Well, it all really depends on what you want. I think he just jumped in to get back in shape at first he wasn’t thinking about bulking. You can obviously tell.
Anyways, this is a great way to reference what I need to do. I’ll probably start taking pictures. Actually, have I posted in this already? Deja Vu.
[quote]Zap Branigan wrote:
The only thing that really bothers me on this site is when someone states their goals and their behavior does not match.[/quote]
Amen. Or they complain about not being able to gain weight.
[quote]Tiribulus wrote:
Professor X wrote:
randman wrote:
Tiribulus wrote:
randman wrote:
<<< And since when is cutting every year a stupid idea? I know a lot of professionals that do just this. You are usually good for some ignorant posts every so often. >>>
Take a minute and reassess whether there be any ignorance in this statement.
I have and there isn’t. Leaning out every year is not a bad idea. Everything in moderation. Cutting to the extreme and getting to 5% bodyfat when you haven’t built a bood base is a bad idea. So is bulking for 4 years straight if your over 30% bodyfat. Take a minute and try and understand this post.
You are thinking in extremes and I have seen you post here enough to know you don’t even usually think this way. Who here has EVER made any comment like it was ok to bulk up to 30% body fat?
Along those same lines, I can completely stand behind the idea of NOT dieting down until a solid base was built. This guy could have reached his end product much earlier than he did. He had the genetics but spent much of his time dieting. the problem with that is, MOST people who approach their lifting like that from the beginning never actually gain much afterwards.
Just look around this site. How many people here can honestly respond that they have gained in excess of 50lbs of muscle after they stopped growing in height? I am betting that number is less than 10.
Everything Professor X just said and also what does what the pros do, who are already monstrous, have to do with someone like this guy? A thought along those same lines.
For the record, I somewhat understand, especially younger guys, not being able to resist tightening up SOME for the summer though I think they’d be better off not even really doing that if they have long term size goals in mind.
[/quote]
I think we are all talking the same thing. I did throw out the extreme examples but what I was really targeting was the concept of tightening up every so often if bodyfat is getting out of control.
Did this guy make mistakes? Sure. But that’s what you do when you actually get off your ass and do something. I made similar mistakes. The internet armchair experts just irk me when they throw out criticisms when they ain’t doing shit themselves.
[quote]rainjack wrote:
This was the guys goals when he started. Those of you that think he should have started bulking from day 1 are transposing your own goals on to a guy that just wanted to get back in shape.
To me there is little difference between your armchair qb-ing, and the idiots that say he looked better as a Brad Pitt ab-queen.
It all boils down to the fact that he did what he did for him - and it worked. Not to impress ProfessorX or his mindless asskissers that get get moist in the groin area when they think they are agreeing with him.
I may be missing something here - but please fucking show me where he says he wants to get huge as fast as he possibly can - short of that, maybe the ProfX ass kissing club will kindly shit the fuck up:
[b][i]I started my program because I was tired of being fat, unhealthy and out of shape. In high school I was an athlete, I was in great shape and I was healthy & confident. I stayed that way until I was in my mid-twenties, but over the last 10 years I let it all go. I became lazy, fat, unhealthy, antisocial, and I lost all my self-confidence.
Late last year, I decided it was time to make some major changes. I decided that I was not going to continue to live my life feeling miserable and disgusted with myself. I did a lot of soul-searching and made a list of all the things I wanted to change. At the top of the list was my health and personal appearance.
So, without wasting any more time, I began to educate myself, I set some goals and I made a plan. On January 6th, 2003 I put everything in motion. I have not looked back and my whole life and the way I live it has changed in just 3 short months.[/b][/i][/quote]
Good post. I actually can relate to this guy because I’ve gone through a similar journey. I originally was fat and out of shape and I just wanted to get in shape. Once that was achieved I wanted more muscle. If I took pictures every month it would probably be fairly similar.
I went from 214 lbs and no muscle to 175 lbs and no muscle. I am now sitting at 215 lbs with a respectable bodyfat %. This guy may even be a little further along than me. Hind sight is 20-20.
Obviously if I knew then what I know now I would have been a lot more effective from the beginning. But the guy got up of his ass and did something consistently, learned from his mistakes, and made pretty good progress. He should be congratulated, not criticized. But I know that’s a fantasyland thought considering the soy boy contingent we have on T-Nation.
[quote]randman wrote:
Obviously if I knew then what I know now I would have been a lot more effective from the beginning. But the guy got up of his ass and did something consistently, learned from his mistakes, and made pretty good progress. He should be congratulated, not criticized. But I know that’s a fantasyland thought considering the soy boy contingent we have on T-Nation.
[/quote]
I agree. I think it is stupid to go overboard critiquing somebody who has made a great transformation. Also I think it is dense to assume that giving this guy props for making his transformation in one way is automatically an attack on all other methods.
