Berardi Phone Consultation?

Training Bodybuilding
121

[quote]Tiribulus wrote:
matt_t2004 wrote:
chillain wrote:
Heh. If you quickly skim over the nonsense, there are some really entertaining posts in this thread.
And to the OP, a PWO salad?! That is just awesome.
[/quote]

Pahahahahahahaaa!!!

Post workout salad!!

[quote]actually my pwo meal was whey and instant oatmeal with strawberries.

I have decided to change this meal to a whey and dextrose shake and change my breakfast to 1 cup of oatmeal instead of 1/2 cup. I am also going to add more lean beef in there.[/quote]

WOOW slow down there you dont want to get too huge. If you added one more half cup of oat meal you would be bigger than Ronnie.

Its a good thing you warned him before he gained to much unfunctional muscle.

122

[quote]SkyNett wrote:
CappedAndPlanIt wrote:

I forgot. I’m just oversensitive. Right.

Actually, as a relatively disinterested third party - you really are coming off as totally insecure.

Read back through the thread at your responses - they smack of major insecurities in practically every sentence… [/quote]

The reason I reacted as such is because I simply asked an experienced lifter a couple of questions on two topics I had reads in articles on this site.

Apparently this is reason to infer that:

(a) I am gullible.
(b) I believe the topics I brought up to be the ONLY important factors in weight training.
(c) I just wanted to sound smart(er than I am) by using needlessly complicated terms.
(d) I think I know more than experienced lifters and I’m trying to tell them what to do.
(e) I do not train intensely and try to substitute fancy methods for hard work.

It was all of these assumptions (drawn from the simple questions of: "Do you use any deloading/rest techniques?"and “Do you change exercises as a way of breaking plateaus?”) that offended me.

I dont think that qualifies me as being oversensitive, IMO.

123

[quote]YourXLNS wrote:
matt_t2004 wrote:
chillain wrote:
Heh. If you quickly skim over the nonsense, there are some really entertaining posts in this thread.

And to the OP, a PWO salad?! That is just awesome.

actually my pwo meal was whey and instant oatmeal with strawberries.

I have decided to change this meal to a whey and dextrose shake and change my breakfast to 1 cup of oatmeal instead of 1/2 cup. I am also going to add more lean beef in there.

Just a quick note about the way you’re measuring you’re food intake, but before I do let me say that I used to be the exact same way as you. I used to measure everything and try to make the smallest increment humanly possible to try to make sure that I only got a tiny surplus of calories so that the weight I gained was just muscle.

Well, after having done that for about two years (yes, I was pig headed and now see why I drove my mother crazy at the time) I came to realize that:

  1. The body is complex. It follows its own “rhythm” and usually does not follow the same pattern of growth that your linear calorie progression does.

That being the case, why break your head trying to increase your calories by 250/day?

It’s an awful lot of work to put into a system that is largely “off”. Not only that, but when you don’t get the results from all that work you put in you become more frustrated and likely to quit.

I know, I’ve been there.

IMHO, its a good thing to know about nutrition and know which foods you should be eating and a ballpark figure of how many calories you’re eating. But being so meticulous doesn’t pay off in this game. At least not until you compete or are at a high level.

  1. What if you sleep and hour more or less today? How are you modifying your calorie intake for that? Perhaps you missed the bus and had to walk a bit further etc…

My point is that being so precise is silly because not every day is the same in terms of calorie expenditures. Even at the gym, a “legs” session probably burns more calories than a chest/push day. You’re calorie formula doesn’t take into consideration these nuances.

Again, my point is that to actually calculate a 250cal/day increase is not the best way to go if you want to stick with this for years to come.

If you had a competition of some sort and only had to do this for 12 weeks, fine. But a life-time of weighing bananas is borderline obsessive compulsive, IMHO.

So, to summarize my little rant. Relax. Buy PN and read up if you’d like. Have a “feel” for how many calories and the types of food you eat. If you had a harder session and maybe played a bit of ball in the afternoon. Use common sense and make an adjustment.

Just because you don’t weigh/measure your food doesn’t mean its of lesser quality.

Use good judgment, your experience and go with the flow.[/quote]

Something I, also, needed to hear.

124

[quote]Tiribulus wrote:
Ruggerlife wrote:
<<< If you want a few more small changes consider >>>

This guy doesn’t need a few more small changes in my opinion. He needs to reformat his intellectual hard drive and load up a different operating system altogether. Honestly I think YourXLNS is on the right track.

