I am on the mailing list of Precision Nutrition and on his article ‘‘Big Mistakes Little Guys Make’’ he wrote
‘‘Heck, I remember when I started, I couldn’t even bench press the bar with 10lbs on each side. And, two years later, I was bench pressing the bar plus 4 of those 45lb plates on each side. A happy ending indeed’’
In two year, really? Who did that? It will be two year I started training and I am nowhere near that, despite the fact that I am probably the guy who made the most progress in my gym in those 20 months
Mind boggling? Get the fuck off the internet! No I’m kidding. That is fucking ridiculous. Drugs maybe? That just seems like too much. I could see 225# for sure, 315# would be stretching it, but 405? What the hell?
I wouldn’t doubt that some people out there have the “temptation” to understate their starting strength levels in order to make their current progress seem that much more spectacular.
(risking a double post with this, but I was logged out trying to post)
The guys dedicated and why would he lie? His credibility and business are on the line.[/quote]
We’ll lets use a little common sense, Stu just won a “natural” competition and won his pro card at 173 lbs. Berardi was 23 lbs more than that in his contest pic at 5% bodyfat. nuf said.
[quote]anonym wrote:
I wouldn’t doubt that some people out there have the “temptation” to understate their starting strength levels in order to make their current progress seem that much more spectacular.
(risking a double post with this, but I was logged out trying to post)[/quote]
Also, when you first start lifting, you can make incredible gains just by learning technique.
I remember when I first started lifting and I was shown correct squat form, I was trying to do 95 pounds and feel down into the pins because of terrible flexibility and never having done it. Within a couple of weeks I was doing 185 and 315 within a year and a half. Did my squat really increase from 95 to 315 within a 18 months? Kind of. But really, my true strength was probably at like 225 or something, I just had no idea how to use it in a squat.
I’d imagine either something similar is at play here or he is straight up exaggerating. Or he meant 4 plates total which would be 225.
The guys dedicated and why would he lie? His credibility and business are on the line.[/quote]
We’ll lets use a little common sense, Stu just won a “natural” competition and won his pro card at 173 lbs. Berardi was 23 lbs more than that in his contest pic at 5% bodyfat. nuf said.[/quote]
I am not even commenting on the op’s post, but the logic in this one needs work. I seriously doubt most of the guys with the more extreme genetic ability care at all about competing “naturally”. I am not knocking Stu’s accomplishments in any way and he is well respected, but if you think “173lbs in contest shape” is some max amount of weight you can gain naturally simply because those are the types of physiques that enter most “natural comps”, then you need to work on that logic or expand your knowledge base.
You just basically made a statement that anyone bigger than Stu has to be on drugs…as if no one can reach above 200lbs in contest shape naturally.
Why is this bullshit so rampant on a website dedicated to weight lifting?
Why is this bullshit so rampant on a website dedicated to weight lifting?
[/quote]
The same reasoning as: Cushing has gyno, so everyone assumes he took drugs.
I mean my son’s buddy has gyno pretty bad too. I guess scoring some roids at 12 years old is a lot easier now a days than when I was a kid.[/quote]
That is the downside to “steroid use” being so publicly discussed by people with no real knowledge base. Newbs begin thinking steroids are needed for ALL levels of extreme development…or they look at “natural comps” (which aside from a very select few are often filled with people who do NOT have above average genetic ability) and jump to these strange conclusions.
Why is this bullshit so rampant on a website dedicated to weight lifting?
[/quote]
Lets just be clear. I get where you are coming from. I’m a guy who lifts weights. Anyone who looks like they lift gets accused of taking roids at some point. This is very annoying. Also, its anoying on the internet when Newbs just assume folks are juicing who have made progress. I understand completely why you combat that. You do a good job with it.
But sometimes I think the pendulum swings a little too far in the other direction around here. Roids are a huge part of the sport. There is a roid forum on this website. People are going to talk about it. Was it fair of me to say that? Probably not. The claims he was making bothered me. I think they are rediculous as others have stated. I’ve been a guilible “scrawny” kid before myself. They are going to think they can buy his crap and look like him.
I’m not going to comment on whether ANY authors exaggerate claims or not (I think you have to take most people claims with a certain degree of skepticism these days), as I’ve especially always respected Berardi’s writing,… but having just read over the article in reference, I wonder what his weight was when he actually competed (does it say the pic was at 220 lbs?), because the only natural competitors I know who compete anywhere near 200 lbs, aren’t 5’8.
If it’s a matter of what you started at vs how big you got, hell, I was up to 220 lbs during my power-training days, and was sporting ‘abs’ (by normal standards) at 205-210). However, it comes down to what your unique structure can support. Personally, I think if I hadn’t injured my back a few years back (and lost a good deal of leg size), I would be competing in the low 180’s (and we’re talking seriously low single digit bodyfat here).
THAT, is probably the most my particular frame (small joints etc) could hold naturally (doing everything optimally as far as training, nutrition etc.) Not everyone has the same limitations. I bring this guy up a lot, but look up Kurt Weidner,… 100% natural, strong as an ox, competes at 200 lbs, and doesn’t look nearly as “full and round” as Berardi’s pic. Different genetics? Better conditioning? Drugs? Make up your own mind (I’ll keep my thoughts to myself on this one -lol)
Everyone’s genetics of course are very different, as my own strength certain preceded any appreciable size gains (my bench went from 135 to 315 in my fist year training,… the scale though moved MAYBE 5 lbs). The comparison to Milos Sarcev however doesn’t really help his discussion, as milos’ “Finally Figuring it out” was basically when he hooked up with Dan Duchaine and started playing around with Insulin and HGH.