image by: https://pixabay.com/en/users/Comfreak-51581/;
The calisthenics epidemic is reaching global proportions. More and more people are gathering at specially equipped playgrounds in order to do push-ups and flex their muscles for strangers walking in the park. Some of the guys are big. Very big. Many are muscular enough to pass for MIT (Men in Thongs a.k.a. bodybuilders).
Bodyweight kings give a lot of hope to the naive crowd wrongfully convinced that steroids exist only in the gym. For some illogical reason, people think that individuals who train with bodyweight exercise are always natural because the “excess bulk” would slow them down and prevent the learning of more advanced moves. Only a an individual whose steroid knowledge is limited to urban legends would fall for this baloney.
Here’s how the world really works: big bodyweight brahs pin their glutes with synthetic hormones just as hard as some gym rats.
As always, let’s start with a quick history lesson.
Back in the day gymnasts were small as hell.
Photos and videos from the past reveal that gymnasts have not always been the gigantic gorilla like creatures we see in muscle media today. In fact, most of them were rather small and average. Look at the video below if you don’t believe me.
This clip is from 1938. As you can see, most gymnasts in the video don’t look at all like the mass monsters we observe in the modern bodyweight/bar/gymnast community. There are many more vintage clips and photos that show the exact same thing – lack of mass compared to today.
What’s the reason for that? Has anything changed since then?
Training
You don’t have to be a gymnast or a rocket scientist to guess that gymnastic training has evolved tremendously. But is this really enough to explain the growth of today? I don’t think so. The athletes from the video above are doing some pretty advanced stuff on the rings such as the iron cross. The execution is not super clean, but more than adequate to count.
Furthermore, the evolution of gymnastic training is focused towards skill development – not mass. This is not bodybuilding. You don’t get extra points for nice biceps. In other words, hypertrophy is not the mission of the coach. The goal is to build a guy who can do the gymnastic stuff correctly. Therefore, the training techniques are oriented towards skill improvement rather than mass increase.
Most of the street workout guys can’t do the advanced gymnastic movements anyway. In most cases, the guys perform pull-ups, push-ups, dips, handstands, front lever, muscle-ups and some planches. Those are difficult exercises but not nearly as difficult as an iron cross or a maltese on the rings. And yet some of the street workout legends are twice the size of old school gymnasts. I don’t think training is the reason.
Nutrition
As far as I know, a protein is still a protein. Nothing fundamental has changed in the world of nutrition. If anything, one could argue that today the average humanoid eats worse food than before. We live in the era of McDonald’s and the like. That’s why attributing the new age growth to Earth-shattering breakthroughs in the field of nutrition is illogical.
Moreover, there are guys like Hannibal For King who take great pride in eating junk food.
Supplements
Supplements are nothing but processed food. They are a convenient way to increase your intake of specific substances, but they don’t have magic properties. One thing is certain – a protein shake before bed is not going to make you 195 lbs @ 5% body fat.
One has to be very gullible to trust the labels carefully designed by the marketing monkeys working for supplement companies.
Higher Testosterone Levels?
According to the scientific community, the testosterone levels of modern men are lower in comparison to previous generations. In other words, your grandfather had way more testosterone than you.
Studies say that during the last two decades testosterone’s shares have been falling by 1% every year. If this trend continues, men will soon be born with inverted dicks.
Why is that? What’s the reason for the drop?
There are many factors – food, lifestyle, social pressure.
I am not a scientist, but in my humble opinion, the number one reason is the slave world we live in. You can’t be a man anymore.
With the rise of new technologies and feminism, men and women have been sort of equalized.
I’ve worked many office jobs over the years. I spent 8 years in a department made out of 1 man and 8 women. According to some that should raise your testosterone levels because there’s a constant sexual stimulation, but that’s not true when the women next to you are hardcore anti-boner material. But even if they were models, sooner or later, the estrogen ocean around you will attack your soul.
My co-workers used to get on my nerves every single day. I hated their irrational thinking. I hated their moods swings. I hated their slow pace. But most of all, I hated their inability to see how ineffective, bitchy and naive they were.
Many employers prefer to hire a larger percentage of females because women are willing to work for less, don’t cause as many problems (oversensitivity and fear) and have a stronger desire to please. Thus, the male population in offices is often kept low.
The madness does not end here. The modern emasculation is larger than life and can be seen everywhere as well.
Many movies have been promoting the man-child model for a really long time. In most American sitcoms, there’s always a small and/or thin guy who behaves like a teenager even though he is 30 or older. A popular example that comes to mind is the Bing Bang Theory. Most of the guys there are men-children, aren’t they? Those guys are supposed to be elite scientists, and yet they seem scared of everything. Their women are the ones pulling the strings.
