite and the most recurring question though, Lee, has to be without a shadow of a doubt “Should I be using free weights or machines”. The short answer is both have their positives and negatives and it is a matter of individual preference after you have evaluated these pros and cons  but we go into much greater detail in one of our articles on site due to the relatively high frequency the question is asked. 

That’s an easy one Lee, and the straightforward answer would be nutrition. Nutrition! Nutrition! Nutrition!

Most people who first begin weight training don’t understand that building muscle is a 24/7 operation and it is just as important to be working outside of the gym as well as within it.

Your diet plays a pivotal role in the muscle building process and that is why developing a personalised and balanced meal plan is so important. If you don’t feed your muscles with the correct ratio and levels of micronutrients throughout the day then you are simply heading for failure – a mistake I know all too well from my teenage years! 

Well, my single tip would be to read every single tip and page of the book!

But seriously, my most valuable and single tip is to make sure you build your own individual weight training and meal plans and do not just follow some generic plan of action.

No-one’s metabolism, body type, personal goals, strength levels or lifestyle is exactly the same as anyone else. Everyone is different and therefore you need to build a plan of action that best suits what you are personally trying to achieve – we show you how to accomplish this within ‘The Beginners Guide to Muscle Building’.

Thank you for your time, Steven. Our readers wish you every success!

Want to learn more? See The Beginners Guide to Muscle Building

Steven Tyrie to Muscle Building Tips

Steven Tyrie to Muscle Building