Bottom line, this guy made some great progress, and anybody who is just starting out or is not making great progress would be wise to learn from what he did and see how that could be applied to his/her own training.
[quote]randman wrote:
I think we are all talking the same thing. I did throw out the extreme examples but what I was really targeting was the concept of tightening up every so often if bodyfat is getting out of control.
Did this guy make mistakes? Sure. But that’s what you do when you actually get off your ass and do something. I made similar mistakes. The internet armchair experts just irk me when they throw out criticisms when they ain’t doing shit themselves.[/quote]
I’m not even making an issue of whether he should or shouldn’t make mistakes. Most of us made some mistakes as beginners. Some learned faster than others what should be kept and what should be thrown out. Why are people focusing on this one guy in this discussion as if we weren’t discussing what would produce the most results in the shortest time period? I could care less about being a quarterback to this one guy.
There is a debate, in part, because quite a few people seemed to think drugs were needed to make fast gains in size and/or that photoshop was used because he made progress. That takes what we are talking about out of just the confines of this one guy and into what can actually be achieved if people would do what was necessary to gain the most size in shortest amount of time.
I honestly don’t think some of you understood that at all judging from the responses.
[quote]Professor X wrote:
There is a debate, in part, because quite a few people seemed to think drugs were needed to make fast gains in size and/or that photoshop was used because he made progress. That takes what we are talking about out of just the confines of this one guy and into what can actually be achieved if people would do what was necessary to gain the most size in shortest amount of time.
I honestly don’t think some of you understood that at all judging from the responses.[/quote]
Well I agree with you there. Anyone that said or thinks Photoshop and/or juice when they see his progress log is simply retahded. Retahded I tell you.
[quote]randman wrote:
<<< I think we are all talking the same thing. I did throw out the extreme examples but what I was really targeting was the concept of tightening up every so often if bodyfat is getting out of control.
Did this guy make mistakes? Sure. But that’s what you do when you actually get off your ass and do something. I made similar mistakes. The internet armchair experts just irk me when they throw out criticisms when they ain’t doing shit themselves.[/quote]
Alright that’s fair, but I was responding to the idea of “cutting” every year and someone who has advanced to the pro level being used as an example of why it’s a good idea.
Everybody makes some mistakes, but yes I was speaking in general and not really about this particular guy who appears motivated and intelligent enough to learn from his.
I’m not critical of what this guy has done. In fact this series of pics is a sort of visual biography of him finding his way and could be quite instructive if interpreted correctly.
first of all congradulation’s! secondly, for all you people out there-there’s no friggin’ way that was photoshop’d. compare the picture’s closely and it’s blateantly obvious. i also think that the size gain was very reasonable.
he took the proper time to achieve this, and has maintained good proportion’s with the mass gain’s. it’s truly amazing to see the progression; and see what a completely different person this guy look’s like. good job man!
[quote]BF Bullpup wrote:
Nowhere in my post did I say that such gains weren’t possible. Make that guy first photo 10 years younger and take away the chest hair and you’d have pretty much what I started out with. I KNOW those changes are possible because I did and am still doing that with my own body.
[/quote]
Doing what with your body ?
Quoting from your profile :
http://www.T-Nation.com/myTNation.do?id=15232
Judging from your pics, you do not way more than 160 pounds…
Please tell me why do you think you are qualified to give people advice ?
Damn, sorry for posting I guess. I just saw people saying things like ‘photoshop’ and I nearly had a bowel spasm from comments like that. So I inserted a little reality.
Yes, the guy actually got somewhere unlike so many and his dedication is admirable. But obviously dieting down LIKE HE DID was not a great choice for gaining muscle. Because he didn’t just cut back a little - he really dieted down until he was lean. And no, I don’t propose people get obese to gain weight.
There is absolutely nothing unreal or supernatural in making gains like that in just 1-2years instead of 4. And he would of gotten bigger too if it weren’t for those meddling kids and their puppy. I’ve seen at least 5 insanely-dedicated fuckers do so much in one year it made me feel ashamed for every complaint I ever made in my life about not gaining.
[quote]Majin wrote:
Damn, sorry for posting I guess. I just saw people saying things like ‘photoshop’ and I nearly had a bowel spasm from comments like that. So I inserted a little reality.
Yes, the guy actually got somewhere unlike so many and his dedication is admirable. But obviously dieting down LIKE HE DID was not a great choice for gaining muscle. Because he didn’t just cut back a little - he really dieted down until he was lean. And no, I don’t propose people get obese to gain weight.
There is absolutely nothing unreal or supernatural in making gains like that in just 1-2years instead of 4. And he would of gotten bigger too if it weren’t for those meddling kids and their puppy. I’ve seen at least 5 insanely-dedicated fuckers do so much in one year it made me feel ashamed for every complaint I ever made in my life about not gaining. [/quote]
Good post.
