18 Inch Arms

Training Bodybuilding
921

[quote]austin_bicep wrote:
I want to give you guys a collective thank you, everyone that has been supportive over the years I truly appreciate it. Iron Dwarf, it’s just not my style to fold when things get tough especially when it comes to something I enjoy and am passionate about, the whole idea is to keep getting better even if itâ??s a slow process.

I would also like to say a few things:

I am slightly embarrassed looking at my old pictures. I was a delusional kid back in the day.

Do I regret gaining all of the fat that I did? No. I think it was necessary for me to get that out of shape to realize what I need to do for my body nutritionally now. It made me smarter because it was a challenge that presented itself and I found the solution.

I do however want to encourage people who might look at this thread and say that I think it is completely unnecessary to get out of shape in your bodybuilding endeavors, especially get to a point where you look like me in the beginning of this thread. I personally will never lose sight of my abs the rest of the time I am training.

There is a common theme on this website that basically encourages people to bulk beyond reasonable measures. I don’t think people realize how much 10 lbs of muscle is and that if you can gain 10 lbs of muscle in a year you’re doing great as an intermediate and especially as a more advanced trainee.

Nutrition is the key to success in bodybuilding. Training is easy, nutrition gets more complicated. My views have done a complete 180, because when I first began training I was under the impression that weight training was 90% of my results and nutrition was the other 10%…Not so.

I have dropped 40 or so lbs from my heaviest weight and my arms have stayed the same size, which has led me to believe that on a very slow, controlled cut, I’ve been able to add muscle.

In that picture above I weigh 218 lbs and that’s after 2 large Easter dinner meals. I was 213 that morning. I am significantly stronger both by 1 rep max strength and endurance at 213 pounds than I was when I was pushing 260.

You need to train hard and eat well. You won’t get anywhere with your training if you can’t figure these things out on your own. Quitting is something that I won’t do. So when I was receiving shit for looking fat, it was just motivation to keep going stronger. I am very dedicated to the point where I mentally cannot fathom not training or eating correctly. If my training slips up, or if I eat not according to how I would like I get very proactive in correcting that because I feel like shit when things are not in order.

Lean gains FTMFW (for the mother fucking win). Ultimately you are doing well if you feel comfortable with yourself. I didnâ??t, I was so sure that the eat everything in sight diet would make me jacked that I lost site of the ultimate goal. To look good year round, to be strong, and healthy. That is who I am now.

[/quote]

I couldn’t agree more. I had a similar revelation last year when I saw pictures of myself and realized that I was delusional about how fat I had let myself get for the sake of getting hyooge. I weighed about 270 at my heaviest and I spent 8 months dieting down to 205 and now I am back up to about 220, following a much healthier lean gains diet.

I am now stronger on most lifts than I was at 270 and I look about 100 times better. I am also making way better gains now that I am not carrying so much extra body fat and am putting quality nutrients in my body.

922

This has been said several times already, but awesome job! The difference between the oictures on the first page and now is phenomenal!

923

Awesome thread man. And you did a fucking amazing job to get to the point you’re at now.

924

Again, thanks guys.

[quote]hlss09 wrote:
Austin, do you think it’s necessary to get a little softer the first time you get big though? Now that you’re more advanced, you can afford to have slower, leaner gains. I see guys like Waylander doing the same. At first he got huge as a mofo and ate everything. Now that he’s built his base, he can afford to lower carbs and have a high fat diet and not put on a ton of BF in the off season. It seems like a newb would need to make a bigger jump though, know what I mean?..[/quote]

Well you will most likely get a little softer when gaining weight, which is cool. That’s not what I am saying. I don’t expect someone to stay ripped to the bone at all times even though some dudes do do that but they are usually very muscular to begin with and enhanced.

But I think you can and should stay in a comfortable body fat percentage where you can actually see the muscles you are training including your abdominals.

