In the previous article of this series, “Forget About Heavy Weights To Gain Muscle & Weight”, I had mentioned that the first reason why you should not be focusing on trying to lift heavier and heavier weights on a regular basis is because when you take a look at what goes on in the real world, those that concentrate on that aspect of weight training may get stronger with that method but not necessarily bigger in muscular size.

In this article we’ll be going deeper as to why not to build your workout routine around getting stronger if you main goal is to gain weight and muscle mass.

Reason # 2: The lifting of heavier and heavier weight is not the signal to your body to make the muscle larger in size.

Every bodybuilding article and website still believes in the myth that your body adapts to the lifting of heavier weights by making the muscle larger.

Well, that’s not the case in the real world.

Here’s the reality of the situation:

When your body senses that a particular muscle is being forced to lift a progressively heavier weight, the signal that it sends is for the body to become stronger….not bigger.

A muscle doesn’t have to be bigger in size to handle heavier weight!

(Read that last sentence over and over until you fully grasp this concept.)

It just has to be stronger.

What does the body then do to adapt to the heavier weight if it isn’t to make it bigger?

Realize that the lifting of heavier weights is a matter of your body becoming more efficient at recruiting more motor units to come into play to handle the heavier weight…which has nothing to do with becoming physically larger.

It is also a matter of becoming better at using leverage in your lifting technique…which has nothing to do with making the muscle grow.

It is also a matter of your neuro-muscular system becoming better at sending nerve signals between the muscle and brain to handle heavier loads…which has nothing to do with stimulating muscle mass.

…and on and on.

Do you see the point I’m trying to make here.

A muscle being able to handle heavier and heavier weight really doesn’t have much to do with making the muscle physically larger in size and appearance.

Again, I’ll refer back to the real world example of bodybuilders versus powerlifters / Olympic trainers.

Powerlifters have their bodies trained so that they are very efficient at using leverage in their lifting techniques, recruiting a maximum amount of motor units, and establishing excellent neuro-muscular connections / pathways…all which allow them to lift extreme amounts of weights.

However, their muscular development is nowhere near that of a bodybuilder.

Although the bodybuilder probably can’t lift not even half of the amount of weight that a powerlifter can, he has muscles that are much bigger in size and development.

That’s because a bodybuilder could probably care less about using leverage, recruiting motor units. etc.

He’s just trying to gain weight and build muscle mass.

I’ll go deeper into why not to focus in lifting heavy weights to gain muscle weight in the next article….



Thanks to Jonathan Perez for contributing this article to our Bodybuilding blog:

Bodybuilding Tips

body\’s body type is the same. Therefore, if you are very slim, you shouldn\’t use traditional bodybuilding exercises, because it\’s likely they will not work for you. They weren\’t designed for people who are very slender. If you want to gain weight, you\’ll need to focus on things like proper posture, stabilizing your shoulders, becoming more flexible, stabilizing your core, doing overall body conditioning, and more.

When you work on correcting postural imbalance, you are working on aligning your posture and your body so that your posture is correct before you begin. You must be aligned properly before you can start your bodybuilding program. Take a look at professional bodybuilders some time. They have great posture, and that\’s no mistake. However, many bodybuilding programs don\’t have this as part of their information even though this is necessary for you. If you don\’t naturally have proper posture, you\’ll need to have this, because if you do, you can look more fit and toned just by the way you hold yourself.

When you work on bodybuilding exercise, you\’ll also need to learn how to stabilize your shoulders. If your shoulders aren\’t stable, this can actually be detrimental to you when you\’re trying to work on bodybuilding. You can injure your shoulders and therefore yourself if you don\’t hold your shoulders properly. You don\’t want to be in pain in a few years just because you didn\’t do the proper techniques required for responsible bodybuilding and best results.

Core stability is important, too. Bodybuilding exercise workouts need to include this information because core stability helps protect your lower back from injury. If you don\’t develop core stability, you could injure your back. Many existing bodybuilding exercise programs don\’t really focus on core stability because experienced bodybuilders already have core stability. If you don\’t, though, you\’re going to need to learn how to make your core stable before you can embark on a serious bodybuilding program.

Your bodybuilding exercise program should also focus on giving you the proper flexibility techniques for your particular body type. You\’ll need to focus on both your lower and upper body for flexibility. If you\’re stiff before you start working out, you\’re going to risk being injured. Therefore, you first need to perform the right exercises and stretching techniques specific to your body type so that you have the greatest flexibility possible and therefore avoid injury.

There\’s another point that needs to be made, too. If you have well-developed muscles in some places on your body and less developed muscles in other places, this may keep you from optimally using conventional bodybuilding exercise programs. If this is true for you, your bodybuilding exercise program must be customized so that you build every muscle in your body up to the same degree; no muscles should be underdeveloped compared to others so that you could be limited and not in your best shape.

In addition to your bodybuilding exercise program, you\’ll also need to do overall conditioning. Overall conditioning requires that you add cardiovascular exercise, too. Even though cardiovascular exercise may not help you “bulk up,” it still exercises your heart and lungs, which is necessary for proper health and maximum benefit. In addition, this type of training is also going to help keep you from getting injured while you work on gaining weight by building muscle.

There are a lot of things you should research and study up on if you want to construct a bodybuilding exercise program that will help you bulk up with muscle mass. The best type of program is going to help you work on your core stability, posture, stabilizing your shoulders, improve flexibility, and maximize your overall conditioning. Having impressive muscles is wonderful, but you\’ll need to learn the right techniques to do this based upon your body type.

Thanks to villenoire for contributing this article to our Bodybuilding blog:

Weight Training Program For Women

Can you answer youngin0023’s question about Bodybuilding?:

I recently joined a gym and I want to gain weight and build more muscle. I am wondering what type of foods I should eat along with a good training regiment.

Women Bodybuilding Posters