As I’ve mentioned in previous articles, I have been training with weights now for 25+ years. I don’t regret all those hours I’ve spent in the gym. I’ve never joined a bodybuilding or powerlifting competition, but I’ve built and maintained a decent physique. Being bigger, stronger, leaner, and healthier than the average person has enhanced my life tremendously.
But I did make quite a few mistakes along the way. I’d like to share three of these with you so that you can learn from my mistakes:
1. I had unrealistic expectations
I grew up watching Arnold on the big screen. It made sense to invest in his Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding in order to learn more about building muscle (I’m sure my copy is still in the basement somewhere). I remember flipping through the pages, awestruck at pictures of him and other bodybuilders. One of my favorite photos was of him doing curls on an incline bench.
Pictures and videos of professional bodybuilders did inspire me to work harder in the gym. But here’s the problem: I was completely naive regarding the significant role anabolic steroids had in building their physiques. If Arnold could build 19-inch arms, surely I could build 17 or 18-inch arms naturally–right?
I would later learn that steroids are the ultimate game-changer, and comparing myself to someone using gear is an exercise in futility. These drugs do make a big difference, and anyone who says otherwise is delusional. Don’t believe me? Well, consider this study in which subjects gained more muscle by sitting on the couch and taking steroids than those who trained without them.
In other words, I had unrealistic expectations about what a genetically typical, drug-free trainee could achieve naturally. Looking back I see two problems this caused:
It made it more difficult for me to celebrate my achievements
There’s nothing wrong with pursuing goals and challenging yourself to be better. But I had a tendency to constantly compare myself to my before-mentioned idols. If I had it all to do over I would have just enjoyed what I had accomplished (which is what I do now).
It gave me an obsession with being bigger
Here’s one other thing I should mention regarding getting big: women like guys who are lean and muscular, but only to a point (research backs this up, by the way). Most women aren’t looking to date a 250-pound bodybuilder, and none of them care how much you bench press. Let that sink in before you spend too much time obsessing over your one-rep max.
2. I spent way too much money on supplements
I graduated college and became gainfully employed in the early 90’s. This era was pretty wild as far as the bodybuilding supplement industry goes. Just to give you an idea, GHB (the “date rape” drug) was once widely available online. The deep sleep it induced was thought to help with growth hormone secretion.
I should point something out before I go any further: not all the supplements I discovered during this time were worthless. One of the first I learned about, for example was the “EC Stack” (Ephedrine and Caffeine) for fat loss. This was back before the meth epidemic, and you could buy ephedrine over the counter at any convenience store. Creatine monohydrate and whey protein also came out in the 90’s, and both of these turned out to be worthwhile.
But most of the other stuff I bought was a complete waste of money. I was all too eager to buy the latest pill, powder, or potion that promised new gains. I’m not sure exactly how much money I wasted, but I’d love to have all that cash back in my pocket.
3. I didn’t invest enough time and money in solid training information
Much of what I learned in the weight room came through trial and error during the early years. I mindlessly threw around weights without really putting much thought into how heavy I should lift, how many sets and reps I should do, how I should cycle my intensity, etc. This is unfortunate, because there was already a plethora of information available during that time.
I eventually learned about periodization, deloading, and other training methods that powerlifters have been using for decades. I would have reached my goals much more quickly if I had been more intentional in learning what works.
Now there’s really no excuse to be ignorant of effective training methods. There is plenty of good training information available online (both free and in the form of books and digital products).
Hopefully you can learn from some of my muscle building mistakes. Use your mind when you build your body.
Read More: The Truth About Anabolic Steroids
I didn’t have much success with the EC stack for weight loss, but man, did it shoot my energy and focus through the roof.
If your diet is not in check, the EC stack won’t do much.
Good article , I especially liked the expectations / reality . Being muscular past a certain point is a hindrance . I prefer the idea of functional strength , I train large muscle group to fatigue then I train smaller groups with balance excerise. I only swim and run because the only thing lifting weights makes you better at is lifting weights .
please, no one listen to this guy or anyone else who discourages you from weight training. i agree with not obsessing about muscle size, but lifting is an awesome way to counteract aging and stay healthy. i used to do P90X and insanity and got decent results, but i’m leaner, more athletic looking, and have way more energy and feel better since i shifted to just lifting. i’m in my mid-40s and people often think i’m 10 years younger.
swimming seems good too, but running is something i’d recommend only if you really like running and are willing to risk long term knee and back problems from the high impact. if you just want to be fit and look good, there are far better options out there than running.
P90x ? Sounds like people shouldn’t take your advice. That crap is a Jane Fonda workout for men . Funny though , it actually does include alot of body weight exercises . But tell me you think you’re going to get shredded like Tony doing that routine over and over again ? Or just lifting ? That guy has a diet , supplement, drug regiment you could never afford. Lifting is only pleasing to the eye unless you do power or oly and even then that is purely for building strength . Doing curls to make your arms look bigger is like a woman using heels for her ass .Why not go outside , go for a hike , run , swim …you know working out the way your body intended you too.
i got decent results from P90X and insanity. lots of compliments from my coworkers on how i looked leaner and more fit. if you’ve tried it and haven’t, your diet was probably off. that’s the #1 thing that keeps people from looking better with beachbody’s workouts. it even says in the P90X manual that if you don’t do the diet, you’ll get in better shape but you won’t look better (to be honest, i didn’t follow the diet in the book, but i eat very healthy).
anyway, like i said, weight training is far better for fitness, health and looking good, if you do it right. you mentioned curls. don’t focus on simple movements like curls, tri kickbacks, and shrugs. think exercises like squats, dead lifts, lunges, pull-ups, dumbbell and barbell rows, stuff that uses lots of muscles together and works. sure, do walking and swimming too if you enjoy that stuff, but don’t skip the weights. if you’re not getting results from lifting, you’re probably doing it wrong (e.g. focusing on curls, having no plan in the gym, lack of intensity) and again, your diet is probably off.
this guy is a favorite of mine and has a lot of good info on weight training and how it slows aging. check out his pic, at age 60:
http://roguehealthandfitness.com/
This article was for middle aged exercisers. Your bike, run, swim, prance, frolic stuff does not maintain muscle as someone gets older. Look at 55 year old serious runners’ bodies. They are wastoids and possibly less healthy than pudgy sedentary men in terms of fighting off disease.
We get that you don’t like lifting but you’re trying to pass it off as pure vanity, like it’s tanning or waxing. It’s a stupid take. Squatting, deadlifting and pressing lead to hgh in the body, muscle growth and the overall message to your cells that they ‘GROW’ instead of ‘DIE’. It’s way too complex for you to make those flippant comments. It’s essential but if you’d rather go skipping through the park then go for it. Don’t forget your cartwheels and somersaults. Take down the Clint photo. You’re not worthy.
I got into studying the elimination of toxins from the human body, and minimal exercising and a nothing extreme diet, and I’m getting a six pack I never had when I was exercising 2 hrs a day in high school.
You mean prancercise doesn’t work???https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-50GjySwew
I mentioned oly and power lifting as benefiting in terms of pure strength , you not pick at what I say. The only men who have decrepted bodies are marathon runners . . A combination of swimming , running , and hiking is what I said that does not mean you go run a marathon . You can say whatever you like . I train with plenty of older men who follow this routine along with body weight exercises and are not only fit but flexible . Tell me all you want about , I used to by in to it . Then I found that more functional strength came from body weight and balance exercise and considering I’ve fought mma, kickboxxed and wrestled I know what functional strength is . But since you gentlemen seem to enjoy your Jane Fonda workouts and are probably cross fitters on the side I’ll let you have at it. Also , I’m allowed to have am opinion that differs from yours . You tell I don’t deserve the Clint Eastwood avatar but I’m not the one acting like a little kid because someone has a different method of training
i believe that, just based on the changes i’ve seen since cutting out wheat, soy, and most sugar a little over a year ago. even though my diet is far better than the average middle-aged office worker, i always feel like i could improve. do you have any favorite books or website about detoxing?