It really depends where you start from. If you are skinny fat, fat, normal, etc, I don’t think you should be going crazy with feeding yourself a ton of shit throughout the day including milk. You’d probably have better body comp eating rice, veggies, meat, eggs, oats for the bulk of your meals and hitting the weights hard.

If you are someone that was thin or sporting abs without training, the athletic kid in school, you can get away with and may even need to eat a lot more calorically dense foods to put on weight.

The idea is not to get fat. We have another theme on this website that it is much easier to cut, so why not get tremendous and then cut down and look great. Well the higher your body fat percentage the more difficult the cut will be and the more out of shape you are the easier you will be losing muscle during your cut. Arterm for example.

If you are comfortable with your body fat percentage so be it, I just think body fat is just as important as muscle mass when it comes to being someone who train to build their body. I also would mention that I think there is no reason not to have abs throughout the year. They look good, show that you are healthy and a small waist with a large upper body makes you look ten times bigger than when you were heavier. I feel like being able to gain while staying lean shows that your body knows how to appropriately use the nutrients you are feeding it. This is not a race it’s a marathon.

925

Yeah, I’m going to start bulkign soon and stick to the foods you mentioned. I’m not the kind of dude who thinks it’s hard to eat clean during a bulk. I’m 6’2 as well, so I’ll be starting out at 3,500ish kcals a day w/ around 400g carbs and 300 g protein a day, but nothing crazy. It’s not hard to eat clean during a bulk IMO…I’m planning on something along these lines

2 cups oats
1.5 scoops whey

sandwich w/ WW bread, 8 oz chicken, slice cheese
apple

pre-w/o: banana or 2

post-w/o:
2 cups oats
1.5 scoops whey

2 cups rice
8 oz chicken
broccoli

5 eggs
7 whites
slice cheese
broccoli
sunflower seeds for a treat

Boom. That’s a healthy bulk if you ask me. Austin - how do you define seeing abs BTW? You say it’s good to sport abs in the offseason…Do you mean seeing the top 2 or so when you flex, or do you mean having visible abs without flexing, b/c those are 2 VERY different things lol!

926

Looks solid man, good luck with your goals. I would prefer seeing my full abs, but it’s really up to what you are comfortable with. I am still working on getting a bit leaner.

927

Austin, can you go more into detail about your success with the lean gains diet… Have you been hitting PR’s while leaning out? & how is your structured? do you train on empty stomach then eat? Or have your first my meal then train? If using the first one, are you using BCAA’s before the session also?

Lol sorry, i’m just curious cause i’ve been thinking of starting it.

928

[quote]Liv92 wrote:
Austin, can you go more into detail about your success with the lean gains diet… Have you been hitting PR’s while leaning out? & how is your structured? do you train on empty stomach then eat? Or have your first my meal then train? If using the first one, are you using BCAA’s before the session also?

Lol sorry, i’m just curious cause i’ve been thinking of starting it. [/quote]

I stopped doing leangains and pulse feast about a month into my diet.

Pulse feast was not for me as someone who works nights and stays up very late.

I got to the point where only have 2 shakes of BCAAs in my stomach until 9 PM made me feel like death. It probably works well, but not for my schedule.

I do however apply a few principles from leangains that I think are really useful.

I train around 3 PM almost every day. I have 1 meal upon waking (11am-12pm) and then I train at 3, so my stomach is relatively empty when training, I might have some BCAAs during my workout. I eat 2-3 meals after my workout. One about an hour after, another 4 hours after that and then something small before bed.

I like the concept of eating the bulk of my calories after I workout.

As far as PRs, I am at, if not stronger on every lift I’ve done since I began my diet. I am having no trouble adding weight to the bar and making progress. My strength did dip about 8 weeks into my diet but I made a few adjustments and it has been going up again. So I really have no complaints. I deadlifted 600 about 4 weeks into my diet which is a PR, squat is going up, bench suffered a bit, but is going up, did an easy 375 x 2 yesterday on flat bench. Back exercises are good.

My training is more powerlifting orientated which I find has helped me keep adding weight to the bar, but it’s me muscular in the process as well.

