Yeah, that is the part that doesn’t make any sense and you know they are doing a lot of things wrong. Personally, i try not to concern myself with them too much because I see it as a lost cause.
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Yeah…pretty much.
After reading two months of posts I feel completely ready to chime in, but it took me 20 minutes and I forgot everything I was going to say. Love the kid jokes, but have any of you had a one year old crawl underneath you while you were flat pressing dumbbells and had to continue to hold them past exhaustion cause the damn kids wouldn’t move and you had to scream upstairs for your wife to get him so you didn’t drop them on him?? He’s now an eight year old gym rat.
So I’m a hard gainer (yes let it come). Lifting my whole life, good exercise and physiology education behind me (Doctorate, and that was easier than trying to bench for me), strength and condition coach certification etc. At 38 I just hit my PR of 250 on bench two days ago. For me it’s bio-mechanics, lever arms, force angles, etc. It’s all real. My body is not designed to bench. I can handle a whole hell of a lot of weight with dumbbells though because they allow for different degrees of range. I am happy with 250 at 180# BW, took me 20 years of training with tiny gains. I’d like to add another 20 before I die. I’ve always had great wheels, I could squat 450# at 160 BW for reps in my prime. Bench, not so good. If you can hit 350, I’ll pat you on the back at the gym when you do it, or give you a socially distanced non creepy wink and nod. I agree that it’s impressive, but I absolutely disagree that it’s for everyone, even after adding weight.
So what do we think a squat is that everyone can attain? I’d like to see this thread go at least two more months, theres some gold in here lol!
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We need to talk…my sons getting his master in sports physiology. ( thought he was going into orthopedics at one point)Current a undergraduate assistant looking at his phd right after. Like to hear more about your education path.
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I ended up going the rehabilitation route with a few more years after that. What kind of career is he looking for after? I have some friends that stayed in the Universities they were at, but a long hard education to make $40k a year with a PhD. Only one of them can bench more that 215, just for the record 
Ugh… a professor and research. He was going orthopedic path.
I have a friend I occasionally lift with. Today we benched together. We’re about the same height. He sets his pins five holes down from where I set them. If it’s attainable for everyone, I don’t know. But some people have far less distance to move the bar.
Sure, life ain’t fair. But those guys usually aren’t complaining about being “Hardgainers” either. To be fair, I don’t fall into that category, I’m the guy that pisses off the other gym rats. I was directly accused of being “One of those guys that can not lift for 6 months and not lose anything”, which isn’t entirely true, but the first time I squatted I got 315. It was ugly but I got it. But what I see id the skinny guy doing 800 reps with next to no weight doing the complaining. While drinking his zero carb energy drink. Having to work for it is normal I think, not the other way around.
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As a runner in a previous life I can confirm that it is exactly the same. You will get a new runner who can barely run a mile ask how to get to a half marathon in 90 min in 3 months !!!
You will also get runners who only run every run as fast as they can and keep getting injured. When they ask how to get faster they will ignore any advice that does not confirm to their idea of how to improve.
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Im invented a term for myself…i am a old gainer.!
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I like old gainer, I may use it but promise to footnote you @bulldog9899 haha. I hit PR’s during COVID I couldn’t hit as a twenty something. Muscle maturity is actually a thing. Spent much of my life trying to add weight and now I"m at my heaviest weight. My second INBF bodybuilding competition was won by a guy who looked crazy at 46. I competed against his son who was 22, blew us both out of the water.
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Or Golden Gainer at some point. What age would that kick in?
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Reminds me of about 3AM every now and again…
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Muscle maturity is great… wish it held true for ligaments and tendons.
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I was thinking now of using the term Master gainer. Since in most organizations views 40 on up as masters. But it has a odd ring when you say it.
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I read it in a British accent, with Master as a formal title.
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I saw my first 4 plate bench (in person) today at a gym I was trying out. Dude had no leg muscles though. But dat bench!
There’s sweatpants for that
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