That’s Monco.
Jane Fonda was the cardio/aerobic fiend, you nut. That’s YOU, not us.
Weightlifting is functional strength, by definition. Weightlifting is the body functioning. Joints, muscle, natural body levers all functioning together to move weight. It’s not artificial weight just because it’s not like you, hauling firewood or something badass, right?
You bodyweight mystics end up so far up your own asses.
She certainly has a well-developed camel toe.
CureZone and EarthClinic have many suggestions and I’ve read more studies than I can count on PubMed. The things that did the most for me were lugols solution, occasionally drinking alkaline water(kidneys eliminate a different set of toxins when urine is alkaline). Gram Level doses of VitC may have helped but I’m less sure. Activated Charcoal and Diatomaceous Earth take care of any headache,acne, allergic reaction the above might cause. If you have or get joint pain 10-15 mg boron/day will take care of it. Activated Charcoal is an amazing substance, as I mentioned to someone else here, take a teaspoon and a half in water before you go out drinking and just TRY to get a hangover. Oil Pulling can have surprisingly good effects too. A few days of below laxative amount of castor oil seems to reset your liver. As I did these things over time, I probably lost around 15 pounds, with my abs starting to show. My exercise tolerance went up drastically as well with minimal training. Its my lazy mans way to fitness.
I have a philosophy that I go by that may help you. It goes like this:
If you eat something in its raw, natural state and it doesn’t make you sick or kill you, it was put on this Earth for you to eat. I’m excluding if it’s contaminated with a pathogen like E-coli.
I’m not saying you eat it raw all the time. You can cook it and make whatever dish.
With that said, you can eliminate all grains and legumes. You can’t eat those raw without getting a stomach upset. Grains are wheat, corn, rice, oatmeal, quinoa, etc. Legumes are beans, soy beans, peanuts, etc.
Even potatoes.
All you are left with are eggs, meats, vegetables, fruits, dairy, and nuts. If you have allergies to some of these, then you are unfortunate.
Of course, avoid processed foods in a wrapper or eat very minimally processed foods.
Hope this helps.
nice. i’ll have to check some of that stuff out. i don’t drink, but anything that can help me push harder in the weight room is always welcome.
Yeah its dispiriting when you are doing weights and you just don’t get the same results as you used to.
Ever tried dry fasting?
As in no water? Whats been your experience?
Why you mad desk jockey ?
Go do ‘pushups’ with one of your ‘flexible’ old buddies on your back.
You’re horrible at this
Can I steal that? That’s like an internet nuclear bomb right there. I won’t soon forget you Monco; the guy who talked up bodyweight cardio then blasted the powerlifters as a bunch of ‘Jane Fondas’. Hilarious. Please keep posting your thoughts.
Power lifter? Haha I’m sure what’s you pr dead lift and back squat ?
Doing sets of 5 at 380 on deadlift. I’m not much of a pr guy because my form would get busted up. I’m squatting atg for sets of 5 at about 265-270. I’m 45 and weigh 180 and eat about 1/5th the protein that dedicated powerlifters eat per day, by design. Now fire away. You should replace Clint with Richard Simmons.
I wouldn’t walk around calling yourself a power lifter when you can’t even break 450 on the dl and 320 on the squat
So what am I if I deadlift, squat, and press? What should I call myself. And you pulled those numbers out of your ass, leg-lift boy. Go do some planks, faggot.
you’re some mid life crisis dweeb who thinks because he’s average at basic lifts he knows everything about working out. People like you are a dime a dozen . I bet you got you a compression suit and chalk up and grunt everytime before you lift.
It’s called reading. You should look into. Try it and see if you like it. I know a lot about it because I read and I’ve been dinking around in weight rooms for thirty years. I’ve tried it all and I know compound lifting is the answer. And people like me aren’t a ‘dime a dozen’ because I’m very fit for a 45 year old in a world of middle age people whose health goes to shit.
And do you really think a guy who admittedly doesn’t touch the excess protein would be the type to ‘chalk up’ and wear ‘compression’ suits? Pretty stupid on your part. I do it for health and I’m happy to stick with the functional/health benefits of it. Would be obvious by now to someone who reads books on occasion, alas. Go back to your trends in whatever shithole country you come from. I’m American so naturally I will do things the strong, intelligent way. You go the way of a lesser people and get used by the trend setters profiting from your inherent, non-American mental weakness. Get back to your planks now! Don’t forget to do some arm circles while sitting on top of an exercise ball. Obey the trendsetters, you innately obedient communist.
Because those things don’t make you stronger.
All the big runners I know (a few in my own family) all had destroyed knees when they entered middle age.
yeah. my dad was a major runner when he was younger and now he has major back and knee problems. he’s pretty overweight too. it’s sad to see.
Swimming is best for general cardio/ exercise. Running is tough but really addictive. Any runners on this site know exactly what I’m talking about. And the pain I think actually plays into this. Nothing in my experience compares to high you get crossing the finish line of a long race. I used to distance swim in my younger years, fun but not as intense. All runners hurt. All the time. I know, I caught the bug many years ago and I’ll probably run my knees into the ground before I ever stop. For any runners here who are past their prime but want to continue racing, I suggest pacing. I paced my first half last fall and while you are certainly not pushing yourself, helping others achieve their goals is pretty satisfying. In addition to this, it’s a good long term plan. The bunny bringing in the group 15 minutes slower than my group was a guy well into his 60s.
i’d argue that weights beat swimming for efficiency, aesthetics, and overall health. seems to me that to get that ripped look we all want, you’d have to train much harder and longer swimming than you do with weights. i don’t think swimming strengthens the bones and preserves muscle mass nearly as efficiently as proper weight training, either. not that i think swimming is bad. it certainly beats what most people are doing for exercise.
i’ve always hated running, but i’ve seen the addiction you talk about first hand, with my dad. he’s 70 now, his knees are destroyed, his back hurts badly, and he’s overweight, but he still looks back on running fondly, wishing he could still do it. it’s a bit scary when i think of it that way.
Well, to be honest, I’m a woman so you probably don’t want to talk to me anyways. I like a lot of the content on this site though. I’m also not looking to get ripped :D. Weights I agree are best for efficiency and aesthetics (for a man) but I’m not sure you shouldn’t also have some cardio included in a workout. Weights are actually important for women too, we don’t naturally get “too big”, and muscles are important for joint strength and weight maintenance. Swimming however, is great way for seniors to stay fit. You should encourage your dad to take it up, if he’d be receptive to the suggestion. Years ago, I used to train with the Masters swim club. On certain evenings they’d have senior lane swim. Man, you’d see some men and women who scared you they were so shaky on the deck. Once in the water though, they were really graceful athletes. Water is the great equalizer for creaky old bones and joints. When my knees finally blow up, I’ll go back to swimming. I think it’s very important for both men and women to have long term plans to stay active. My hubby don’t mind the aesthetics of my obsession either 🙂
“the only thing lifting weights makes you better at is lifting weights .”
Ridiculous.
As a general rule, people who train hard without the aid will never get to the point where their muscle mass is a hindrance.
The word “functional” is misused and thrown left and right these days. Any exercise that increases work capacity, strength, muscle mass, sport performance, and improves joint function and integrity is “functional”. This means that many exercises can be described as functional.
Nowadays all serious athletes who compete in a sport where strength can be a determining factor in gaining the upper hand engage in some form of weight training.
Also, running and swimming do not stress the bones like weight training does. Therefore, weight training is superior for enhancing bone density.
Functional as in it applies to every day life or used in cross training , how many times in your life will you ever bench something? Deadlift and back squat are fine but isolation lifts like curls and tri extensions are lame . Y’all can idolize Arnold all day but look at what he looks like when he isn’t on a strict regiment .
Many advocates of so-called “functional training” completely miss the point of basic strength training.
Strength, as you already know, is the ability to exert force on physical objects. Skill, the functional part, is the learned ability to carry out a task within a definable framework of time and energy.
