Training for Strength not Size

When I was younger I used to go to the gym a lot, and do push ups, and chin ups, and other exercise, all with one goal in mind: I wanted to get bigger.  I have always been skinny and I wanted to 'bulk up' and be as big as everyone else. 

As a skinny guy doing strength exercises you will get bigger than you otherwise would have been.  Maybe you will be noticeably bigger, or maybe it won’t be all that noticeable to anyone.  If you could compare yourself pre training and post training you would be happy with the results.  

But you most likely won’t compare your current self to your previous self.  You will be far more likely to compare yourself to Average Joe who is always going to be larger than you even if you are totally shredded and he is hideously unfit.  Due to this you will always fail, and if you are anything like I was you then give up trying.  

If you are skinny and you stop exercising you will likely end up skinny fat.  This is the worst of both worlds, you will look skinny, and you will have the poor health outcomes that go along with being fat.

Training for human flag - almost there

As a skinny person trying to blend in with the rest of society, you will most likely ignore 'true strength' and focus mostly on one of least impressive forms of strength: 'bulk'.  

Bulk certainly has advantages, and can be used to build some truly incredible power.  Bulk also brings presence to any situation that has the potential to turn dangerous.  But bulk in itself is not true strength, and as a skinny person you will never attain bulk no matter what you do.  

If you are skinny you need to forget about trying to bulk up, and aim for strength.  A skinny person who does strength training will likely get a little larger than they otherwise were.  If you do become noticeably larger that is a bonus, but getting bigger should not be your goal.

One of the issues with a skinny guy going to the gym is that people will put you down simply because you are thin.  It doesn’t matter if you lift twice the weight someone else is lifting while doing triple the number of reps, they will still make nasty comments at and about you because you are skinny.  If anyone ever hears you are going to the gym they will make some disparaging comment and will say something about you trying to look like Arnold Schwarzenegger.  They would never make this comment to an average sized guy, or to someone overweight, but they will make it to you if you are thin.

If your intention is to get bigger, to try and blend in with everyone else, then this kind of opposition will deflate you as it steals your motivation and drive.  You will inevitably fail because you are focusing on the wrong area, you are focusing on size rather than strength.  You need to change your focus.  You need to focus on building strength.

Others who have no concept of genetics or metabolism will tell you that you are too skinny and ‘you should just eat more’.  Or they will tell you how much you should be grateful because they wished they could lose a little weight.  Or how much they wish they could give you some of their weight.  Again, all of this is focused on the wrong thing.  It is focused on size, not on strength.  

I used to try desperately to get bigger, and it was absurd, I should have tried to get stronger.  Most skinny people who do gain weight by merely eating more will gain fat around their organs, which is the most dangerous type of fat.

Training for strength and balance

Now that I am older I have learned a lot more.  I now know that skinny people should go to the gym, and should do push ups, and should do other exercise.  They should do this not to get bigger, not to bulk up, but to get stronger.  Not stronger than someone else, not even to get as strong as an average person.  Stronger than you would otherwise be.  This will make you healthy, and no amount of haters telling you that you look scrawny can take your strength from you.

When I was a university student I got a free gym pass and could go whenever I wanted to go.  I found a time early in the morning after the gym junkies had left but before the slobs arrived, where I had about two hours to train by myself.  There was another time in the afternoon when most people were either in lectures or at college meal halls where I had another hour or two almost to myself.  These were my times where I could work out without being made fun of by people who were only there to talk and walk on a treadmill.

I went to that gym, day in day out, once or twice a day, for many months.  I got incredibly strong.  I weighed about 64kg and could bench press 15 reps of 90-100kg.  I could use any of the weights machines and lift the entire weight stack.  I could do 15 chin ups or 15 pull ups with added 40kg weight.  I used to do ‘human flag’ on a street pole out the front when no one was around (I did it when no one was around because I was embarrassed by being so thin).  I looked similar to before except my veins were huge pythons.  Yet I felt like a failure because I was still skinny.  I failed because I wanted to fit in, when I should have been happy with my impressive strength

I am older now, my recovery time is not what it used to be, I have far less time to train, and I have ongoing injuries that cause me severe pain.  Only now am I training for strength, and I am starting to be able to do some impressive things.

I wish I could go back in time and talk to my younger self.  I wish I could tell my younger self to focus on strength and stop trying to chase bulk.  Had I done that I would have trained better and I would have attained far greater strength.  

Training for front lever - I'm not there yet

I know better now, and I encourage people to train for strength.  I train using a system called “Prochnost”.  

Prochnost' (прочность, pronounced proach-nests) is the Russian word that means strength.  It can also be translated to endurance, durability, toughness, stability, hardness, solidity, etc.  Seems rather fitting if you ask me.  

Prochnost' training is very similar to calisthenics.  It is aimed at building true strength and physical capability such as balance.  Unlike many other training systems it is not focused on looks.  You probably will look better as you will gain muscle and lose fat, but that is not the aim, you certainly will be a lot stronger and more healthy.  Prochnost' training is a good training system for skinny people and larger people alike. 

Prochnost' training means I am stronger now than I have been in over a decade.  As you can see in the photos above, I am still learning and I am still skinny.  I have learned a lot and increased my strength substantially, and I will likely be learning for the rest of my functional life.