929

As you know Austin, you’ve done a great job on your diet, and we’re all proud. I’m especially impressed with how your strength has held up, because that is one area that did not for me, haha.

930

[quote]bugeishaAD wrote:
As you know Austin, you’ve done a great job on your diet, and we’re all proud. I’m especially impressed with how your strength has held up, because that is one area that did not for me, haha.
[/quote]

Same for you buddy, happy we are dieting together, it’s been good motivation keeping on track with you and the other guys. Really anticipating a good summer break this year. Like you know, it’ll be easy for you to gain that strength back, it’ll come soon enough.

931

[quote]austin_bicep wrote:

My strength did dip about 8 weeks into my diet but I made a few adjustments and it has been going up again.
[/quote]

What adjustments did you make?

932

[quote]Liv92 wrote:

[quote]austin_bicep wrote:

My strength did dip about 8 weeks into my diet but I made a few adjustments and it has been going up again.
[/quote]

What adjustments did you make? [/quote]

Increased carbs from 100-150 to 200-250 and lowered my fat intake.

933

Hmm, you got that separation from the bicep and delt. Seeing your pic gives me hope.

That’s what I do as well and I find it better in a number of ways as well.

934

Good thread man, helps put shit in perspective for us guys on a bulk. Perhaps I missed them but what were some of your maxes at 260 as opposed to now?

935

[quote]Nikki9591 wrote:
Hmm, you got that separation from the bicep and delt. Seeing your pic gives me hope.

That’s what I do as well and I find it better in a number of ways as well.[/quote]

Yeah it just makes sense to eat that way. Eat more when your body wants to use those nutrients to repair itself.

[quote]behexen wrote:
Good thread man, helps put shit in perspective for us guys on a bulk. Perhaps I missed them but what were some of your maxes at 260 as opposed to now? [/quote]

Let’s see.

This was 2 days ago at 213 lbs and it wasn’t a set done to failure.

Here’s me at 260

When I was heavier I don’t have video but my deadlift was 435 x 3 back in the time frame of the beggining of this thread.

This was 4 weeks into my diet:

That’s all I got really, but everything is up considerabley especially weighing almost 50lbs less. I’ve benched 405 at 235 lbs. I’ll be working up to reps with 385-405 hopefully within 12 weeks or so on this powerlifting routine I am doing so I’ll keep everyone posted.

936

Damn good shit dude. Goes to show you can get stronger while on a diet if your smart about it.

Congrats on the progress

937

You said how you don’t feel necessary to go beyond visible abs. When you say that do you mean 6 pack or just some outline or a couple abs? Haha got me alittle worried, six pack is gone but top two abs are still there lol. Not real sure how to check bf% or nothing, i’m fatter than need be for sure but i still need to get bigger.

Impressive work man, keep grinding and thanks for your input.

938

[quote]behexen wrote:
You said how you don’t feel necessary to go beyond visible abs. When you say that do you mean 6 pack or just some outline or a couple abs? Haha got me alittle worried, six pack is gone but top two abs are still there lol. Not real sure how to check bf% or nothing, i’m fatter than need be for sure but i still need to get bigger.

Impressive work man, keep grinding and thanks for your input.[/quote]

You are doing fine as long as you are comfortable with you results. I am not advocating being shredded year round and that’s the only way you should be lifting. Veins on your lower abs type shit.

I am saying the you really don’t need to be putting on much fat at all to still be gaining muscle. You should be able to stay lean, top 2 abs showing or more and still be able to grow…getting any fatter than that and you are probably just overeating.

939

I have veins visible on the top to my hip flexor area but still have a fat on my stomach/umbilical region. Its the only place I hold fat. No where else. So i think it also comes down to where you store your fat. Some may not store on their abs at all or have very bulky/visible abs. But it all really comes down to what you are comfortable with remembering you do have to lose the fat you put on to see the muscle you have built. Sorry for the slight hijack.

Great work austin. Very inspiring.

940

Thanks alot man, keep grinding.