Like learning to play the a musical instrument, in order to acquire of both strength and skill it is best to do so in a logical, methodical manner. Not all exercise systems are equally proficient at developing strength and skill. Strength training with barbells combined with practice of the sports skill is the best way to develop both.
Strength is simply the production of force with your muscles. It’s easily measured by the amount of weight you can lift. You may have the healthiest heart and lungs on the planet and be very skillful, but if you’re not stronger than your equally skilled opponent you won’t win the competition.
Strength training is the process of getting stronger through the use of specific exercises that cause the body to adapt to gradually increasing amounts of force production. Weight training with barbells is the most effective way to accomplish this process, because barbell exercises are performed using the body’s natural movement patterns while standing on the ground, the natural position for a bipedal human in its environment.
Many other physical attributes are just as important as strength. For example balance, coordination, agility, power, and speed. These are all the elements of physical skill and must also be trained. Since all of these physical parameters are derivatives of force production against external resistance, they all depend on, and are limited by, strength.
Sure women don’t care how much you can lift, but YOU sure should. As a natural trainee strength is your biggest indicator of progress, the average guys sure as hell don’t need to worry about weighing 250lbs unless they are 6’6″ or fat as fuck. If you don’t track your main lifts and aim for progressive overload, you are wasting your time in the gym.
i don’t track my maxes (i work out at home with no spotter) but i keep a journal tracking how much weight i do in each given exercise and set on each workout. i think keeping a journal to track progress is essential if you’re serious about getting gains.
Progressive overload means what? Adding 5 pounds to the bar until you can’t lift it?
People who train today have access to lots of information via Internet, unlike most of those who started training in the 80’s and the 90’s.
I may add an extra trick : I jogged for 4 years without taking time to make sure I was doing it right and using shoes appropriate for my feet. I ended up with feet and knees problems. Only then I met a doctor specialized in this field. It cost me about 50$ and he gave me tricks I should have known from the beginning.
i would say the main reason to run is if you like running. even then, only if you can do it without hurting yourself. my dad did over a dozen marathons and was often running around 100 miles a week when he was in his 30s and 40s. now that he’s near 70, he has massive knee and back problems and is pretty overweight.
i hate running and am glad i figured out that it’s not necessary to be fit. if you want to be fit and look good, lift weights.
Cardio is needed though. Depends on the person. I’ve finished races behind 80 year old dudes. I, however, blew out my ACL in my teens. Ran through my 20’s but always battled pain. Now I stick to biking, swimming and hiking in addition to weights. What good is weight lifting if you can’t haul prey off a mountain?
cardio is needed, but not what most people mean when they say “cardio.” most people think running, or doing the elliptical or stair stepper when they talk about cardio. repetitive, inefficient stuff that yields few results and can cause injuries. if you’re lifting weights properly, your heart rate should be up during your workout, and you’ll get plenty of cardio. if you want more, do some high-intensity training like beachbody’s insanity workouts.
the way one fitness guru i used to read put it is that if you can walk or ride a bike at a brisk pace for 20 or 30 minutes, you’re good on cardio unless you want to do marathons or triathlons or something like that that requires more.
Weightlifting provides enough cardio. Mid-high rep range squats, deads, cleans will give you the heart of an ox.
Marathons, triathlons, extreme cardio will cause your heart to adapt via thinning of the walls in order to beat more quickly, long range etc. The heart thinks; ‘Well if I’m going to have to pound for 2-3 hours a day, I’m going to lighten my load. Thin walls. A LOT of serious runners end up with heart problems, sometimes as early as their 40’s.
i didn’t know that, but i’ll add it to my list of reasons why i don’t like running. i wonder if high intensity training could have the same effect. when i was doing insanity, i found it much harder than the weight training i’m doing now, but my results weren’t as good. another reason i’m big on lifting.
They have a few studies showing high intensity exercise of 5 minutes having the same cardio effects as an hour of bicycle riding.
Its not adaptation from what I’ve seen, its wear without enough repair.
No, not imo. High intensity strengthens the heart in a good way. The heart is a muscle. Your heart would adapt like a muscle would to a heavy load; become strong, healthy. It’s the two hour cardio sessions that are so bad for the heart, not to mention other hormonal stuff. I think people make the mistake of thinking that cardio is an area with unlimited opportunity to improve healthwise. It’s not like that. If you have a healthy cardio-vascular system then that’s as good as it gets. An avid lifter/hiker who eats well is at optimal health. A guy who can rip off a marathon in 3 hours is not any healthier, just more conditioned for the activity he chooses. The marathoner might be far less healthy, actually. Cardio health is not like muscular strength. It’s not some progressive thing. It’s like the morons who think 2 gallons of water a day makes you healthier. If you get enough water, you get enough water, that’s it. More water is not healthier. Same for vitamins, same for cardio fitness. You can improve your cardio fitness but it’s not pegged to your health. Not at all. Ask Jim Fixx, Ask Alberto Salazar. Actually ask Jim Fixx’s ghost. If you ever feel like your cardio is lagging then just go to higher rep ranges or maybe some cleans at low weight/high rep (similar to crossfit) , box jumps, finish off with a bunch of pushups/pullups, shuttle runs.
Yeah, I can see that. Add in a lot of scarring due to the lack of repair and cardio freaks must have some raggedy, wasted little hearts. My Grandpa walked and swam mildly, cut wood until he was 92, ate cheese all the time. Had a gut, loved homemade rootbeer. Lived to 94 but I think he died of loneliness when my grandma died. He would get checkups in his eighties and the doctors were staggered with how healthy his heart was.
(vaguely related)
Clinton looking like hell after going vegan in his late sixties. Looks like he’s dying.
Beef and barbell, winning.
“It’s not like that. If you have a healthy cardio-vascular system then
that’s as good as it gets. An avid lifter/hiker who eats well is at
optimal health. A guy who can rip off a marathon in 3 hours is not any
healthier, just more conditioned for the activity he chooses. The
marathoner might be far less healthy, actually.”
well said. that’s basically how i see it.
That smile is painful, I guess you fake a smile long enough, and it cracks.
That sounds like my grandfather. I watched him die of a broken heart. You have to have something to live for.
It’s comforting, isn’t it? I’m so glad I never have to repeat those phases of hellishly intense, long-session cardio. I should have paid attention to how that crap made me feel.
Try wind sprints instead of jogging miles and miles…run 40 yards, walk back, run 40 yards, walk back…
I read an article years ago(in Men’s Health no less), it analyzed the cells of a 35 yr old ironman competitor and a doughy 55 yr old who rarely exercised.
Under the microscope, the men were the same age on a cellular level.
From what Ive read, you should really get these extreme endurance competitions out of your system by your early 30s; after that age, you really doing more harm than good (this applies to both men and women).
It’s the modern day ant and grasshopper fable. The indulgent, lazy assholes (grasshoppers) get the same winter comfort (cellular health) as the type-A’s (ants) listening to Rocky every morning for 25 years and beating the shit out of their heart for an hour in rain, sleet or snow. The dutiful, overly driven type-A super triathletes got sold a bill of goods by Jim Fixx, Nike, Reebok, Runner’s World etc. That stuff makes you sick. I had a super, extreme cardio friend who nearly died from complications from a minor cut on his arm. His immune system was beat to smithereens from his 2 hours a day of super heart rate stuff.
A decent protein intake, lots of fat from meat,cheese, eggs plus compound lifts 4 days a week at mid-high rep ranges, maybe a 5th day with a light, crossfit style stuff. Go for a decent hike once a week, walk 18 holes once a week. Drink your tea, drink your wine, get tons of greens, beans too
Optimal.
GMOS not physical problems
You need a lot more recovery time as you get older as well. Lifting 2-3x a week heavy is better than overtraining 5x a week. Diet plays a bigger role as well.
