Skinny Forever?
I’ll be skinny forever, I thought as I looked at myself in the mirror, too ashamed at my slender arms and shallow chest. It wasn’t for lack of trying, mind you – I had been quite familiar with lifting weights. In fact, I had been lifting weights since I was 14 years old. On top of that, I had been involved in athletic sports since I was a kid. So what’s the problem? Why can’t I gain weight? Why can’t I put on muscle? It was this issue that kept my self-esteem down, my motivation for pursuing my weak spot in women – athletic girls.
I’m no idiot, but sometimes when you feel desperate for a resolution to a problem, you begin to look for that “magic bullet”. Let me clarify: The “magic bullet” is that cheat sheet to your riches, that journey-turned-goal, that easy way in, or out, whichever you prefer. I could hardly imagine the complexity and depth of resources required to pursue and and be successful at gaining some serious muscle size. Seriously, I lift weights, eat healthy, drink plenty of milk, etc…so what’s the deal?
Again looking at myself in the mirror, I realized I needed to become a much more educated individual. I needed to set some realistic goals and pursue them in an organized way. I decided to hit the books, and the ‘net. The only problem was, everything on the internet seemed to want to sell me this supplement, or that piece of equipment. I even found vast resources dedicated entirely to using steroids. I had no intentions of using steroids, mind you, so I sort of “blocked out” this sort of niche on muscle building. It was easy for me – I had plenty of friends in highschool who “juiced”. They had some size, sure, but they also had no definition. They held water weight and fat in their torso, had hideous stretch marks, etc…I knew I never wanted any of those side effects.
After doing a pretty substantial amount of researching for myself, I realized I needed to be honest with myself. I was clearly an ectomorph, first of all. I also was clearly a hard-gainer. I had a furnace for a metabolism, and I was pretty well fed anyway. I was in fact very strong (for my weight), and doing things like pull-ups, push-ups, etc were no sweat for me. I was fast, too – quick on my feet. My thighs were probably the strongest part of my body after having played football for years. I am tall as well, at about 6’2″. This is good, I thought – I am acknowledging my limitations and my strengths. So what now?
Well one of the biggest things we tend to do as human beings is oversimplify things. It is in our nature to want to categorize and classify broadly. Call it laziness, call it efficiency, I don’t know it’s just silly from a goal-oriented point of view. But one thing is for sure – the body is more complicated and complex than you can possibly imagine. There are tens of thousands of chemical processes that occur simultaneously and in succession in every tissue of the body. There are dozens of hormones in the body which have a direct or indirect effect on muscle growth, size, and strength. To think there is some “magic pill” to take and attain your physique goals is an exercise in failure to plan accordingly. Those processes are already in place to alter your physique as your body sees fit. Your muscles need a REASON to grow. If you can learn how to give your body a reason to change – and provide for it the tools needed for change – it simply will. It will because it HAS to. That is the nature of natural holistic muscle building.
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Dr. Rex is a natural bodybuilder and a local authority on training for muscle development. Be sure to subscribe to his newsletter for superior muscle and bodybuilding information Here.
Copyright 2010
Tags: Athletic Girls, Athletic Sports, Cheat Sheet, Complexity, Gain Weight, Lifting Weights, Magic Bullet, Motivation, Muscle Building, Muscle Size, Niche, Realistic Goals, Self Esteem, Skinny Forever, Slender Arms, Stretch Marks, Torso, Using Steroids, Vast Resources, Water Weight, Weak Spot