Furthermore, in many “romantic” movies men are presented as imperfect creatures that should do everything to earn the love of a woman and please her.
This creates a sense of unworthiness in males.
You are never good enough.
You dick is not big enough.
Your salary is too small.
Your biceps are too small.
You don’t last as long as the porn actors and have to enhance yourself with Viagra.
Women can now get pregnant in a lab, and therefore, you are almost useless.
The list goes on.
Many years ago, I watched a movie called Roger Dodger. During the intro, a guy explained why males will soon be degraded to sperm donors. It’s happening.
Another reason for the low testosterone levels among men is the rise of the average body fat percentage. Currently, it’s quite acceptable to be 20% body fat. Actually, 20% body fat is on the low side. Seeing a man over 25 years of age who doesn’t have a beer gut is becoming a rarity. Why is that bad? Simple: fat loves estrogen. The fatter you are; the more estrogen loves you. This is why bulking ala Rippetoe is a big no-no. Milk coupled with extra body fat turn you into a lactating cow carrying an estrogen bomb inside.
Why am I telling you all of this?
Simple: Testosterone is numero uno when it comes to growth and strength. Test is the motherfucker in charge of your muscular growth. Deadlifts can’t beat it. Squats can’t beat it. Barbell rows can’t beat it. Leg presses can’t beat it. Front levers can’t beat it. Planche push-ups can’t beat it. Food can’t beat it. Test is KING. It holds the future of your growth in its hands.
The drop of testosterone levels in males today suggests that we should be smaller – not bigger. And yet there are many “natural brahs” who are way larger than the guys from the past.
How is that possible? I already told you. It’s neither training nor nutrition – it’s steroids.
Steroids raise your testosterone levels to record highs. They make you a superman compared to the average person.
P.S. This is an excerpt from Training Focus.
The Truth
As always, the truth has been right in front of you the whole time.
The biggest guys in street workout/calisthenics/bodyweight training are not natural. Many are taking steroids in order to supplement their pull-ups and dips.
As anticipated, the naive brahs refuse to accept this truth. They want to believe in the “purity of bodyweight” training. Those poor souls are convinced that steroids and similar “cheat tactics” are saved for “narcissistic” bodybuilders and fitness models.
People will be people. We may do different things, but at the end of the day, our goals are exceptionally similar. For example, there are endless amounts of businesses in the world, but all of them have the same aims – money, freedom, growth.
The world of muscle is no different. Bodyweight training is just another way to generate muscle. Nobody starts training because push-ups are cool. People are after the looks. Skills and strength are secondary. That’s why we shouldn’t act surprised when we learn that there are bodyweight brothers who pin their glutes in order to get stronger and more muscular. After all, bodyweight training is just another business meant to generate muscle, sex appeal and money.
They aren’t all big.
The majority of the kids in the bar community are small and 100% natural unless you count the hormones contained in modern food (most of it is estrogen anyway). Very few are big. I would even go as far as saying that most look like exceptionally malnourished ectomorphs holding a strong grudge against leg training.
This is why I often advise desperate naturals to try bar training. You are less likely to go into severe depression and jump out of the window.
Vanity, Marketing, Social media whoring
You don’t have to be big to do bodyweight stunts. In fact, it’s detrimental. Each extra gram equals more weight that has to be lifted. That’s why there are plenty of fragile looking teens who can do some crazy stuff on the bars. Their muscles have adapted to the stress of bodyweight training.
The question is, why are so many calisthenics guys that big?
Vanity and marketing.
As cool as the bodyweight stunts may look, they don’t attract as much audience by themselves. Shredded muscles attract horny looks and overall attention more than anything.
What’s more impressive? A skinny fat guy doing 10 muscle-ups or a shredded mofo doing 1 muscle-up
Exactly.
In order to attract a crowd, you don’t have to be the best. People are not attracted to your skills. They are interested in your personality. There are many examples of champions who are boring and not loved despite being great at their respective sport. At the same time, there are average players who market themselves perfectly and build their personal brand.
For example, there are amateur gymnasts who can do way more advanced stuff than people like Lazar Novovic, Hannibal For King, Fortress, Zef…etc. And yet those guys don’t attract as much attention and don’t have a large following. The reason is not a lack of skills, but poor marketing.
I know a guy who started gymnastics at a relatively old age – 16 years old. Currently, he is about 30 years old and can do exceptionally advanced moves on the rings and has participated in many amateur competitions. Why isn’t he famous? He hasn’t built his brand. He hasn’t created the Hollywood illusion that people lust after.
So, how do you build your brand? How do you become a social media slut?