Diet is key. Try working out after eating McDonalds and see how well you do. I quit drinking about 4 months ago and within two weeks my max lifts went up by probably 20%. Weight-wise I maybe lost 5 lbs, but my love handles have shrunk and my face is thinner.
i’ve never been a drinker, but i cut out wheat, soy, and (most) sugar a year ago, and i almost immediately got dramatically stronger and more toned looking.
I’m not a drinker either but I’m looking to cutting out sugar and most overly processed foods in the New Year, so I’ll be interested to see if I get similar results. Certainly, losing weight should come a bit easier as most foods with sugar/large amounts of processing also contain high calories.
yes, cutting out the sugary processed food will give you great results. it might seem tough now, but just stick with it. keep in mind that you are literally addicted to that stuff now, because it’s engineered to create dependency. once you break the addiction, you won’t miss it. the thought of eating a donut or having a coke disgusts me at this point, and i used to love junk like that.
Funny you should say that. My experience matches that exactly.
I rarely enjoy a sweet treat, but I can no longer handle “beetus juice” (sodas) the average American almost worships.
The sugar is just too much once your body adjusts back to better health after giving it up.
very true. if i have a donut or brownie or something like that now, i literally get a headache. i don’t think human beings were meant to eat refined sugar, especially not in the extreme quantities you find it in processed foods. i even try to go easy on eating fruit, but when i have fruit, it tastes as sweet to me now as cookies and cakes used to before i improved my diet.
I’m convinced the obesity in the US is caused by acidosis-the acidity of most soft drinks being a primary cause. Sugar causes some acidity but at least it ups your metabolism a bit. Check out this study, just ingesting alkaline Sodium Bicarb increased endurance and reduced blood adrenaline 30%-hardly small effect for such an important hormone. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3386500
When they look at humans back when they first started farming they see all kinds of illness in the bones. Then you look at the groups that get diabetes the worst, and they are usually genetic groups that started farming, and eating a “modern” diet recently. Take a look a the diabetes hotspots in the north right next to low diabetes zones in this map. Then look at the map of natives, eskimos etc. http://www.americanobesity.org/images/map_county_diabetes_2007.jpg
https://i1.wp.com/www.educationworld.com/a_images/population_map.gif
Same here. You can’t argue with results. But people still do.
I can firmly guarantee you that sugar and grains are fucking up your body. I have completely eliminated grains, and I’ll have a bit of sugar and alcohol on the weekends. Even so, I am slowly reducing what little I do consume. The less of it you eat, the less you want.
It may be a factor but refined sugar consumption is the primary cause. Your metabolism doesn’t really have anything to do with it – this is a red herring. People don’t really understand what “metabolism” means.
It is the impact that sugar has on insulin secretion that is the key to obesity, diabetes and other related diseases.
You don’t need to worry about fruit. You simply cannot eat enough fruit to get excessive amounts of sugar and the fibre in the fruit slows the absorption of the sugar (thus no insulin spike).
Human beings have not evolved to eat any amount of refined sugar. You can put this is the same class as refined cocaine in terms of the sheer harm it causes the human organism. In fact I would say it is more harmful.
Does cocaine cause amputations and severe irreversible brain damage? Not that I have heard.
I cut way back on carbs and sugar and ate more protein & fat. Made a big improvement in regards to weight loss and energy levels.
My wife cut way back on rice, which is completely counter to her native culture. The South Asian diet is basically two food groups: Rice and other than rice.
She dropped 10 lbs and in now competing with me to see who gets in top shape first.
Later this winter, I am installing a squat rack for the both of us to use.
If you inject glucose into someones bloodstream, it makes their urine more acidic, so I’d say the two are related. By metabolism I mean the ATP production of mitochondria(which increases for example when you exercise). Aggreed that removing sugar likely improves things somewhat, but I think the acidosis/alkalosis is more fundamental. So even that sugar free coke is a very bad idea. I have a suspicion the big culprit in diabetic kidney disease is myoglobin-when urinary PH gets below 5.6 myoglobin starts to damage kidneys. This is the same substance that sometimes damages the kidneys of ultramarathoners or people with high fevers..
It doesn’t necessarily follow that an increase in urine acidity leads to obesity. While I agree that excessive acidity in the body is unhealthy I would say that this is a correlated issue but not the cause of obesity. It has been aptly demonstrated that excessive consumption of refined sugar and grains leads to obesity. You can actually observe the process happening.
Refined sugar is an extremely harmful toxin implicated as a cause for many debilitating diseases besides obesity. Chemical laden “diet drinks” are undoubtedly harmful but plenty of people become obese without consuming them.
Interesting. When you say you’ve completely eliminated grains, are you talking about the processed variety like bread, pizza dough, etc? Or do you mean everything, including whole oats, brown rice, and the like?
Could it be that there’s nothing actually harmful or fattening about the rice, but that cutting it out entirely simply removes a large amount of calories from the overall diet, thereby leading to weight loss? I always wonder this when people say they’ve cut out carbs, for example, and lose weight. Maybe it’s just eating less?
Rice is good for B and AB blood types. A and O gain weight or can get constipation with rice. It’s just a ‘filler’ food if you’re O or A. But for B and AB, rice contains an agglutinin that is benificial only for B/AB.
Its a little bit hard to get into the debate just in the comments section, but if you get into pubmed and just start searching for the correlations of different disease and low urinary PH or “anion gap” there is no end of links. One simple example is that if you take a bunch of bicarbonate usually you perform exercise better(many many studies on this) and you will actually have a drastically lower amount of adrenaline in your blood stream. Also an alkaline urine gets rid of a completely different range of toxins-most people NEVER have an alkaline urine. I agree that grains and sugar can lead to obesity and that mechanism is through increased acidity. Look up cows, grains and acidosis. Just giving them too much grains will cause it.
OK but correlation is not cause. I will look up the studies you mention but it seems to me that acidosis is a correlated factor not a causative one. If you look at the mechanism by which your body creates fat tissue it is clear that excessive insulin secretion caused by toxic blood glucose levels (from eating grains and sugar) is the primary factor.
It makes sense that your blood acidity levels would increase at the same time though. But your argument does not explain why excessive blood acidity leads to fat gain.
Everything. I don’t really like them anymore. They actually are tasteless.
Adding some more detail: Wife and I cut way back on carbs. Carbs cause an insulin spike and make you want to eat more. When I replaced carbs with more protein and animal fats, I found myself eating much smaller portions. Plus, I felt ‘full’ for longer periods of time and had a lot more energy in work-outs / weight training. This diet change also helped correct a high LDL cholesterol issue. My numbers are excellent now.
I haven’t cut carbs completely… just reduced them drastically. I used to eat pasta dishes 4x+ a week.
If William Wallace didn’t eat it…then neither do I. Made huge gains after using that diet. Turns out some guy already called it Paleo Diet. Fuck that guy.
i’m in my mid-40s and i lift six days a week. that said, it’s beachbody’s body beast program i’m doing, which doesn’t have the heavy dead lifts and barbell rack squats in the workouts you’re probably thinking of. i always end up hurting myself when i try those, and i don’t like going to the gym.
i’d say that if you’re only lifting two or three times a week, it’s probably best to add a few high intensity training sessions (e.g. beachbody’s insanity program) or some hard yoga. seems to me that it’s hard to get good results if you don’t work out at least five times a week.
It depends on the kind of program you’re doing. Full body 3x per week programs like Texas Method or MadCow 5×5 can be quite taxing.
i’ve never heard of those, but i’ll have to check them out. i know i’ll eventually get tired of body beast. do you think they could be adapted to do them at home with just a stability ball (which i use as a weight bench), dumbbells, and a curl bar with plates? i don’t like going to the gym, but i also don’t want to buy a lot more equipment.
Well, those are just examples but they are intermediate programs. Usually trainees switch to those after they have maxed out on a programs like Starting Strength or StrongLifts 5×5.
