Does size really matter?

Are us men going to proclaim to the world that we work hard in the gym to feel better and look good for ourselves or admit that we like to look good to gain the attentions of a potential suitor?
Do we consider what women look for in the male physique before pumping iron or are we to busy getting massive so we can be the alpha male of the free weights room?
All this leads to the ultimate question, Does size matter???

It has been well documented that the females preferred physique of a male is the athletic build of a swimmer/footballer rather than the muscular hulk like bodybuilder/wrestler. With broad shoulders, toned abs, slim waist and muscular legs the athletic physique is proportionately sculpted.

I see guys daily in the free weights room lifting big weights, with dangerously poor technique, working on the vanity muscles, arms and chest. Im all about quality over quantity, so if that means dropping the weight down and performing the exercise properly then so be it. You'll actually get a better contraction through the muscles doing it slowly and controlled, rather than fast and erratic, therefore leading to better gains.
When did the male fixation with the chest and arms start? The disproportionate Johnny Bravo look is taking over with this new 'get hench or die trying' mentality contagiously spreading through the gym. The Johnny Bravo look has never been cool and I've never known a woman to yearn for a guy whose arms are bigger than his legs. When I posed the question to quite a few women about their favoured bodypart, the male glutes scored highly.
Why do some guys neglect the legs and back to focus all their time on the arms and chest. They are labelled the vanity muscles as purely simple its what can be seen in the mirror. Working on your back muscles will pull your shoulders back, leaving you with good posture and your chest pushed out more. The kite like look of the swimmer can be gained by doing pull ups which also work the large muscles of the back.
Now to the neglected legs, i'll let you guys in on a little secret, working uour legs and glute muscles boost the production of testosterone in the body which is the growth hormone needed for bigger muscles. So working your legs will boost the size of your chest and arms, who would of thought it.

Those who like to focus on gaining size are rarely found doing effective compound exercises. Don't waist time doing isolation exercises on the smaller muscles like bicep curls but focus more on the larger group muscles. Compound moves like Squats, Deadlifts, Pull Ups and Bench Press will lead you to getting the gains you desire.

While we leave the Johnny Bravo's to focus on the vanity muscles the rest of us who like a proportionate look Circuit Training is highly effective. Circuit Training can be every & anything as long as the method of doing numerous amounts of exercises one after the other without rest is followed. Ive introduced doing short sprint intervals in between each circuit set which will help me to keep lean while building muscle. Example: after i've done a circuit set I will jump straight on the treadmill, jog for 1min and sprint as fast as I can for 30secs, repeating this 3 times before returning back to my next circuit of exercises. Doing that workout I burn between 800-900 calories in 60mins.

One thing that deters me from the Johnny Bravo look is the mobility factor, I've seen buses turn and look more agile than some of these guys. With the constant lifting and curling your muscles get shorter leaving you very tight and immobile after a while. Over the last year i've introduced Bikram Yoga (yoga in 40degrees heat) which has helped to keep me flexible. With more flexible muscles your range of movement is improved leading to better quality performance during exercise. So its a good idea to dedicate some time to having a good stretch to loosen those tight muscles.

This are just my opinions that i'm sharing for an educational purpose, if the Johnny Bravo look is what you want then good on you. But having an serious body imbalance now could lead to issues later in life, so for that purpose I ask:

Does size really matter?

Written by

Erron Dussard
STONEiMAGE Management Ltd
www.stone-img.com
www.twitter.com/Stoneimage