You’re in bondage Matt and shifting around to keep the chains from chafing isn’t going to get them off.

Somebody needs to take you to Burger King and make you eat 20 bucks worth of shit fast food just for the emancipatory effect. [/quote]

Tiribulus,
I agree, YourXLNS has a great post. I was just trying to get the OP to think about his first step from where he is now to where he needs to go.

I know I said small step, but if you think about it, the “small” changes would result in about 1000kcals/day added to his current eating plan.

125

If you wonder why guys take a harsh tone, look no farther than the OP. Let’s look at what happened:

The OP said he was looking for advice. When he wasn’t given the advice he wanted to hear, he pitched a fit. When his very questions and prior posts revealed ignorance, he said, “Don’t tell me to stick to the basics. I know everything and am ready for something truly advanced!”

Next time, don’t ask for advice. Just type: “Look at how cool I am. I am going to have a $200 phone consult with John Berardi.”

126

[quote]CappedAndPlanIt wrote:
(c) I just wanted to sound smart(er than I am) by using needlessly complicated terms.

I dont think that qualifies me as being oversensitive, IMO.[/quote]

Dude, you are oversensitive. You are truly acting like a little bitch. Get over yourself.

Anyhow, I think you are smarter than average. You write pretty clearly and have good grammar. I never said otherwise. But I also think you are ignorant as all hell. There is nothing wrong with ignorance. What is wrong is not knowing that you have much to learn.

You really should just keep quiet and lift hard for the next six months. Based on the stuff you have posted, you have much to learn before you are even remotely qualified to “put in your two cents.”

Again, as I know you are sensitive: You are a smart enough dude. But until you realize that you don’t know anything, and until you realize that your best education will be under the bar and not on some web site, you won’t learn anything.

127

[quote]CaliforniaLaw wrote:
CappedAndPlanIt wrote:
(c) I just wanted to sound smart(er than I am) by using needlessly complicated terms.

I dont think that qualifies me as being oversensitive, IMO.

Dude, you are oversensitive. You are truly acting like a little bitch. Get over yourself.

Anyhow, I think you are smarter than average. You write pretty clearly and have good grammar. I never said otherwise. But I also think you are ignorant as all hell. There is nothing wrong with ignorance. What is wrong is not knowing that you have much to learn.

You really should just keep quiet and lift hard for the next six months. Based on the stuff you have posted, you have much to learn before you are even remotely qualified to “put in your two cents.”

Again, as I know you are sensitive: You are a smart enough dude. But until you realize that you don’t know anything, and until you realize that your best education will be under the bar and not on some web site, you won’t learn anything.[/quote]

I’m aware that I have a lot to learn. So, I figured a good idea would be to ask an experienced lifter what he thought about a few things. I already explained why I became defensive in my responses.

Lets just drop this. Its getting us nowhere.

128

Who said women always have to have last word?

129

[quote]CaliforniaLaw wrote:
Okay, so I just read some of your prior posts. You are utterly rudderless…Why are you even worried about a phone consultation? I doubt you could even carry on an intelligent conversation about nutrition.[/quote]

I really enjoy CLaw’s posts. It’s too bad that the people who need his advice are too sensitive to hear it. Over-the-internet sensitive, no less.

Anyway, I just imagined how this consult would unfold. I’m guessing that after 3 minutes of conversation interspersed among 10 minutes of awkward silence, Dr. Berardi would offer to send the OP two copies of PN, call it even, and hang up.

130

[quote]chillain wrote:
CaliforniaLaw wrote:
Okay, so I just read some of your prior posts. You are utterly rudderless…Why are you even worried about a phone consultation? I doubt you could even carry on an intelligent conversation about nutrition.

I really enjoy CLaw’s posts. It’s too bad that the people who need his advice are too sensitive to hear it. Over-the-internet sensitive, no less.

Anyway, I just imagined how this consult would unfold. I’m guessing that after 3 minutes of conversation interspersed among 10 minutes of awkward silence, Dr. Berardi would offer to send the OP two copies of PN, call it even, and hang up.

[/quote]

I doubt it would last that long.

“Hi, this is Dr. Berardi and your one hour begins…now”

“Well, uh, sir…I’m not gaining shit.”

“What does your current diet look like”

The OP rambles through .5 cups of this, 2/3 cups of that and a salad

“That’s all?”

“Yep, where are my biceps, damn it!!!”

“How about you stop eating like my next door neighbor’s pet Pomeranian and grow a pair?”

