Notpuff for the next few months take note of people who you see in the gym that never change. They will be the ones using the same weight every time on exercises every time they go in the gym. These are the people who go 135, 185, 225 on the bench every time its chest day. Your best freinds in the gym are the 2.5lb plates--your very best buds!!! You put those 2.5lb plates on that bar every time you bench press for 52 weeks and now your bench is 250lbs more at the end of the year! That would in my mind be another inch to inch + half thickness on your chest. Can it be done? probaly not at that rate but TRYING TO DO IT will get you alot bigger than doing what 98% of the people in the gym do. Unless you are gifted genetically to build muscle at a dizzying rate (most people arent) the largest people in your gym will also be the ones heaving up the heaviest weights. Do you think they started out that way? No they were probaly 175lb guys who bulldozed their way up to that level. A perfect example are male strippers. (No offence Dancer) These guys use a boatload of drugs on par with hardcore competitive bodybuilders. After an initial phase where they grow off of steroids like everyone else--their growth stops (like forever)---Why? because they arent eating 500 grams of protein a day and dont fight and claw their way to 500lb bench presses and 700lb squats and deadlifts. They stay on the drugs for years and years while stripping but dont go beyond that 200 to 220lb range. So much for juice being the total equalizer. I dont know why everyone makes this such an elite science when in actuality its pretty cut and dry. If you keep a training log and note your weights used for the next 5 years and find they are still the same you will pretty much look "still the same" in 5 years. If you double all your poundages in the next five years in everything, your going to be a thick motherfucker.....If someone ever took a ratio of people who dont make gains to people who do, it would be pitiful. I would venture to say that 95% of people in gyms across this country arent gaining muscle and are wasting their time. The best advice I could ever give a guy starting out lifting is "go train with an established powerlifter" ----Fact: Dorian Yates and Flex Wheeler used drugs (Flex (straight from the persons mouth who gave him shots for a very long time)used some of the most abusive amounts I have ever heard of) Do you think Dorian Yates had the genetic gifts that Flex Wheeler had? Not a chance yet Yates willed himself with brutal slag iron to be utterly massive....On the other hand flex does his 3 sets of 10 reps with 185lbs and goes home. Yates hit 318 in the offseason and 270lbs at his contest peak. Wheeler I believe topped out at 265 offseason and 238 or so contest. Wheeler had the better physique yet Yates won by being so overpowering. Think it out.
Oh by the way take a look at the Yates who is a lowland mountain gorilla--this is ridiculous. I believe he was 297lbs here at a guest posing.
everybody out there gains 90LBs? if that was true noone in this world would be unhappy with their gains. Every 175 kid in the gym would be 265lbs in 18 months...cmon skylor we know thats not happening. If anyone in this forum thinks they will get massive--squatting 200lbs and benching 185lbs you really need to choose another activity. THE PEOPLE WHO MAKE THE GREATEST STRENGTH GAINS OVER TIME WILL MAKE THE GREATEST SIZE GAINS OVER TIME ACCORDING TO THEIR GENETIC POTENTIAL. If skylor and notpuff never get anywhere close to their ultimate strength levels(AT WHATEVER REP RANGE) they will never get to their utmost level of potential size.