To do any of those programs you will need a power cage, an olympic bar and some plates.
thanks for the reply. i used to do various P90X and insanity workouts, and i was reluctant to try body beast because i thought you needed gym equipment like what you mentioned to get good results. then this year i met two guys, one in his 30s and one in his 40s who went through body beast a few times and both were pretty ripped. not arnold/ronnie coleman ripped, obviously, but easily in the top 5% in the US as far as their physique. like, you would look at them and say that’s a fit guy who obviously lifts and wouldn’t look ridiculous with his shirt off, which is basically my goal.
so, i tried body beast. been through it once, and i’m looking and feeling much better. not ready to be on the cover of men’s health or anything, but i’m a middle aged guy with flat abs and a cut chest, which is a good start. in body beast, l’ll do things like sumo squats with one 45-pound dumbbell, dead lifts holding two 40-pound dumbbells, and bench presses with two 50-pound dumbbells, and those are the heavier, low-rep sets. this all would have seemed far too light to get results back when i used to go to the gym, and yet, i get results, i guess because of the intensity of the program and my improved diet. i’ll check out the programs you mentioned and see if maybe i can mod them for home use.
It is not unusual for those who follow the beginner program to squat more than twice their bodyweight after a few months and deadlift even more than that. So keep that in mind; you will need that cage. Those programs are quite strict, it’s all about progressive overload.
good advice. i’m actually looking at a new job with a non-standard schedule, to where i might be able to get to the gym during non-peak hours. that’s my main problem with the gym, trying to do a program when it’s crowded and other people are using equipment you need. well, that and the general public’s shitty taste in music. heh.
Well, if you decide to go to a gym to do one of those programs you’re in luck. Because you won’t be doing any cable exercises or squats in that ridiculous smith machine. You’ll be doing compound exercises. And the average gym member doesn’t do squats or deadlifts. On the other hand, there are idiots who perform curls in the squat rack.
You need to read ‘Starting Strength’ by Rippetoe if you’ve had injury issues. Also, if you have any room at all in your house, all you need is space for a small squat rack. No more gym. Squats, deads, overhead presses, pullups, cleans. All in one tiny spot.
yeah, that’s on my reading list, as is this:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B016J9X06G/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B016J9X06G&linkCode=as2&tag=roguehealthandfitness-20&linkId=EIZYVXEX4RZUH3KP
i do like the idea of adding a squat rack to my home gym someday when i’ve got a little more $$$ and space.
Great call. ‘Starting Strength’ is a superb foundation of understanding. He details how and why you do the basic compound movements from which you can build on and expand over time. I swear by it.
+1, he also has a website-
http://startingstrength.com/
Be advised– he is focused solely on strength training. While I’m a fan of his I don’t really follow his program as I also do a considerable amount of aerobic exercise.
Don’t get a squat rack (the grey one), get a power rack (the yellow one) instead. A power rack is adjustable and can be used for more exercises. For example rack pulls and pullups. You can also safely perform the bench press and reverse grip bench press inside the power rack if you don’t have a spotter.
i’d like to get something like that yellow rack evetually. i’m 6’2, and it would be great if i can get one high enough to do straight leg pull-ups. right now i do them with a doorframe pull-up bar, and i have to bend my legs quite a bit.
You can often find great deals on ebay or other online ad sites. Also, when gyms go belly up they’ll often sell their inventory at rock bottom prices.
It’s a great program for building a solid foundation. My main gripe with Starting Strength is that Rippetoe is adamant about doing the low bar squat rather than the high bar squat. The latter variant has more carry-over to other sports and is easier to learn.
No, it doesn’t. The goal is to build strength. The high bar position, because of the mechanics of the lift, leaves out a lot of muscle mass, the hips and hamstrings, thus limiting your strength development. And for sports, where you are relying on power, i.e., strength expressed quickly, it’d be advantageous to increase your strength. So why would you do an exercise that limits your potential for increase in strength?
The intermediate programs do make some room for high bar squats as a variation. The front squat is useful alternate and important for Olympic lifters because it’s how you get out of clean in the clean and jerk.
The reason why you can lift more weight with the low bar squat is mainly because of favourable mechanics; the bar is closer to the fulcrum and therefore more weight can be moved. And this is why it it used by powerlifters.
The hamstrings are not used a whole lot more when doing low bar squats either. This is explained by Greg Nuckols in the following article:
http://www.strengtheory.com/hamstrings-the-most-overrated-muscle-group-for-the-squat/
So the whole bit about the hamstrings is overrated. If it’s the posterior chain that needs to be worked, then there are much more efficient exercises to accomplish this. One in particular, the deadlift.
Interestingly there is not even much difference in hamstring activation between front squats and back squats:
https://steinhardt.nyu.edu/scmsAdmin/uploads/006/008/Gullet%20et%20al%202009%20-%20J%20Strength%20%26%20Conditioning%20Research.pdf
If you are an olympic lifter it also makes more sense to do high bar squats. The upright torso helps to ingrain a better position for catching heavy cleans and snatches.
Another problem with low bar squats is that it feels unnatural to many plus it can cause shoulder issues if your shoulders aren’t flexible enough.
I disagree. I am in my 40’s and feel great when doing 2 three day splits (6 days of lifting per week) and I even make it into the gym a second time a day for 20 minutes of HIIT. YMMV but for me I feel better lifting between 4-6 times a week
Agreed that diet is increasingly important thought
I think your apparent disagreement may come from looking at the wrong variable. Workouts per week is (IMO) a poor metric. Total weekly volume is probably more accurate when trying to assess training stimulation/recovery requirements. For example compare the 2 workout plans below:
Plan A:
Monday – Deadlift/Bench Press/Inverted Row for 5 x 5; Curls/Forearm work/Calf raises for 2 x 8
Friday – Squat/Overhead Press/Chin-up for 5 x 5; Pressdowns/Forearm work/Shoulder external rotator work for 2 x 8
Plan B:
Monday – Deadlift 5 x 5; back extension/GHR for 2 x 8
Tuesday – Bench Press 5 x 5; cable flyes/pressdowns for 2 x 8
Wednesday – Standing Row 5 x 5; rear delt raises 2 x 8
Thursday – Squat 5 x 5; leg extensions/calf raises for 2 x 8
Friday – Overhead Press 5 x 5; lateral raises/shoulder ER for 2 x 8
Saturday – Chin-up 5 x 5; Curls 2 x 8
If you look closely the weekly volume of the large, multi-joint exercises (ie. Squat, Deadlift, Chin-up etc.) are exactly the same, and the accessory work is only slightly greater in the 6x per week program. Since the big, multi-joint movements provide the vast majority of the systemic fatigue (and growth stimulus) these workouts are functionally identical even though person A is “only” training twice per week and person B is training 6x per week.
This is an excellent response and I want to continue this conversation when I’m not getting ready for NYE.
Suffice to say you are right but I am still doing a lot of volume. Really nice answer though.
Take a teaspoon of activated charcoal before you go out drinking, 90% reduction in hangover..
Oh I don’t drink enough to worry about that but thanks. I wonder if the charcoal will actually have other positive effects though—getting toxins out of the body etc
Its seems to be most beneficial if you are exercising then go to a sauna(I believe most toxins are stored in bone and fat). There is one doctor that was using this protocol for the 9/11 first responders who were exposed to so many chemicals.
I love the sauna. Even if it was bad for me id still hit it every morning. I go to a really nice gym and do my fasted cardio, sauna and getting ready for work there. However, I am going to try the charcoal. Are there different types I should know about or is it all the same?
Here is a good article on it –i forgot the niacin in the mix. http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2014/05/04/detoxification-program.aspx . Yeah there are several types like made from coconut or bamboo. More economical buying powder than pills. Make sure it is extra fine ground. Should be like 8-12 bucks on amazon or ebay.
cool. thanks!
You need more cardio
“You need a lot more recovery time as you get older as well. Lifting 2-3x a week ”
Good point and thanks for bringing this up for us more older guys.
