Hey,
Seeing as how Arnold is the PI today, I was wondering if he or any of the other bodybuilders of that time(Franco,Zane, Ferrigno, etc.) bulked? Every picture of Arnold I have seen he has been at less than 10-12% bodyfat and never above. Just curious.
Maybe
[quote]caneman wrote:
Hey,
Seeing as how Arnold is the PI today, I was wondering if he or any of the other bodybuilders of that time(Franco,Zane, Ferrigno, etc.) bulked? Every picture of Arnold I have seen he has been at less than 10-12% bodyfat and never above. Just curious.[/quote]
I remember reading an article one time where Ferrigno bulked for a year one time and gained about 80 lbs(Don’t quote me, I don’t remember the number, but it was a lot). When he got down to contest shape he had gained 2 lbs of LBM.
I’m not positive that he did it right.
Nope, never. Came out of the womb like that.
[quote]caneman wrote:
Hey,
Seeing as how Arnold is the PI today, I was wondering if he or any of the other bodybuilders of that time(Franco,Zane, Ferrigno, etc.) bulked? Every picture of Arnold I have seen he has been at less than 10-12% bodyfat and never above. Just curious.[/quote]
When Arnold was first brought to this country by Weider, he had the nickname “smooth”. I have only seen one picture of him bulked up as I am sure most bodybuilders don’t go on photo shoots (save for Lee Priest) when they are at their heaviest off season weight. In other words, OF COURSE YOU HAVEN’T SEEN ANY PICS OF MOST BODYBUILDERS BULKED UP. In a sport based on looks, most would never take pictures when they look their worst.
With a lot of juice you don’t need to bulk and cut! I recall reading articles back in the 60’s and 70’s where those guys claimed to never “bulk” more than 10-20 pounds during the “off season”.
I don’t recall Arnold ever talking about doing cardio either…I think he just did 2-3 hours a day of weights when he was preparing for a contest instead…
[quote]chrisrodx wrote:
A lot of guys misunderstand bulking. “Bulking” is really more about holding that extra water weight, rather then gaining body fat. [/quote]
Sure about that?
[quote]PGA200X wrote:
chrisrodx wrote:
A lot of guys misunderstand bulking. “Bulking” is really more about holding that extra water weight, rather then gaining body fat.
Sure about that?[/quote]
For real. Most people bulk up with the understanding that some of that is fat gain, not just “water”. The goal is to gain enough muscle to justify it though, not to simply get fat as hell. Many of these bodybuilders used to bulk up, especially in the 80’s-90’s. The few who didn’t also seemed to be the few who made the least progress over the course of years even if they looked great. Nasser was known for this as well as the legendary bulks up Lee Priest who would gain up to 75lbs over his contest weight every year.
[quote]Professor X wrote:
For real. Most people bulk up with the understanding that some of that is fat gain, not just “water”. The goal is to gain enough muscle to justify it though, not to simply get fat as hell. Many of these bodybuilders used to bulk up, especially in the 80’s-90’s. The few who didn’t also seemed to be the few who made the least progress over the course of years even if they looked great. Nasser was known for this as well as the legendary bulks up Lee Priest who would gain up to 75lbs over his contest weight every year.[/quote]
Nasser Quote:
Q: How much weight will you normally gain during the off-season?
N: Generally, my off-season body weight is 40lbs higher than my contest weight.
So thats the equivalent of close to 5 gallons of “water retention” during the off-season.
No pictures to support it, but it has been documented that when Arnold first arrived in Venice Beach, he went to Vince’s Gym and announced he was Mr. Universe. Gironda looked over and was quoted as saying,“you look like just another fat fuck to me”.
[quote]Professor X wrote:
…as I am sure most bodybuilders don’t go on photo shoots (save for Lee Priest) when they are at their heaviest off season weight.[/quote]
That was funny. Gotta love The Priest.
[quote]MartinL wrote:
No pictures to support it, but it has been documented that when Arnold first arrived in Venice Beach, he went to Vince’s Gym and announced he was Mr. Universe. Gironda looked over and was quoted as saying,“you look like just another fat fuck to me”.[/quote]
Like I said, Weider gave an interview stating that his nickname was “smooth” when he first got here because he had no definition. Just because they didn’t take photos when fat doesn’t mean they never got that way.
[quote]PGA200X wrote:
Professor X wrote:
For real. Most people bulk up with the understanding that some of that is fat gain, not just “water”. The goal is to gain enough muscle to justify it though, not to simply get fat as hell. Many of these bodybuilders used to bulk up, especially in the 80’s-90’s. The few who didn’t also seemed to be the few who made the least progress over the course of years even if they looked great. Nasser was known for this as well as the legendary bulks up Lee Priest who would gain up to 75lbs over his contest weight every year.
Nasser Quote:
Q: How much weight will you normally gain during the off-season?
N: Generally, my off-season body weight is 40lbs higher than my contest weight.
So thats the equivalent of close to 5 gallons of “water retention” during the off-season.[/quote]
The average for most of those guys is 30-40lbs above contest weight. At least it is for the guys I’ve known who compete and actually look very different from year to year.