Dorian took off major time after he stopped competing and lost alot of the weight he had on him. He is 235-245lbs now and happy at that weight-- after training for a while. What does he have left to prove? The man doesnt have to walk around at 280lbs to garner respect....the guy ruled the roost for almost a decade. More power to him that he doesnt feel the peer pressure to be "inhumanly massive"
I saw another guy in this thread talk about doing one warmup and then an all out set and complained of injuries. WHY THE HELL ARE YOU COUNTING WARMUPS? If it takes you 6 sets to warm up or if it takes only two it doesnt matter--ITS A WARMUP!!! Its only to get you ready for your main one or two sets on an exercise. Do as many warmups as it takes you to feel ready....Dont live or die by warmup sets---they dont count!!! If I went in and did one warmup on rack deadlifts at 135x6 and then went right for 650 for 10 for my main set Im asking for a slew of injuries! Notpuff the only thing I keep hearing you say to people is "you must have good genetics" ---well if you have bad genetics isnt that more of a reason to maybe take some of this info in?! I dont see any pros on this board....many of these guys dont have superior genetics for building muscle fast. I know for sure I dont have genetics ala coleman or cutler. But I know this--if i stuck around doing supersets and volume training with poundages 250lbs and lower for the last 8 or so years, Id be nowhere close to what I am now. WHY THE HELL IS FLEX WHEELER--THE BODYBUILDER WITH THE GREATEST GENETICS ON THIS PLANET a small pro? Ill tell you why--his training is laughable. Do you think Ed Coan has incredible genetics for muscle building? No he probaly has middle of the road genetics. But if you think Ed Coan would be anywhere as large muscularly as he is right now by doing volume training and the typical 225 benches, 250 squats and 225 deadlifts your fooling yourself. Do not confuse a strong guy who is small with someone who makes himself brutally stronger over time. IT IS STRENGTH GAINS over time that is the key----its not "oh Stickboy over there can bench 315 and he looks like crap"---well Stickboy was granted god given strength...thats just great....so what? Now if Stickboy works his ass off, and eats correctly and brings that 315 bench up to a 550lb bench then you will see some major muscle gains (up to the point his genetics allow). Im not a HIT or periodization or any voodoo disciple--I follow my own methods and plans as I am sure instynct and Iron Addict do. But the baseline for all of our methods seem to be the same thing---"what can we do to become the strongest individuals that our genes will allow?"----I havent come across an individual yet that was determined, listened to me 100% and did not miss meals who I could not turn into a person who hears "are you a bodybuilder" or "wow your big" in his travels. I think "complaining about genetics" is sometimes a cop out for people who dont really have what it takes to get to that "full bore" level of intensity that inches you up the muscle ladder.
isolation and high rep exercises? Ever see his video? 805 deadlifts for 2 reps, 765 for 6 reps deads, front squats with 600lbs for 6, 200lb dumbells being thrown all over the place for chest, miliatary presses 315 for 12 and he has done a double with 405. Muscular Development should be embarrassed to print such idiocy. I believe Coleman was clean or close to it (Texas A+M could probaly say better than I could) when he was powerlifting and when he was an amateur bodybuilder. He won the Natural Universe and got his pro card at roughly 220-230lbs shredded to the bone and if that was natural or close to it---thats about 270lbs offseason and would be a huge natural bodybuilder. Since that time he has hooked up with Chad Nichols and blasted (with juice) up to his current 265lbs contest weight and 320lbs offseason. He trains heavier now than he ever did.... The man has used extremely heavy weights and powerlifting fundamentals to become the most massive bodybuilder walking this planet.
Skylor here is a question for you-----Who is the last incredibly massive bodybuilder you have seen (juice or not)who couldnt incline 405, squat 550, deadlift 550. I am talking freak-massive ala dorian, kovacs, francois, etc.....there are slew of guys in gyms using mega amounts of steroids on par with pros who are no where close to a pro's size.....some with sucky to mediocre genetics, yet some with superb genetics. But the pro's using weights that are up there in the stratosphere are by and large the most freakish. These are pros we are talking about, who all have superior genetics. Do you think Yates, Francois, Cormier etc all just had natural genetics for incredible strength, not ever having to work for it? Jean Paul Guilliame is the only clean professional bodybuilder I ever trusted is truly clean. The man is a smaller pro training without the juice yet trains incredibly heavy for his size--405lb squats rock bottom for up to 20 reps and his wheels are incredible.
Now if you got guys doing massive amounts of steroids in gyms around america---who are not putting on appreciable size because they train with light weights----- what in your right mind could make you think you will gain appreciable amounts of muscle mass as a natural training light?!?! One million people in the United States have admitted to using steroids--1 million!!! That is one out of every 300 people walking around. How many big people do you see out there? Not many. It sure isn't close to 1 million---- because 90% of those people have no clue in the world on what needs to be done.....
ugh I disagree with this totally and I am probaly the wrong person to ask this. My mindset is "accumalation of muscle, accumalation of muscle"....losing fat takes 3-4 months of cardio...building huge amounts of muscle is 6-10 years of brutally heavy lifting. You can lean out by doing some simple things and still gain muscle at an optimal rate---keep your complex carbs low to trace after 6pm (meaning meals should be something to the effect of protein and vegetables etc)----on your day off do 45 minutes of cardio first thing in the morning--you will be able to keep lean year round doing this if your strict with it. Secondly what do you think is the first thing that is going to come off with that bodyfat if you go on a strict fat loss program right after you put some muscle on? Any and all new muscle you might of just put on.....there is something to be said of density and I see this happen time and time again with competitors---they set a goal of something to the effect of weighing 260 offseason---as soon as they get there they start dieting---they get shredded and lose almost all muscle they just put on recently too. Another guy who gets to 260, stays there for (at least) 6 months and then starts dieting holds on to a great deal of muscle he had put on in the last year and a half or so.