[quote]k.elkouhen wrote:
BF Bullpup wrote:
Nowhere in my post did I say that such gains weren’t possible. Make that guy first photo 10 years younger and take away the chest hair and you’d have pretty much what I started out with. I KNOW those changes are possible because I did and am still doing that with my own body.
Doing what with your body ?
Quoting from your profile :
http://www.T-Nation.com/myTNation.do?id=15232
9 years training, 190 pounds at 5"8 20% BF.
“I haven’t failed. I’ve found 10,000 ways that don’t work.” - Thomas Edison
I train using whole-body H.I.T. twice a week. Three times if I’m not too sore, but that never happens.
Judging from your pics, you do not way more than 160 pounds…
Please tell me why do you think you are qualified to give people advice ?
[/quote]
Oy vey. I saw that guy’s profile. I agree that there is no way he weighs 190. And no reason in the world to think he should be giving anyone advice.
I know it has already been said, but I am throwing my support in for the idea this is no major progress. This is average progress at best. I mean really, 4 years consistent training? What kind of training?
[quote]Petedacook wrote:
I know it has already been said, but I am throwing my support in for the idea this is no major progress. This is average progress at best. I mean really, 4 years consistent training? What kind of training?
[/quote]
If that’s average results, then where are the people making progress like that?
I’m not saying he couldn’t have done better and I’m sure he is still working to improve himself. But considering 99% of the people who step into a weightroom won’t come anywhere near a physique like that, I think his progress is definitly commendable.
[quote]CaliforniaLaw wrote:
k.elkouhen wrote:
BF Bullpup wrote:
Nowhere in my post did I say that such gains weren’t possible. Make that guy first photo 10 years younger and take away the chest hair and you’d have pretty much what I started out with. I KNOW those changes are possible because I did and am still doing that with my own body.
Doing what with your body ?
Quoting from your profile :
http://www.T-Nation.com/myTNation.do?id=15232
9 years training, 190 pounds at 5"8 20% BF.
“I haven’t failed. I’ve found 10,000 ways that don’t work.” - Thomas Edison
I train using whole-body H.I.T. twice a week. Three times if I’m not too sore, but that never happens.
Judging from your pics, you do not way more than 160 pounds…
Please tell me why do you think you are qualified to give people advice ?
Oy vey. I saw that guy’s profile. I agree that there is no way he weighs 190. And no reason in the world to think he should be giving anyone advice.
[/quote]
BURN x 2
[quote]Petedacook wrote:
I know it has already been said, but I am throwing my support in for the idea this is no major progress. This is average progress at best. I mean really, 4 years consistent training? What kind of training?
[/quote]
Correction thats 4 years of average
T-Nation training.
Thats 10 years of bodybuilding.com training.
[quote]n3wb wrote:
CaliforniaLaw wrote:
k.elkouhen wrote:
BF Bullpup wrote:
Nowhere in my post did I say that such gains weren’t possible. Make that guy first photo 10 years younger and take away the chest hair and you’d have pretty much what I started out with. I KNOW those changes are possible because I did and am still doing that with my own body.
Doing what with your body ?
Quoting from your profile :
http://www.T-Nation.com/myTNation.do?id=15232
9 years training, 190 pounds at 5"8 20% BF.
“I haven’t failed. I’ve found 10,000 ways that don’t work.” - Thomas Edison
I train using whole-body H.I.T. twice a week. Three times if I’m not too sore, but that never happens.
Judging from your pics, you do not way more than 160 pounds…
Please tell me why do you think you are qualified to give people advice ?
Oy vey. I saw that guy’s profile. I agree that there is no way he weighs 190. And no reason in the world to think he should be giving anyone advice.
BURN x 2[/quote]
So this is what happens when people feel left out of a discussion because they have nothing to contribute? Whatever makes y’all feel better. 
Dramatic change between 9/1/2006 and 12/1/2006…I don’t think such fast progress is possible without some pharmaceutical aid.
Also notice how the dude’s face has changed from the first pic to the last. His head looks wider as we move towards the final pic. Looks like a different person.
If i had to bet, my take would be it is fake, although u never know. I’m not saying it’s impossible to have that kind of progress over 4 years.
[quote]guaglione wrote:
Dramatic change between 9/1/2006 and 12/1/2006…I don’t think such fast progress is possible without some pharmaceutical aid.
Also notice how the dude’s face has changed from the first pic to the last. His head looks wider as we move towards the final pic. Looks like a different person.
If i had to bet, my take would be it is fake, although u never know. I’m not saying it’s impossible to have that kind of progress over 4 years.[/quote]
Go read around his site http://www.johnstonefitness.com .
It’s been there for years. There are hundreds of photos. Do you think he photoshopped them all?
Go back in the archives to the last day or two’s front page posts. He addresses all the comments, including steroids, photoshopping, etc.