You spam the hell out of people with images of yourself sharpened in Photoshop. This is the eye candy that will captivate the attention of the crowd. However, that’s not enough to create the perfect illusion. The perfect illusion is complete only when people believe they can have the same thing. Only then people will listen to the piper.
P.S. Instagram motivation helps a lot.
Let’s look at some bar stars and think.
source: YouTube.com
Lazar Novovic – a very famous man in the world bodyweight training. Legend has it that the guy got huge doing push-ups, pull-ups and dips. According to one of his transformation videos, he is about 6’1” @ 194 lbs {huge numbers} and has body fat in the single digits. Hmm… Those stats are exceptionally similar to those of Jeff Seid – a guy accused of being a questionable natty by many.
Lazar technically fits in the guide for natties (barely), but that doesn’t mean he is natural. There are people who are smaller than him and juice their brains out. Not to mention that he is pretty young for a muscled hero and is already at the limits.
One thing is certain – he has exceptional muscle quality that many bar athletes who can do the exact same stuff or even more don’t.
One example would be Tazio Biondo. This man can one arm pull-ups for days and yet he doesn’t look nearly as built as Lazar, Hannibal for King, Adam Raw, Juice BeastMode or other Gods of the Bars. Why is that? Some will say that he doesn’t follow a proper muscle building diet. Others will say that he doesn’t have the right genetics. Both of these statements could be partially right. Some guys don’t have the genetics to build massive muscle mass. However, very often genetics are used as a cover-up hiding shadow pinning.
Bottom line: Many of you will do your push-ups, dips and pull-ups without ever getting visually close to a guy like Hannibal or Lazar. End of story.
Forgot about
Dre
ZYZZ?
Not many realize it, but Aziz Shavershian /better known as Zyzz/ had stats similar to those or Adam Raw, Lazar Novovic and other bar stars. He was about 6’1″ and fluctuating between 190 – 210 lbs depending on the occasion. The man was open about his steroid use and didn’t play the natural card.
Of course, many will say that Zyzz had to use drugs because of his wild party lifestyle. They will try to convince you that you can look like Zyzz naturally if you just go to bed at the right time and eat your vegetables. That’s a fairy tale, of course. A fairy tale that only naive kids could believe.
I don’t care how many hours you sleep. I don’t care about vegetables either. There is a threshold that cannot be overcome with protein powder and power naps.
Try it if you don’t believe me. Sleep, train hard and eat right. You can also be a sweet brah a.k.a. vegan. Call me when you transform from an ectomorph into a 200 lbs shredded muscle monster.
Also, keep in mind that most of the big guys in street workout aside from Hannibal are pretty young – under 25-26. In other words, they got to that level in only a few years of training. Can you imagine how big they will be in 5 years? Phil Heath you better get ready.
Hannibal For King
Oh, man. This guy comes with some gold. He has/had an obvious gynecomastia. There are videos in which his nipples look ready to lactate. I understand that gyno does not equal steroid use by default, but when you are close to 40, it’s a little hard to explain it with puberty, isn’t it?
Moreover, Hannibal has said many times that he eats junk food very often, and yet he is super lean 24/7. He is close to 5-7% body fat – a state that is very hard to reach and maintain if you are an average dude.
In the video below, Hannibal For King obviously has gynecomastia. Both of his nipples display that condition. To see it, go to 3:27.
In case the video is deleted from YouTube or you can’t play it due to technical reasons, here’s a snapshot.
Adam Raw
Adam Raw is a huge guy – 6’1″/185 cm @ 209 lbs/95 kg @ 7-10% body fat. Those stats are monstrous.
Can you imagine what would happen if he suddenly started taking roids and train like a bodybuilder? Big Ramy 2?
via: http://www.rooshvforum.com
Convincing People Seems to Be a Waste of Time
Convincing people is a major waste of time for the most part. The more you try to persuade someone, the more he pushes you back. It’s a self-preservation mechanism. People want to protect their beliefs more than anything. They don’t want to change their personal worlds. It hurts too much.
That’s why I no longer argue with too much passion. To me, the facts are clear. Whether you want to see them or not, is up to you.
Besides, I have found out that the best way to convince people is to let them crash. Only when the pupils have done all the push-ups and pull-ups shown by the bar stars, they will learn that getting to 190-200 lbs of shredded muscle is not a walk in the park. Nothing convinces as well as personal experience.
Q: Should I give up if they are not natural?
Not at all. Bodyweight training is great for the upper body and the core. You can develop exceptional upper body strength naturally with the help of a proper bodyweight program, although limiting yourself to just bodyweight stuff is simply not needed.
Don’t give up. Just adjust your expectations and move on.