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…you know, something which never ceases to amaze me about humans as a race is our often uncanny ability to place great emphasis upon things which are actually of little importance, and to place great value upon that which in fact has very little.

In the bodybuilding, size and mass are two such things. We are constantly told by the industry that these are pretty much the be all and end all of our endeavours – we train to get BIG! But how many among us ever ask the question ′why big?′

As some of you who have read my previous posts will know, I like to weigh things up against mother nature, and the laws of survival. Now think of this, in nature, do your chances of survival not increase somewhat if you are in possession of a strong, powerful body? Of course they do – strength gives you an increased ability to hunt, to kill, and to protect yourself and your family. Now let me ask you this – in nature, does SIZE increase your chances of survival? Probably not. Being big often makes you slower, being big makes your body energy inefficient, being big means you have to eat more to survive. In the animal kingdom, this means you will have to either hunt smaller prey more often that a smaller predator would, or chase down larger, most dangerous prey which could very well harm you in return – and your energy inefficient body will be taxing you tremendously during this time.

We need to start realising that in fact, the real reason why we work out is to become physically stronger, and more capable of handling the physical challenges that life throws at us – size is simply a byproduct of strength. Dont be concerned when you find yourself sharing a gym with a man 30lbs heavier than you are but has gotten that way through lifting the same weights – YOU are the genetically blessed one, YOU are mother natures favourite, not him. His muscle fibres are so individually weak compared to yours, that in order for him to possess the same level of strength as you do, he needs more of them. This means he will need to eat more than you to sustain his increased mass, he will need to spend more money, he will need to spend more time preparing his meals, he will not have as much of a LIFE as you do

So to conclude, be happy with your gains at the gym. If you are one of those who has been performing HIT for many months but has never gotten much bigger in spite of doubling your strength, then allow yourself a little feeling of satisfaction that mother nature truly loves you, youre a ′mommas boy′ and this world was created for YOU to thrive in!

hi HITpadawan

I totally agree with you.size doesn′t matter but strengh does!!that should be our first goal:
increase funcional strenght,that we can use during our life!

ciao
Sandro

HITpadawan,

Nice post, the title misled me for a moment! Maybe a lot of the strong, smaller lifters are genetically blessed after all, at least as far as survival is concerned anyway. A lot of what you said reminds me of what I read in Doug Mcguffs book ultimate exercise bulletin. I think a lot of us get so wrapped up in getting bigger, when strength is actually more beneficial in our lives. Having inordinate strength and not much muscle is better than someone thats huge without much strength. Strength should be everyones prime target, it′s something thats usable in our daily lives, jobs etc… Size, when you think about it is not much more than a ego boost (which in all honesty we love!) so don′t lose sight of whats more functional to us, any size we do get is just a little reward for being that much stronger.

Good post!! that got me THINKING!!

Thanks for the feedback guys, I′m glad you appreciated my little thesis.

Sabotage, I made the decision to write the above after reading the same article by Dr McGuff, but I had actually been thinking along identical lines before I did, about how size comes second to efficiency, and how efficiency governs the survival of ones bloodline in nature.

You mentioned that we like to be big ′for the ego boost′, but now ask yourself, why would being big give you a greater sense of self worth? Now I′m going to be brutally honest with you here – years ago in my teens, long before I even knew who Mentzer was, I got into the gym because I wanted more sex, and I thought having bigger muscles would help me with this. Since then I haven′t grown alot bigger, but my strength has increased VASTLY, and despite not having a great deal of additional mass I did start to meet more women, and you know why? It was because of the greater sense of self confidence and worth which being strong had given me.

I dont feel ashamed to admit that was the reason why I got into the gym, after all, being wanted by the opposite sex is another essential element of survival. Ask yourself though, what is it that women seek in a ′mate′ more than anything?

STRENGTH!

Both mental AND physical! Because she also wants her bloodline to survive, and by combining her genes with those of a powerful man like you, the chances of that happening increase vastly, Physical size SUGGESTS to women that you might be strong, but this world we live in doesnt give a damn about mights and maybes, it cares only for those who can walk the walk and survive the tests that life throws at you.

If you are mentally strong enough to understand that actions speak louder than words, and mentally strong enough to capitalise upon what mother nature has given you, then whatever your venture in life you will ultimately succeed if you choose to