But he still looks fat and weak. This is my issue, strength comes way easier than any sort of size.
What’s the first thing you would look at for someone who wants to look stronger instead of chasing numbers? Volume? Diet?
It’s frustrating- I’m about twice as strong as all my friends across the board but don’t look it at all. As you can see I’m not exactly cut up so increasing the calories scares me with the summer right around the corner.
Also I know it doesn’t mean anything and would just be a guess but any rough guess on body fat?
I developed strength way quicker than I accumulated size. You have to remember that there’s a lot more to being “strong” than the size of your muscles. Yes, I know, some people will disagree, and I will concede that most of the time, a bigger muscle is a stronger muscle, BUT, I 100% believe that this statement applies only in terms of addressing one individual at a time.
My best muscular gains were when I stopped logging my strength levels in training journals. The “chasing #s” approach works when you’re a serious beginner simply because there aren’t enough variables you can visually track yet. You mentioned Volume, and Diet, both things that are incredibly important in making serious long term gains. Also, realize that TIME, is a big issue that many people overlook. You can do everything “correctly”, but, your body can only adapt and improve so quickly.
My best bench when I was about 190 lbs was 385 for a couple, BUT, my pecs looked nothing like they did when I won my pro card years later. When I started focusing more on the actual muscle moving the weight (using the weight to stress a muscle, not just “lifting” it), regulating fatigue, volume and accumulating intensity, and the best approach with diet and rest to optimizing recovery, that’s when I really stepped things up in terms of physique progress.
Man, I have been there. I weighed 150 the first time I hit 315, but at the time I looked not that different than you. I even had the hairy chest. First thing I did was eat clean. I eat a ton, but I don’t eat junk. Secondly, I do some carb cycling, more on training days, less on non-training days.
Also, I do some form of HIIT/sprint intervals about 3 times per month. It’s not much but it makes a difference metabolically. Also, as of just 3 months ago, I added some direct arm training. That helped bring out definition and increased size.
[quote]Ecchastang wrote:
Man, I have been there. I weighed 150 the first time I hit 315, but at the time I looked not that different than you. I even had the hairy chest. First thing I did was eat clean. I eat a ton, but I don’t eat junk. Secondly, I do some carb cycling, more on training days, less on non-training days.
Also, I do some form of HIIT/sprint intervals about 3 times per month. It’s not much but it makes a difference metabolically. Also, as of just 3 months ago, I added some direct arm training. That helped bring out definition and increased size. [/quote]
Ive had very good luck w. Similiar to this. Just cutting junk and eating clean over an extended period of time…
Id recommend you try the layer system and see if you can build some size on that. I ran a modified version and made a good physique improvement last year…
Thanks for all the tips. I’ve been more of IIFYM, but I’ll see if switching up the sources makes a difference for me. Think I’ll try and cut down a good 10lbs of fat by 5/1 for damage control then up the clean calories. Maybe this will bring out the muscle I do have a little more.
The Mighty Stu- once you focused more on hypertrophy did you acheive these results with a similar diet or did you change that around as well. What’s your favorite rep range/rest between sets for size?
Layer system looks interesting, guess I have some reading to do. No accessories though? Isn’t this important for size?
Well. Im no coach at it. And again…ran a modified version. But untill you do it… you wont understand the volume and intensity. I didnt. Its setup to build muscle. Know that. Id recommend gettn proper nutrition leading up to and def. During. One other thing I advise is gettn in better training shape. Start doing 1 minute or less rests between sets now. As there are no real rests in this system… just cstch your breathe and go. Ect…
Sessions themselves arent too long. Its all about little rest and allot of work. In a sense its like doin the movement 3 times…but in diff. Layers. An hour or less. But 40 mins seems like a good avge. I dunno about everyons.but thats the general idea. Reading C.T s articles on it would be more Informative. Theres a couple different templates/focuses that are goal oreiented so you have some options…
So i’m just kinda curious.
Have ya given Olympic lifting a try?
