There are as many ways to lift weights, as there are stars in the sky. Or at least that is what the muscle building magazines would have us believe. If there weren't, then how can they print a new way to build arms, or abs, or quads in every issue that is printed? Every month there is a new issue with a new and different way to get bigger.

My question to these magazines is'If there are so many great ways to build my muscles, then how come the gyms are not full of big muscles? Shouldn't everyone who uses these weight lifting techniques be a head turner? Or at least have a great body within a few months?

For many years I have tried many of these different routines, but I didn't see much of a difference?where were my massive muscles? I followed the techniques in the magazines, but didn't look anything like I wanted. What was I doing wrong? Was it just me? Then I look around at all of the other people in the health club, and over the years that I have been a member, I didn't see any massive growth in any of them. Maybe none of us were using these techniques correctly?

Or could it be that the magazines are just trying to keep us getting their issues by telling us that this month is the best technique ever, and we will not want to miss this exercise?! They sure have been suckering us for a long time. And you know, we keep falling for it. How many years have you bought these magazines hoping that this issue will show you the secrets that you have been wanting to get that great body? I fell for it for more than just a couple of years.

Granted, there are some excellent articles in these magazines. I do like to read them, but as far as having a good way for building muscle'it just isn't there, in my opinion. In fact, some of them can be quite complicated, with their formulas and math. I am not a math wizard, and the last thing I wanted to do when I go to the gym was to do math. I mean, lifting is physical. Going out and doing math problems was not in my plans for getting bigger.

Now, I can see taking other parts of my life into consideration, like sustenance, exercise, recovery. That just goes hand-in-hand with getting massive. It is funny how the MDs are always trying to tell us what to eat, but they don't even take a nutrition class. If they know so much, how come so many doctors are so fat? OK, enough of that, let me come down from my soap box.

We are all different, so maybe one won't work exactly the same for everybody, but all muscles work the same (contracting to work against a weight), and are made up of protein, so it seems that all of these magazine exercises are sort of wasting everybody's time. Why should I have to work a muscle hundreds of different ways to get it to grow bigger? Doesn't making it move against a heavy weight make it work harder, and thus grow bigger?

The magazines are trying to tell us that muscles need to exercise many different ways to be able to increase in size, and we will never see enough ways to lift to get our muscles to grow. The magazines have the best way to work-out every month for many years, so we should keep buying them. I say bolder-dash!