I have also noticed that my muscles will tend to stay in shape longer after I work out. This might be due to the fact that I have been doing moderate weight lifting for a little over 20 years now (Im in my late 40’s) I hear that muscles have something that has been described as “musle memory”, but I’m not certain if this has anything to do with my muscles maintaining its shape and strength easier now that I’m older as opposed to when I was in my late 20’s. I do not take any drugs nor natural supplements whatsoever.
“Women don’t like big guys” *says guy who isn’t huge*
“Research backs this up by the way” *provides no research*
Up next?
“Here is a study that proves the girls like he fight club look!” *provides link to study that was a survey, and as we all know, we should trust women’s verbal statements on everything, right? …. Right?
TLDR: Middle teir, non competitive man gives advice.
I may be mistaken, but this may be what Clark Kent is referencing:
http://foxhoundstudio.com/blog/fitness-lifestyle/the-ideal-male-physique-%E2%80%94-what-girls-want-want-guys-want-to-be/
Thanks for the link, but the premise is retarded. This is based on, as I predicted, survey data. Go to a pool party in vegas and tell me bigger isn’t better.
I’ve seen women openly lust after huge guys who are ripped. Women also lust after Rob Lowe who could bench 100 pounds. If you’re taller and have a model face then maybe you can pull women as long as you don’t get fat. But for the rest of us, lifting weights at the gym helps attract higher quality women.
Women respond to low body fat percentage. Whether you’re Rob Lowe or Ronnie Coleman doesn’t matter. Cut the carbs.
There are always certain sub groups with fetishes. But if you are trying to appeal to the maximum number of women, getting cut>big muscles(of course in many clothes women may not even be able to tell either way). But in the whole scheme of things game>style>getting cut>big muscles.
What a woman likes changes minute by minute so why bother trying to be a moving target. Be what YOU want to be.
Unless you’re obviously out-of-shape/overweight/super-skinny you should invest much more of your time in learning game/social interaction skills than at the gym.
i agree that you shouldn’t spend too much time at the gym. unless you’re training for serious athletic competitions, 30 to 45 minutes five or six times a week is plenty. you should make those minutes count, though.
The most important reason to lift weights is the way it elevates your testosterone. Then you carry that confident feeling all day, every day, in everything you do.
It won’t compensate for a lack of ability with women though.
Confidence = success with women. They can smell it.
I think I need to cut back on the Kratom.
Less Kratom, more Kryptonite
Kratomite is rocks from the planet mike Chang is from. I think it is called Planet Electrolyte
we should crave that planet.
That planet has what plants crave
Is it just me or CK looks like a former burns victim?
He looks like a Jew, LOL.
Krakatom Jew
I think it’s those glasses, LOL.
Cut back on kratom? You can’t! Kratom is infinite. Half of kratom? Still fucking infinite! Yeah buddy!!!
More penis pump
This sort of thing isn’t my bag, baby!
and the pocket squares
There’s only one Clark Kent.
True story. My given name is Clark and in grade two I dressed up as Superman for Halloween. The next year my buddy dressed as Superman: his name was Kent.
But not the electrolytes
Whey protein powder has been around forever, long before the 90s. It has tryptophan and will make you drowsy so its better to take it after working out. For pre-workout supplement I tried something from BME Labz called Focal Point. Its mostly caffeine but has other stuff arganine and yohimbe. It made feel like I was buzzing like a humming bird. I could do more sets and not feel tired. But the effect starts to fade after 30 days as the body adjusts to it. Then you have to take more to get the same effect. I don’t know if its really any better than drinking Red Bull. I don’t use it anymore because I think its just a caffeine effect.
the amount of money I have spent on supplements to look exactly the same as I did 3-5 years ago is ridiculous, especially considering I’m supposed to be in my prime right now ( age 22).
I got from 125 lbs to 150-160 lbs. It seems like a lot, but now I look average rather than skinny. This messes with your mind because you should be happy that you have gained so much but at the same time you dont look like the expectations you had.
160 lbs and muscular is middle weight boxer. If that’s not enough to impress a woman maybe she needs to lose weight.
Maybe the said woman has too high of expectations. Dump her.
Get ripped for you yourself. For your health and well being. Not for any woman.
Or just date slender women. I’m tired of women saying guys aren’t big enough when they guard their own weight like top secret classified info.
It depends on what your fat percentage is. If most of those pounds you added are fat mass, than it’s not surprising that you ended up looking average. On the other hand, if most of that weight you added is lean mass, than you might want want to take a good look at some before and after pictures of yourself. And don’t compare yourself to those guys you see on youtube. 99.99% of them use steroids and/or other performance enhancing drugs.
“And don’t compare yourself to those guys you see on youtube. 99.99% of them use steroids and/or other performance enhancing drugs.”
^^This
Seriously guys, from a former very heavy steroid user, let me be the first to tell you. The guy you see on TV/gym who’s “big”. Yeah, he’s on steroids. That guy you think is “ripped” on some bullshit show? Yup, on steroids too. In general, if I guy is big/ripped enough to get attention, he’s on steroids. Trying to get an “OMG” look naturually is going to be difficult/impossible for most people because you’re “competing” with guys on steroids. Women have come to equate “built” with “juiced up”.
Game will get you more women than the gym will, by far, and the results will be permanent not temporary.
Neither game nor lifting will get you women if you have a face like a bucket of smashed crabs.
Rod Stewart.
Status and shitloads of cash on the other hand will.
He says he pulled hot women before he was rich or famous.
He never mentioned that his sole purpose of lifting was to get more women.
Your journey has just begun my young friend.
Here’s a tip…
Deadlift + Squat + Bench + Clean & Press + Eat more = Strong and aesthetic physique.
If you’re training with the big four exercises it’s only a matter of time before you build a body other people become envious of.
I started training at 165 pounds (around where you are) when I was 25 years, and now at 29 I’m 200 pounds of brute strength and I look much younger than nearly everyone my age.
You’re doing well. Be proud of your accomplishment and just keep going. Trust me the effort is worth it, just don’t get hung up about eating too much, you’re at an age where it’s much easier to lose weight than gain weight.
Cheers.
Thanks. So ur saying it will be easier to add mass a little down the road?
In my experience yes definitely.
Now at 29 years I have no problem keeping weight on my body, even though I don’t eat as much as I used to in order to initially gain the 30 pounds.
Deadlifting helped me build my back, my legs, my traps, and shoulders. Generally I’d say as your deadlifts and squats improve, you will gain in overall strength.
If you’re more about arms deadlifting and squatting will still help nonetheless. Your whole body becomes stronger and fills out because every fibre on your frame has to adapt to deal with the load. Barbel exercises really are the cornerstone of bodybuilding, especially if you’re interested in putting on weight.
Doing arm exercises and stuff like that just don’t build muscle mass fast enough. You can do one-million bicep curls and your overall strength and mass really wont change much.
The other benefit of barbel training (compound exercises) is that because the exercises are so demanding, you don’t really need to do cardio to keep your heart healthy. Cardio wont hurt of course, but real bodybuilding will take care of your cardiovascular system as well.
I know you’re at the age where you just wanna look more badass. Start incorporating barbel technique (squat, deadlift, bench, clean & press) into your training, and work your arms for definition. So long as you eat enough it’s only a matter of time before you see real results.
FACTOR IN YOUR BLOOD TYPE
I’ll drop this in here Clark about the suppliments. With lifting requires lots of protein. Be careful the source of your protein. Protein powders are bovine based or soy based. Type ‘O’ blood type benifits from the bovine based. Type ‘A’ should go with the soy. ‘B’s can drink regular milk for protein but others should restrict dairy.
BLOOD TYPE DIET:
Grains are a killer but only for some. Red meat is another wild card food only good for specific types. O’s can have red meat. O’s burn red meat like feul but A’s can’t handle red meat well and should eat white fish, limited grains, corn. Corn is only tolerable for A’s but wreaks havoc with O’s, causes imbalance, auto immune conditions with O’s. Some foods are ‘people’s foods’ good for everyone like broccoli, pineapple. Specific foods like escargot only benifit ‘A’s and ward off reproductive tumors.
