Myth #6 In Bodybuidling… Strength Doesn’t Equal Size
I remember 14 years ago after having learned about the negative consequences of overtraining as it applied to me personally I began a workout that involved training each muscle group on a less frequent basis. I had been training each muscle group 3 times per week and I had all the signs of over training, lack of muscle and strength gains, chronic fatgue, chronic muscle soreness and joint pain, insomnia, depression, restlessness, and lack of ambition for training. I altered my routine so that I was training each muscle group just ounce per week and doing half the amount of sets per bodypart as what I did before. It was crazy after that, my gains began to sore, I gained more muscle and more strength, my drive to train hard went through the roof, my muscle and joint pain went away, and wasn’t always tired anymore, I actually had energy! After following this new program for several weeks, one of the regulars at the gym noticed how much heavier weights I was suddenly lifting and approached me and asked me how I could possibly be lifting weights that much heavier so suddenly and I told him that I was drastically over training before working each muscle group 3 times per week and now I was training each muscle group just ounce per week and now I was making great muscle gains due to the fact that I was giving my muscles that much needed increased recovery time in order recuperate and produce muscle size and strength gains. He laughed and responded back to me " Yeh well that type of training your doing might help you gain strength, but theres no way your gonna gain much size training each muscle group just ounce per week." I then said "Oh really? Well ok, if don’t get bigger by getting stronger, than how do you get bigger? By getting weaker??? Thats right in order to get your muscles bigger they must get stronger. There is a very direct relationship between muscle size and muscle strength. On that note, make no mistake about it, as long as your getting stronger your moving in the right direction in order to get bigger. Train smarter not harder!
