Why Many Gain Strength Without Adding Muscle Mass
Many who embark on a natural bodybuilding program expect that if their weights increase in the gym during a workout, then their muscles must be larger than the last time they performed the same exercise. This seems very logical, as we associate larger people with greater strength, so when we are able to bench press more weight, this must mean that our chest, triceps and shoulder muscles have grown. Right? Well, maybe.
One of the biggest bodybuilding misconceptions is that a direct correlation exists between a bodybuilder's strength and his muscle size, and the key word is direct. We can predict that a bodybuilder who weighs 200 lbs is going to have more strength than a weightlifter who weighs 100 lbs, but we presume that the 200 lbs bodybuilder will be twice as strong, which may not be the case. In fact, the 100 lbs bodybuilder may be far closer to the 200 lbs lifter in terms of strength than body weight would seem to indicate, as strength is contingent upon both genetics and the type of weight training routine that is followed.
Those who seek maximum muscle mass gains train with high volume, using a large number of sets, which fatigues muscles, forcing growth, but also diminishing added strength beyond what is possible when using a workout plan with less sets per session. In addition, muscle growth requires failure, where an exercise is taken to the point where another full repetition cannot be performed, which boosts fatigue and aids in maximizing muscle growth, but also suppresses the amount of strength improvements due to accumulated stress.
Because many bodybuilders have been misled into believing that muscle mass gains are best achieved by way of low volume workout sessions, and have never been told that strength and muscle size do not directly correlate, they often follow advice from popular Internet web sites, message boards and magazines that promote low volume weight lifting as the best approach, and when they implement such a routine, because their strength improves, they are mistakenly convinced that they are adding new muscle, when the truth is, they often gain nothing in terms of size.
The goal of a natural bodybuilding program is to build muscle mass, but because lower volume workouts, which limit muscle growth, actually cause strength to improve faster than a high volume weight lifting plan, it's important never to use strength as a gauge of whether or not muscle size is increasing, and instead measure the chest, arms and legs each week to determine if muscle is being built.
Francessco Casstano is the author of MuscleNOW, a natural bodybuilding program that has helped many around the world to build muscle mass without supplements or steroids.
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