B’s are omnivore, ‘milk & honey’, dairy
A’s are veg, fruits,nuts, soy(no dairy)
O’s are red meat & potato
AB’s can eat anything but red meat,pork
(AB’s will outsurvive other types in long run)
Four blood types overview:
http://achikhasi.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/blood-type-diet-chart.jpg
Breaking it down, there’s no universal ideal human diet. It goes by blood type. In fact eating the specific diet of another type can kill you in the long run just like an unmatching type blood transfusion can be deadly.
By type, the four ‘diets’ have some common foods. Note the adverse foods (good for one type/bad for another type) Wheat is across the board bad undess it’s sprouted wheat or buckwheat.
Diet for ‘O’
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/c7/6d/c7/c76dc75faa1627c758fde4671942ee42.jpg
Diet for ‘A’
http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/30/12/2e/30122edf993e1159b209ba80eded8e77.jpg
.
Diet for ‘B’
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/6f/5b/08/6f5b08c0674e6256edc5b030c54ee9dd.jpg
.
Diet for ‘AB’
http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/236x/1b/6a/a0/1b6aa0951bd4cb207f697fa3eea00876.jpg
.
Compare with your own type/diet and others with severe ailments vs healthy. Severely ailing people likely violate their diet protocol or have a healthy spouse with differing blood type. Red meat and grains are common to affect one partner but not the other when blood types differ.
It’s weird but I feel fantastic on a vegan diet and I’m A+ blood type, this theory might be right.
Paleo didn’t do much for me but I like paleo more than the weirdo hippies vegan.
Excellent info. This post should be an article!
The ‘wierdo hippie’ vegan type O’s need red meat at the bottom (greater) base of their food pyramid, like a cainine diet almost, or like a wild wolf. Eliminating meat for an O would eventually leave them looking like an emaciated dog with parva. Sickly hippie chicks that miscarry and the hippie dudes with one recurring ailment after another are likely red meat starved O’s. They need to hit the meat.
The opposite is true with A’s. An A can compete with a beefed up O when the A has a staple of quality veg based A friendly superfoods. A juicer is the A’s best friend whereas a hunting rifle and skinning knife is the O’s best friend. Now a shotgun, everyone needs one of those, but that’s another topic.
Good article, solid advice.
I must say for any newbie starting out (or someone who has been training for multiple months/years without seeing objective gains) I cannot recommend Beyond Brawn by Stuart McRobert highly enough. It contains literally everything you can learn from a book about weight training and how to make strength and mass gains long term while minimising risk of injury. It has been around for some time (its precursor “Brawn” was published in the ’90s I believe) but its relevance has not waned one iota.
I owe every ounce of muscle and the majority of my strength gains to the advice given in that book.
Very good advice Clark. Well done.
If you’re trying to get in shape to get women, you need to get that idea out of your head. You do it for YOU! You’ll look better and feel more confident. Learn to dress well and look your best. Learn new skills to master them. Trust me. If other achieved men can see you and you get that nod of respect, that alone is the main reason you should lift and get in shape. The women will come without much effort.
Keep in mind that if you think women like bodybuilders, the reality is that she couldn’t care less. What she cares about is using YOU to brag to HER friends that she was able to snag YOU. She craves that jealousy she stirs among her circle of friends. She couldn’t give two shits about YOU. You are to her like that Louis Vuitton bag she bought to flash it to her friends and posted on her InstaJealousy social media account.
For getting women, the number one thing you get physically from lifting is POSTURE. Standing up straight and “taking up space” in a masculine way becomes your default stance. However, you must do core exercises like squats and dead lifts, and by itself is not nearly enough to attract women. You will need to still work on other parts of your game like approaching, opening, conversation, fashion, etc …
Trying to be attractive to lure the opposite sex is female nature(fertility/dependency):
Females can’t see the male body with the eroticism men see in the female body, that is just a fantasy of men. That is a cerebral impossibility in the female brain.
Natural selection made the most dominant males choose/mate with the most fertile females without needing to get their validation(hence their hypergamy).
So you just train for yourself, work for yourself, and live for yourself, and act as the man you are, or as the pathetic male who wants to attract girls by acting like a girl.
To some extent. Men know how much a womans body turns on a man, so we assume the same goes for a woman. It does to a certain extent, but maybe 30%. Look at how many rock stars are ugly, puny, old, and you realize that other things account for more. I do think some women are really turned on by men who are dominant fighters.
What women perceive as excitement, it is not the same men experience.
True libido has nothing to do with femininity. Women get excited psychologically, but their experience is relative and subjective. So when she is very excited, that does not mean she finds the male body as erotic, but it is the experience that changes her perception emotionally.
I don’t believe the male body by itself, turns on a woman, but the context, and whatever he represents to her. The body contributes to that psychologically, but true eroticism is something women ignore.
Yeah women are rather odd, often not even knowing what their body is doing. Which is probably why so many women give bad advice for how to pick-up women. And why male initiative is so important.
Well as for “true eroticisim” I’ve gotten more than a few women very hot and bothered just getting into fantasies or talking about crazy sex. A good story goes a long ways with women.
Yes I agree, but both brains behave very different actually. Her brain is not very active, while male brain is burning. That is why I differentiate her excitement( female) vs true eroticism(male).
I definitely think it does as well to a certain extent. Hard to say what %. It would depend on the woman and also if she was looking for a relationship or a fling, and probably also what time in her cycle, I agree with the premise that you really should do BB for yourself and not exclusively to score pussy. Working hard for women. The majority of guys in the gym though I’m sure have the improved sex appeal to women firmly in their mind even if it comes as a indirect consequence of ‘feeling good about myself and boosting my self esteem’.
The girls are not going to know if the BB guy is doing it strictly to prop up his self esteem or boost his ego by getting to bang 100 women, when he chats them up at the party.The older/longterm hardcore guys generally wont be doing it to impress women but quite a few of the younger ones will. Zyzz was very into BB and had achieved a great body but I’ve seen clips of him walking through outdoor festivals wearing just skimpy shorts totally lapping up female attention.
Yeh I knew a few skinny/plain as guys in rockbands that did well when it came to the chicks. That rebel/up on stage persona adds +1 or +2 to your smv for that but if they weren’t in a band it would have been a different story and they would need to make up for it some other way.
For guys who are skinny or short or fat (though just fat loss will count for a big pickup in image) the payoff from BBing will definitely be greater when it comes to women and also improving prospects with
career than for the average guy.
I was jacked in my 20’s and just did ok with women. But learning game, I’ve talked women into stripping on cam for me, and several hot women have even told me I gave them the best day of their lives. To me those nights I didn’t do anything that exotic..no skywriting, no pre-planned night, minimal money spent. Just moment after moment knowing what she would like and following my own inspiration of what I wanted to do. You are right about bands. Artistry in general sparks something special in women, especially if it has an emotional side like music. Really that skinny rock star wailing in front of a crowd for a woman is the equivalent of the hard-body seductress for men. Its the hardest thing, to realize what turns you on is not what turns them on..and to figure it out, and to be willing to do it.
Not entirely true. Women like tall men
Women like thinks that resemble paternal characteristics:
Tall, has a job, assertive, dominant, social, attractive to other women(polygyny), strong, etc.
Seems sexual attraction, but it is psychological attraction from an infantile creature to an adult.
ephedrine is still perfectly legal and can be bought in any health food store (at least in US and Canada).
it was illegal in the States for a few years – but then government got sued and they made it legal again a few years ago.