[quote]Professor X wrote:
MartinL wrote:
No pictures to support it, but it has been documented that when Arnold first arrived in Venice Beach, he went to Vince’s Gym and announced he was Mr. Universe. Gironda looked over and was quoted as saying,“you look like just another fat fuck to me”.
Like I said, Weider gave an interview stating that his nickname was “smooth” when he first got here because he had no definition. Just because they didn’t take photos when fat doesn’t mean they never got that way. [/quote]
Good point.
[quote]PGA200X wrote:
Professor X wrote:
For real. Most people bulk up with the understanding that some of that is fat gain, not just “water”. The goal is to gain enough muscle to justify it though, not to simply get fat as hell. Many of these bodybuilders used to bulk up, especially in the 80’s-90’s. The few who didn’t also seemed to be the few who made the least progress over the course of years even if they looked great. Nasser was known for this as well as the legendary bulks up Lee Priest who would gain up to 75lbs over his contest weight every year.
Nasser Quote:
Q: How much weight will you normally gain during the off-season?
N: Generally, my off-season body weight is 40lbs higher than my contest weight.
So thats the equivalent of close to 5 gallons of “water retention” during the off-season.[/quote]
Had the pleasure of talking and eating with the guy at a table at the Fibo Expo back in 2002’. The guy lost maybe a liter of water every half hour through sweating alone. He told us he had about 5-6 shirts with him everywhere he went.
Showed us his abs and lovehandles, and he wasn’t ripped, but he was still hard as hell.
He said the main thing to go puffy was his face.
Of course, this all has a lot to do with thier cycles rather then food intake.
Nice post man, good stuff.
[quote]Kliplemet wrote:
human743 wrote:
caneman wrote:
Hey,
Seeing as how Arnold is the PI today, I was wondering if he or any of the other bodybuilders of that time(Franco,Zane, Ferrigno, etc.) bulked? Every picture of Arnold I have seen he has been at less than 10-12% bodyfat and never above. Just curious.
I remember reading an article one time where Ferrigno bulked for a year one time and gained about 80 lbs(Don’t quote me, I don’t remember the number, but it was a lot). When he got down to contest shape he had gained 2 lbs of LBM.
I’m not positive that he did it right.
https://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=927590
Off-season is a time of extending and improving your skills, gain more strength, and/or add muscle mass, depending on which your sport is.
How much weight should you strive to gain during this period? Some athletes limit themselves to an increase of about 10% in weight, but others have a tendency to bulk up to enormous proportions, well beyond their competitive weight. They consume much more food than they presumably need for optimal growth.
Bluntly put, they risk becoming clinically overweight, which may jeopardize their health. Men are considered clinically moderate at a level of 18% - 20%, and obese in excess of 25% body fat. For women the figures are higher, 25% - 30% is moderate and more than 32% signifies obesity.
Frank Zane, a Mr Olympia title-holder and well known to most bodybuilders believes that weight change throughout the year should be limited. “Most bodybuilders”, he says "… are extremists, who bulk up during the winter (many of them gain as much as 70 or 80 pounds [approximately 30 - 40 kilos] above their competitive body weight) and then lose it all back for their contest the following year.
I’ve fallen into this trap myself several times … I learned that to make long term progress, my best strategy was not to gain more than 5% of my competitive body weight and to spend the winter working on my weak points … Gaining just a few pounds of muscle per year in the right places every year looks really impressive."
The same piece of advice is given by Tim Kimber and colleagues of Gold’s Gym: “There is one cardinal rule in bodybuilding when you are attempting to gain body weight: Be sure that you increase muscle mass instead of merely fattening yourself up …”
Lou Ferrigno- “The Incredible Hulk” -learned the hard way. He recalls much of the same mistake that Frank Zane warns aspiring athletes of: “For nine months I trained like a madman on all basic exercises and ate everything that wasn’t nailed down. At the end of the nine months, I weighed 303 pounds [138kg] … The next four months were devoted to dieting and training down to reach a peak for the show I’d lost a year before. It was grueling work, but I managed to reach peak shape, only to lose badly again. Unfortunately, I weighed only 202 lbs [101kg], a trivial two pounds [one kilo], more than the previous year, despite all of the work! That experience convinced me that the process of bulking up and training down is worthless for serious bodybuilders.”
[/quote]
Ferrigno was about 6’5". Whenever this was when he competed at 202lbs must have been one of his first contests considering he was later tipping the scales around 270lbs in contest shape. If anyone believes he reached a 70lbs gain later without ever bulking up again to any degree, they have a lot to learn about how the human body works.
Good responses. I liked the one about Zane not bulking-makes sense since he was known for being lean. thanks guys.
[quote]caneman wrote:
Good responses. I liked the one about Zane not bulking-makes sense since he was known for being lean. thanks guys.[/quote]
But he did. Read better. That goes back to believing that very few guys have ever really gotten big without EVER bulking up. At some point, most of those guys did. They may stay leaner later, but to pretend as if they never did is ridiculous. If I stay leaner from this point forward, it would be a complete lie for me to act as if I NEVER bulked up before as if that didn’t help me gain the size I carry right now. Get it?