What I feel is one of the main missions of this blog is to bring the “muscle building” sector back down to Earth. I look at websites like Bodybuilding.com or Muscle Gaining Secrets and while there is good (even great) information to be found, it’s layered and marketed with the belief that skinny guys want to get insanely ripped, and have biceps bigger than bowling balls. Perhaps that is true for some folk, but for me that’s nowhere near what I feel lifting weights and eating more will bring me.
I just want to be less skinny.
Am I alone with that desire? Nothing about the Schwarzenegger-physique or resembling a ball of muscle with legs appeals to me. And that’s the approach I’m taking. That’s why I’m such a fan of sustainability, and philosophy, and psychology. I don’t care about being a monstrous size; I just want to be less skinny, enjoy the process, and maintain a healthy life style.
- Clarify exactly what you want out of strength training. Every situation is different, and for me, personally, being less skinny and improving my overall fitness is all I want out of strength training. If I were to follow the advice of bodybuilders then obviously there’d be plenty of wasted effort on my part. Write down a list of everything you feel strength training will bring you and adapt your approach to those desires.
- No goal is too big or too small. Ambition breeds motivation and smaller goals accommodates simplicity. Marketers will try to sell you on the idea of being an incredibly ripped babe-magnet, but that’s because they’re trying to sell you something. Don’t buy hope. Visualize the life, the strength, and the health that you, and you alone, want. The goal that matters to you is the goal that matters.
There’s no path you “should” take and no goal worth fighting for that isn’t your own. If being a bodybuilder is important to you, I probably can’t offer any advice (because I’m taking a different road) but hold to that dream, and never let go.