I used ephedrine two decades ago not for work outs but for long shifts at my job doing very heavy lifting. I’d take all six of them in the pack and within an hour I’d loosten all up. I could twist my lower back and it would easily pop like a chiropractic adjustment. All tension in the body was gone and my work routine involved basically powerlifting with my arms and legs these large vats of mixtures weighing 100-250 lbs. If you weren’t active but remained idle and took ephedrine like that, it would be like an idle sugar rush followed by a bad crash. But I wasn’t idle and had plenty to do. I’d work 14+ hour shift and then have something like a relaxed tired buzz but without aches. Then I’d crash. Then around 2004, stores selling ephedrine had a form you had to sign and the checkout person at the store had to write down your driver’s licence # on the form. The form he showed me had a list of names on it and at the top in bold letters were ”STATE POLICE”. Shit, I wasn’t cooking speed and I didn’t want those corrupt crooks having me on their radar or them getting any crazy ideas. Ephedrine was like my kratom back then and it went down my hatch along with my handfull of other assorted suppliments. ”Hell no I’m not signing my name to the fucking state list to get set up”, I exclamed. Cops around these parts are known to sieze homes and property and they’re not very patriotic. So now it’s a good 10 years since I’ve taken ephedrine with my vitamin regimin. I upped my B vits and do a lot more protein and herbs now.
Anyone in their 30s who weightlifted will probably like this docutmentary. It gets into alot of the same stories about the dirty secret of steroids all the celebrities had. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAFkrZxUWSg
Far out.
workout. If you are poor but creative, you can still have great bodies by working out with your bodyweights and using any objects you have to use as resistance when you do some body movements that mimic some gym workout patterns.
I mean the limit is in your brain.
If I don’t have access to any gym, then I call my buddy up and we wrestle and do BJJ for 15 to 30 minutes. Gets you sweating without worrying about fat loss. That is cardio right there…
In this day and age, if you complain about not having a time to workout then you are a moron.
Everybody has a time.
If you don’t have access to gym then I highly recommend you get into wrestling… (not wwe wresting… like I”m talking about amateur wrestling. Find a buddy who is into wrestling). Wrestling helps you BIG time.
“I call my buddy up and we wrestle and do BJJ for 15 to 30 minutes. Gets you sweating without worrying about fat loss. That is cardio right there…”
Blow Job Jobs? WTF?
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, never heard of it? Google it.
I have heard of it and I think the name is stupid. Jiu Jitsu is a Japanese term and BJJ sounds like blow job job. That doesn’t take away from the skills involved, it just sounds stupid in every possible way.
For anyone interested, I was shown a sight called EXRX.net. I clicked on weight training tab, then the templates tab and used the regimens to great success.
Each exercise has a gif to show you proper form and most of them are by a richard simmons looking guy, so that adds a small bit of humor to it.
Great article Clark. This site has a good food pyramid of articles this week.
“I grew up watching Arnold on the big screen”
Arnold was roided out on gear which gave him these overly bloated muscles. He then paid for it later requiring him to get heart surgery. It’s depressing what he looks like now. The then and now shot reminds us all that eventually time and gravity takes its toll:
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-I31yyIW44U0/U65F4Zo8_iI/AAAAAAAAEQ0/vut4Iio7sR8/s1600/arnold-schwarzenegger-plastic-surgery-before-after.jpg
Overly bloated muscles? Roided out on gear?
Please learn about training/steroid use before talking about a 7x Mr Olympia winner from the Golden Era… seen him recently? Hes back in better shape than 100% of men his age.
Please post a recent pic of Schwarzenegger. Il
Women do not dig “Muscle Marys”. They do dig men who can fight. This doesn’t mean you have to cruise the bars looking for a fight. Learn a martial art and supplement with resistance training. This will give you all the body you need plus that extra aspect that women admire.
That’s funny you mention ‘muscle mary’. There’s a movie about ‘muscle mary’ called ‘Dennis’. It’s a short 18min movie in Danish subtitles. It’s about the world’s most pussywhipped or actually ‘MOMMYWHIPPED’ bodybuilder. Dennis is national weightlifting champion but he has a secret. He sleeps with his mommy! He turns into a two year old around his mommy and he cannot interact with other women. His mom is a foul single skank. This movie was made for ROK fodder. It’s an essential in red pill curricula.
Saw it, nearly cried
… Well no but found it quite sad indeed. Made me appreciate my own parents.
I’m a woman, and I agree with this. Women like men who are physically in shape, but that doesn’t mean “the bouncer look”. Also, in my experience, some of the bulkiest guys at the gym aren’t actually the fittest. They can lift a lot, but they couldn’t run to catch a bus. As for fighting, there’s a certain raw appeal to this. That’s why hockey fights are the female entertainment equivalent to a tickle fight. Doesn’t matter if the parties are good looking. It’s. Just. Hot. I suppose this stems from the biological want/need to be protected. Doesn’t mean you should going around picking fights, in fact that would be embarrassing and tiresome. Just look like IF you did get in fight, you’d most certainly win. In any event, nobody should be working out solely for aesthetics. Being in good physical shape adds tremendous quality to your life. Find an activity you genuinely enjoy and it won’t take discipline to keep at it.
If you have the cash, and you train already, hiring a quality trainer for a few months is really worth it. Poor lifting paterns, bad programming, real reasons for poor mobility, etc… Are things that are hard to personally evaluate.
Just an observation. Whenever someone posts an article about weight training, it’s only a matter of time before a bunch of guys start making derogatory comments about it.
Usually along the line of:
– Lifting weights is a waste of time. Learn game if you want to pick up chicks.
– [some other sport] is all you need to look good/better.
– [some other sport] is superior to weight training.
– Weight training makes you bulky. You need to do [some other sport]
– You may get big, but a skinny fighter will still kick your ass.
Missing the point of the article entirely.
Good wisdom
I am 49 years old. In February I will go on vacation to Thailand with my girlfriend who is 27 years old, 5’9″ and 130 pounds. I need a one month program to give her the best body I can. Any suggestions?
If that wasn’t a joke post (because one month), you need to be specific in regards to what you want to accomplish… best body at/for what?
The supplement industry might be the biggest scam in the country. None of it regulated by the FDA so they can put anything they want on the package without putting the ingredients in the actual supplement. Most supplements cost only a few dollars to make and they resell it for $50+. Most of the supplements just contain caffeine so it makes you feel as though something is happening. Your better off just buying a container of Folgers coffe for $6. Supplements are a complete scam and rip off. Then you see all these Instagram people and “Shreddz” army, its a complete scam. All those Shreddz guys and girls are on steroids. If you ever hear anyone saying they are buying supplements then tell them they are being suckered, its all a rip off, either buy steroids or don’t do anything.
Great article and honest confessional. My reason for commenting is to say this: if you’re working out to get pussy, and God forbid actually risking your health with steroid use/abuse and injuries, the cost/benefit is unfavorable. This is obvious to anyone who has walked in a nightclub and seen the entire wall held up by meatheads who look puzzled because they thought it would get them pussy but it isn’t working. If you know what you’re doing, your appearance doesn’t matter and if you doubt this, consider my own experience as a guitarist and also that of a grammy award winning singer I work with who’s sold 20 million records. Both of us have scored the most pussy when we were the most pudgy and outright overweight! Bartending, pot supplier, photographer, and club promoter (real or fake), all work better than busting your ass in the gym OR playing music! ALL women are narcissists who want everything done for them: a woman spreads her legs and does whatever you want because she believes her life will be more exciting with you in it, period, end of story. There are many ways to make her think this without risking life and limb. If you work out because you enjoy being strong and fit, then knock yourself out, but if you’re doing it to score pussy, your time is far better spent on other paths of less resistance. I might add that when you’re crippled from joint pain or a blown out heart muscle from roids and crank at age 40, there’s no shortage of guys who took care of themselves who will score all the 20yo girls you wanted … with grey hair in their 50s. Skills matter, looks don’t … and Lord knows Gene Simmons and Neal Strauss are proof of that —
No you’re not you dirty liar.
Train your brain, not your muscles. Females love intelligent men.
Someone on the ROK forum claiming to be an amateur body builder said the only difference he noticed in terms of attention from women when he went from pretty solid to seriously jacked came from older broads.
Hence, if extra time in the gym beyond what’s necessary for a good layer of muscle only brings more attention from cougars, it’s safe to say that extra time is better spent on other endeavors.