Big muscles vs Stable Functional Muscles

Many avid gym goers focus on strengthening the larger muscle groups in their body, and solely do lifts that are stationary or that don’t require the body to work together as a complete unit. The majority of these people lack of muscle balance and muscle stability. Therefore, although they may seem strong by lifting heavy weights, they are weak when it comes to functional movements. For example, if someone you know has a very high bench max but a low squat max, no matter how big he/she looks, that person will not be strong when it comes to perform some movements such as pushing. Simply because pushing is a functional movement that engages many muscles in your body and requires a strong base and core. 

The basis behind all of these is stability. I know everyone wants to have the biggest arms in the gym, show off how much they can lift, and not be the one doing the small “wimpy” exercises that focus on the small muscles. However, people shouldn’t care about what others think, since having big muscles and not being able to do anything in real life with them is simply pointless. People should focus more on building strong, functional muscles. Therefore, go ahead and focus on multiple joint exercises, and try to involve as many muscle groups as you can in a single exercise. This does not mean that you have to do weird exercises, you just have to be a little creative and apply this philosophy in basic exercises. For example, I personally hold my legs straight out when I bench. This works my abs which in return isolates my chest and prevent me from cheating. Therefore, it not only engages other muscles, but it also make the muscle that I am trying to work, even stronger. There are many other ways to incorporate these philosophy into your workout. Moreover, when doing these, it is important to focus more on your legs and core than anything else. Have you ever heard someone say “use your abs” when trying to balance? Well that is because it is the center of your body and in order to be able to balance, your core needs to be strong.

Although I will not get into specific workouts, I encourage you to make some small steps by searching or creating ways to enhance each exercise you do by involving your body. Focus in stabilization, even if it means using light weights. In the long run it will be worth it! Stability is strength. Being athletic and having functional muscles, is far better than just having big useless muscles.