Sounds like you’ve got some god given natural strength, by your photo i’d say your not too tall (tall don;t work well in Oly lifts). And you have short arms which is real good for the clean and jerk. Can’t tell if ya got any legs or not. Got to have legs for oly. Got to.
If ya go down a bit, man at 169 lbs (Lu Xiaojun) puts 440 lbs over his head like its nothin. All you have to do is throw another 100 on your bench weight, put the bar on the floor and then chuck it up over your head and your right in the mix.
Or if ya want to put on more muscle you could go up to 205, ya got arms and a build more like Ilya Ilin. He chucks 535 over his head.But like i said tree trunk legs.
I’m sorry, i’d rather walk into a gym and be able to put 400 lbs over my head at 169 lbs, than look like i could at 185 and not even come close. But thats just me.
You might want to give oly a try. Addictive as hell.
[quote]barbedwired wrote:
Sessions themselves arent too long. Its all about little rest and allot of work. In a sense its like doin the movement 3 times…but in diff. Layers. An hour or less. But 40 mins seems like a good avge. I dunno about everyons.but thats the general idea. Reading C.T s articles on it would be more Informative. Theres a couple different templates/focuses that are goal oreiented so you have some options…[/quote]
The time involved depends on which specific “variant” you’re doing and which lift you’re doing for the day. The “max muscle” version was always quite a bit shorter time-wise than the “strength” version. (On a personal note, I actually got more muscle gain out of the strength version since I responded well to the volume.) Likewise, snatch-grip high pulls always took less time than benching.
There’s many different versions now but like with most programs, pick one that sounds good, stick with it for a few months, evaluate results and adjust as needed. It’s really more a training methodology than anything.
It’s also a simple enough framework to base your lifting around, so that you can adjust a few small things and see how they affect you. You get a lot of time with a single lift each session.
Agree lorez. Mine was more strength focus version. My mods were that I dont have pins nor trapbar. Thats why I say modified. Dont want to advertise it cus its not true layer system as CT created. But pauses instead of pins. Deficits for reg. deads. Ect…
Shit I’ll give it a try. Although a BB routine w/o accessories kind of puzzles me.
LBramble- nah I’ve never tried OLY. A lot of my friends do it, but often they have joint problems which I guess is what scares me away. Although I love the idea of completing. The thing is, when you’re lifting in the gym and people come up to you and say ‘woah you’re really strong’ at first it feels like a great compliment. Then after a while (and I’m sure Ecchastang and Stu have gotten this even more w/ the numbers they’ve said), you realize they mean: you look weak how are you lifting those weights? Kind of a backhanded compliment. The really successful people get ‘woah you’re huge’.
I usually work up to a set of 2x315, then do maybe 4 more heavy sets of 4-5 around 275. Then 4 lighter sets of incline ~8 reps. Followed by 4 sets of machine flies. Then tri assistance work, follow by BW dips.
[quote]complete_fraud wrote:
I usually work up to a set of 2x315, then do maybe 4 more heavy sets of 4-5 around 275. Then 4 lighter sets of incline ~8 reps. Followed by 4 sets of machine flies. Then tri assistance work, follow by BW dips.[/quote]
As strong as you are, never do bodyweight dips. Either add weight or don’t do them.
Also, if you "usually work up to a set of 2x315, then it sounds like you don’t have progression built into your workout, and you are at a plateau. I could be wrong about that, but that is what I am interpreting. I would also suggest doing a couple sets in the 8-10 range after your heavy set of 2, instead of the sets of 4-5. So drop down to about 250-260 and crank out 8 or so.
What I meant about the 315 is I started a cut a couple weeks ago so basically being able to hit the 2x without much issue is kind of mental reassurance that I’m not losing any muscle. Gonna increase the volume as suggested here then bump up the calories once I get a bit leaner for the summer. Hopefully that does the trick and there’s a rebound effect as well going for me at that point.
There are a lot of reasons you can be strong. Neurological coding, attachment locations, ect. That means you can be pretty strong without a huge amount of muscle. That doesn’t mean that you can’t or won’t build muscle getting stronger.