“Gasp…how dare you!?”

“I ate more than that by 9am this morning”

“But…but what about how much good fat I’m eating!!?”

"Is this hour up yet?

“I weighed my oatmeal and everything!”

“Yes, but when you weren’t gaining anything from it, it didn’t occur to you to increase the calories until you did gain weight?”

“But, it’s summer and I want to pop my collar and show the world my abs!”

Busy tone…picks up the phone again. “Naw, honey, he’s still there!”

Voice in the background: “Damn!”

131

I don’t know why people cannot just work a balanced routine and eat enough food. This whole thread and a hundred others with all this discussion and frustration.

These threads are getting to be like watching a drowning person splash around screaming for help while they’re surrounded by life preservers.

132

[quote]Tiribulus wrote:
These threads are getting to be like watching a drowning person splash around screaming for help while they’re surrounded by life preservers.
[/quote]

Drowning while lying face down in four inches of water. Any simple suggestions like “why don’t you lift your head out of the water” or “stand up!” are met with incredulous resistance.

Trying to help someone this deep in denial is usually just a waste of time.

133

Listen guys I am agreeing with you. I know I need more calories, and yes I am afraid of gaining fat because I was an overweight kid until 16.

I mean come on no one wants to be fat. I am going to start adding in more food I am going to try to aim for 3000 kcal to start out at. I think this will will be okay because my RMR is around 2000. I am just saying that there is no need to be rude about things.

I admit I am not eating enough, but I am not going to go whole hod and not care what fat I gain. If I start gaining to much fat I will reevaluate. Thanks for everything guys.

134

[quote]matt_t2004 wrote:
Listen guys I am agreeing with you. I know I need more calories, and yes I am afraid of gaining fat because I was an overweight kid until 16.

I mean come on no one wants to be fat. I am going to start adding in more food I am going to try to aim for 3000 kcal to start out at. I think this will will be okay because my RMR is around 2000. I am just saying that there is no need to be rude about things.

I admit I am not eating enough, but I am not going to go whole hod and not care what fat I gain. If I start gaining to much fat I will reevaluate. Thanks for everything guys.[/quote]

You DO NOT have to get fat. Nobody has ever said that anybody has to be actually fat to make great gains, but you WILL have to gain SOME. I don’t know and neither does anybody else what exactly that means in anybody’s case, but their own.

I’m one inch taller than you are and probably 20 years older which means I have much more to worry about when it comes to fat than you do and I eat about 5000 calories a day. You are leaner than I am, but not by too much and I haven’t gotten fatter in months.

Forget BMR RMR blah blah blah and just eat 6 meals a day consisting of some reasonably anabolic food like meat, whole eggs, cheese, fish, chicken, milk (even cottage cheese) and some quality carb sources. In your case if you MUST be fanatical, keep things unprocessed.

I’m a diabetic and eat extremely clean meaning practically nothing that comes in a can, bag, box, bottle or package with a few exceptions like canned salmon so I know what it’s like to be conscientious. However, this shit with a triple beam scale and scraping that 4 curds of excess cottage cheese back into the container is is just plain messed up.

There’s nothing wrong with being studious and precise in your diet within sane and useful limits, but you’ve mistaken compulsion for dedication.

If I were you I’d spend a couple weeks working up to 4 grand a day, seriously, my wife eats 3000 cals a day, and see how that goes for a while.

Training is another story altogether.

135

[quote]Tiribulus wrote:
You DO NOT have to get fat. Nobody has ever said that anybody has to be actually fat to make great gains, but you WILL have to gain SOME. I don’t know and neither does anybody else what exactly that means in anybody’s case, but their own.[/quote]

Good post.

Everyone who isn’t eating enough thinks the alternative is that they have to become obese? What does “fat” mean to some of these people? Who has ever told someone they need to develop rolls of adipose tissue to see progress?

This isn’t an “either or” situation where you either stay extremely lean or become fat as hell. People think in extremes, even when their own bodies aren’t seeing much progress from what they are currently doing.

136

[quote]Professor X wrote:
Tiribulus wrote:
You DO NOT have to get fat. Nobody has ever said that anybody has to be actually fat to make great gains, but you WILL have to gain SOME. I don’t know and neither does anybody else what exactly that means in anybody’s case, but their own.

Good post.

Everyone who isn’t eating enough thinks the alternative is that they have to become obese? What does “fat” mean to some of these people? Who has ever told someone they need to develop rolls of adipose tissue to see progress?

