Strength Does NOT Mean Size To Gain Muscle Weight

Most bodybuilders looking to gain weight and muscle mass are lead to believe that in order to build muscular size that you must build strength…."get stronger".This is where the whole "lift big to get big" philosophy comes from.Most have us have been fooled to associate the lifting of heavy weights with the building and stimulating of large muscles.

But is that the case in the "real world"….as I like to call it? The simple answer……NO.There are many, many reasons for this.In this article I’ll discuss the first reason why not:

1) Lifting heavier and heavier weight is not the main factor in stimulating muscle weight gain and growth.I know, this seems to go against what everyone and their mama seem to think. But, let’s take a look at what goes on in the real world. How many individuals do you know (and perhaps you’re one of them) that can bench press a ton, yet when they take their shirt off don’t have that much of a chest to show off? How many weight lifters do you know that can squat a car, yet when you take a look at their thighs / quads it leaves much to be desired? How many bodybuilders have you seen that are as strong as an ox, yet if it wasn’t that you’ve seen them lifting weights at the gym or know them personally you would have never guessed that they even work out?

Again, yes, they may lift progressively heavier weights every week, and yes, they may be getting stronger and stronger consistently……but that doesn’t mean that they are growing in size and muscular weight!

Every article and workout program recommends to "progressively overload the muscle"….which is absolutely correct.However, the type of "progressive overload" that is recommended in 99% of these workout routines is to lift heavier and heavier weight…….focusing on the strength building aspect of the equation……instead of the size building aspect.

Lifting heavier weights is not the main stimulus for building and developing muscle mass.(In future articles I’ll get into the other factors that trigger muscular growth).
Think about it, if lifting heavier and heavier weight on a progressive basis was the way to gain muscle mass then powerlifters and Olympic lifters would have the largest and most developed muscles, not bodybuilders.

All you have to do is take a quick look at the pec development of a bodybuilder and compare it to the pec development of a powerlifter / Olympic lifter.Sure, the powerlifter / Olympic trainer can probably bench press literally hundreds of pounds more than the bodybuilder, but the bodybuilder will always have a physically larger and more developed chest.

That’s because powerlifters / Olympic trainers are focused on the lifting of heavier weight, regardless of how the muscle feels, while the bodybuilder could care less about how much weight he / she can lift, but instead is focusing on the feel of the muscle, the tension that’s placed on it. Sure, a powerlifter may weigh 100 pounds more than a bodybuilder, but we all know that half of a powerlifter’s body weight is fat.

Also, many of the most well developed physiques are of individuals who hardly ever increase the amount of weight they lift, at least not on a regular basis.Yet, they built and gained some serious muscle mass and weight.That’s because they knew that there are other more important factors in stimulating muscular development than lifting progressively heavier weights.