Guest Post: Change Your Focus, Increase Your Gains

The following is a guest post from Dr. Thomas Nienstedt.

Your arms haven’t grown in months, your weight has plateaued and your enthusiasm for working out is waning.

You’re starting to wonder if all of this hard work, just to be “bigger”, is worth it. Well, let me tell you, it might not be.

You see, your muscle building potential, if you’re an average guy and you’re not taking any drugs, is limited. That’s not to say you can’t build an impressive physique, but if you’re an average Joe, don’t expect to ever look like Jay Cutler or Dexter Jackson.

And if you’re prone to getting your training inspiration from the muscle mags or web sites out there, you’re probably never going to be as “HUGE” as you want to be.

What are you going to do?

Don’t quit!

A little change in focus is all you need to be good to go.

First, don’t use muscle mags to set your physique goals. They absolutely do not have your best interests in mind.

How do I know? Look at the physique stars they highlight. The guys and gals in there are not normal, they’re all using steroids, and most of them are not as strong as they look.

Do you really want to be a bloated behemoth?

Do you want your health to suffer in the future to be big today? No way! Do you want to be healthy, have an admirable physique and be as strong as you look? Absolutely!

Second, instead of working out to get big, focus on strength. Why? Because strength gains are easier to measure, more consistently realized and more functionally important than size gains. Plus, stronger muscles usually end up as bigger muscles. Nice!

And by focusing on strength you can give that mirror a rest and worry about other things more important than the size of your guns (which will be growing as you get stronger anyway). So you’re less frustrated and less stressed. Double nice!

Want to take it a step further? Instead of focusing on body part training, focus on movement training.

That’s right, forget about your biceps and chest muscles for a while and concentrate on a stronger bench press and increasing the number of weighted chins you can do. So chest and triceps day becomes bench and dip day. Back and biceps day becomes deadlift or bend row and chin day. Leg day is now squat day. Better yet, do full body workouts consisting of 5-8 exercised, all basic compound moves. Your results?

First and foremost, a healthier and more realistic view about the realities of resistance training and what you can gain from it. And second, stronger muscles, a more efficient nervous system and, yes, bigger muscles as well.

Dr. Thomas Nienstedt is a Chiropractor, Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist and fellow of the International Academy of Medical Acupuncture. He is currently finishing up his Masters Degree in clinical nutrition. He recently started www.weightlossweb.org, a forum designed to help people lose fat, gain muscle and increase functional ability. Please feel free to contact him at drnienstedt@weightlossweb.org

Note: If you liked this post and you’d like to see more from Dr. Nienstedt, let me know if the comments.