well if it was lifting and drugs we would have a slew of huge people in gyms walking around ---but we dont....we have a majority of guys doing drugs and lifting weighing 180 to 218lbs and then we have a few individuals who realized to be truly large you have to eat truly large. Like the old saying--if you want to be 300 you better eat like the guy who is 330 to get there. On a personal level--I absolutely love my workouts--40 minutes tops--ill go in and warmup on the hammer chest machine for 3-4 sets and then hit one absolutely brutal rest pause set for 15 reps RP and then a 20 second static. Ill do the same for shoulders on the smythe front press (rest paused) and then finish up with triceps with reverse grip bench presses (rest paused) on the smythe. Everything has to be more weight than last time and its 15 reps RP or "death to my unworthy soul"---LOL then I do my extreme stretches and leave---all thats easy.
Then I have to go home and eat a meal consisting of at least 75 to 120 grams of protein every freaking 2.5 hours of every damn day----that truly is a monotonous, tedious chore I agree with you....nothing sucks more than looking at a clock at 11pm at night knowing i have to swallow down 4 more hardboiled eggs with this protein drink sitting in front of me.
Heres a simple way of putting it---lets say we have Joe Stickboy weighing 150lbs and benching 135x6 and squatting 185x6. What would be the fastest point you could get Joe Stickboy from 150 to 300lbs of muscle? The absolutely fastest way from point A to point B would to get Joe Stickboy to his genetic limit of strength on every exercise he uses. If Joe stickboy sticks with 135lb benches and 185lb squats and supersets, giant sets, superslowmos, etc etc etc various other lifting methods do you think Joe is going to even weigh 225lbs in 2 years? I would have Joe stickboy eating 350grams of protein a day to start with and with every weight gain he would stay 50 grams over double his bodyweight. He would low carb it at 5pm and only take in lower carb vegetables and proteins at that point. How do I get him as strong as possible? I rest pause him as I have never seen any method get anyone stronger than rest pausing. If I make Joe do 6-15 sets a bodypart he will only be able to lift bodyparts once a week so he will only grow 52 times a year. So I will have Joe do one exercise per bodypart for one working rest pause set every 3-4 days so in a years time Joes gaining strength and growing 78 plus times a year. Joe will keep a log and he will beat every damn exercise with more weight or more reps as long as he possibley can. When he gets to sticking points I change his exercise he is stuck on and then get him brutally strong on that next one. Im making Joe into a food processing (high protein), fat burning (lowcarb PM), heavy slag iron lifting machine. Im extreme stretching Joe out for flexibility, fascia and enhanced recovery.(and possibley hyperplasia although noone knows for sure if that can happen yet) He is using everything in his power (creatine, glutamine) to help his strength gains and recovery along. The day I get Joe Stickboy incline benching 405lbs for 6-12 reps, squatting 500lbs deep for 20 reps, deadlifting 500-600lbs for 6-15 reps Joe wont ever be complaining he doesnt have enough size because everyone will be coming up to him for advice.
your totally confusing strength gains vs absolute strength. Powerlifters try to stay in weight classes and curb back food intake to do so. I know many extrememly strong 150-200lbers--thats god given strength not strength gains. You take any powerlifter in this world in the lighter classes and put him on a high protein non calorie restricted gaining diet (which isnt what he is doing trying to stay in weight classes) and Ill show you a powerlifter who has tremendous size increases. If you dont think strength equals size you might want to rethink what bodybuilding training is all about. In simple terms you lift a load your muscle can do 2 different things (tear which is rare and what we dont want) or adapt and get larger to hold every increasing loads. If you curl a 35lb dumbell today and 10 years from now your curling a 35lb dumbell do you think your arm is going to gain 6 inches in size!?!? Ive written on this at length on both AE and on cycles for pennies and I dont want to rewrite all that. I just cant fathom that people think they can lift the same weights for the next 5-10 years and think they are going to be dramatically larger. If strength doesnt equal size show me one extremely large bodybuilder who is lifting the exact same weights as when he started training (there is none). Largest bodybuilders pound for pound per inch of height on this planet= was Dorian Yates, Ronnie Coleman, Kovacs, Tom Prince etc ---those are also astonishingly strong people who have blasted up heavier and heavier poundages from day one.
Statistics: Posted by nextlevel — Mon Nov 25, 2013 1:44 am