This isn’t an “either or” situation where you either stay extremely lean or become fat as hell. People think in extremes, even when their own bodies aren’t seeing much progress from what they are currently doing.[/quote]

I think the OPs issues go a bit deeper than “I want to pop my collar and show the world my abs”. You seem to have a tendency to jump to insultingly inaccurate assumptions about people.

The OP has some body image issues due to being overweight growing up. However, the message you get is “I’m too vain to allow myself to gain any weight.” You’re trivializing a psychological issue into an insult.

Yes, some people are hypersensitive about gaining bodyfat. What the OP should try to understand, though, is that gaining some body fat isnt going to cause him to relive the years he spent as “the fat kid”.

Trust me, I was there. I’ve been through it.

To the OP:

Seriously, you can’t let the experience of having grown up overweight hold you back. Getting over it is tough, but it helps to understand that, growing up, everyone is looking for something to attack someone else on.

At your age, even if you did “get fat”, the experience wouldn’t be the same (save if you balloon up to 500 pounds). Hell, in our society, a guy being 20-50 pounds overweight is actually considered “normal”.

As a personal account, over the last two years I gained and lost about 30-35 pounds of fat. One friend, a fairly close one, said she honestly didn’t even notice that I had gained or lost the weight. So, again, putting on some body fat isn’t such a terrible thing, especially when its the price to pay for gaining muscle.

My thinking lately has been that you need to pick a goal, accept the downsides and go for it. If you want to lose fat, accept that you wont be making a lot of progress in the gym. You may even backslide slightly. Accept that you’ll be hungry sometimes. Accept that dieting fucking sucks sometimes, but thats life.

If you want to get bigger muscles, accept that you will put on some bodyfat. Accept that you’ll be eating all the time and trying to break all your personal records in the gym. Accept that some workouts are going to leave you in a pile on the gym floor.

Just my take on things, take it for what its worth.

137

One of these days we’ll figure out how the masses perceive this stuff. They seem to have a very uptight literal approach to information. Let’s look what we’ve got on the list so far:

  • Militantly literal interpretation of any statement by [insert author] that they find convenient regardless how insignificant or far it from the main point it is.

  • Either isolation or compound. A mix would surely create a tear in the cloth of the universe.

  • You either get obese or stay emaciated, regularly pleasuring yourself to the pipe dream of people growing big muscles while staying lean all year long.

  • You either weigh every nanogram of oatmeal or one day wake up to be clinically obese.

  • disappointed voice “I performed the Neuroscapular Core-pivoting Ballistic Retraction workout developed by NASA exactly to the very point but still didn’t grow at all. I guess I’ll try the Transmedial Delta-Vortex System next month. Surely that will transform me for good”.

Obviously the ability to learn from past experiences or questioning the source(note no ‘s’) is at a very troubling state.

  • A constant fear experienced by 150-pounders is suddenly doubling their weight and becoming too muscular. Don’t let it happen to you!

  • Denial often displays itself with the “I want to be functional/strength/MMA” claim. Even though people who actually started training for sports, powerlifting or gymnastics are probably never heard saying anything like that.

  • You either eat organic bat semen tofu with celery sticks or it’s pizza, whoppers and snickers bars dipped in mayonnaise. What are you talking about, what other way?

  • Completely change your workout every six weeks. It’s easy when there’s at least 4 new training articles every month. Variety is great right? You surprise the muscle in to new growth! Surprise motherfucker, it’s been five years and you look the same!

  • “But I’m eating enough good fats”. Added June 2007.

The experiment proceedes…

138

[quote]Majin wrote:

  • Completely change your workout every six weeks. It’s easy when there’s at least 4 new training articles every month. Variety is great right? You surprise the muscle in to new growth! Surprise motherfucker, it’s been five years and you look the same!

  • “But I’m eating enough good fats”. Added June 2007.

The experiment proceedes…[/quote]

LOL.

Perfect.

139

LOL, no one can say this forum has lost its imaginatively hilarious contributors.

140

[quote]Majin wrote:
<<< A bunch of astute observations >>>[/quote]

Jolly good show ol boy!!! I believe you have captured what is indeed the unfortunate and unnecessary state of affairs for many of these struggling chaps.

In a nutshell, and this is definitely not confined to the iron game, few individuals posses the innate ability to truly think for themselves. People want to be led. There’s nothing really actually wrong with that I suppose. That’s just how it’s been since the dawn of time. This is just a modern manifestation of it.