[quote]ryanbCXG wrote:
Its all about the overall goals[/quote]
This is one thing most people miss. This is why most trainers look damn near the same after 2 years of “lifting”. You have to know what you are shooting for IN DETAIL before you can reach it.
You are spinning your wheels otherwise.
I mean the bigger spiderman. Not that Toby Maguire bullshit.
[quote]Professor X wrote:
[quote]ryanbCXG wrote:
Its all about the overall goals[/quote]
This is one thing most people miss. This is why most trainers look damn near the same after 2 years of “lifting”. You have to know what you are shooting for IN DETAIL before you can reach it.
You are spinning your wheels otherwise.[/quote]
X, I’m curious: what percentage of people would you guess actually have the goal of getting huge vis-a-vis the number who say that it is their goal.
I was mentioning this to someone recently: this is probably obvious, but I feel like most people who talk about wanting to get big haven’t ever been big before. In other words, it’s just an idea but not really something they’ve gotten their arms around.
I was a big guy in high school–250lb guy who lifted but of course had more on him than he should have (lol, ran a 5.7 40 and played on the offensive line, but could clean and bench more than 300). To be honest, the main reason that I ended up getting so into running when I went to undergrad is that I was tired of people (even friends and family) treating me like crap for being a bigger person.
Most of my desire to get back to being a big guy (and it’s going to be a long road) is motivated by that experience. I liked being a big guy, regardless of how people treated me about it. But man, society really does treat big people badly. It’s a legit social taboo, and I wonder how many people with the goal of getting big have actually thought about that. And in general, there’s hardly a distinction between “lean” and “fat” with big folks–for example, I wonder how many patients and such see “Lean Prof X” as being pretty much the same as “big Prof X” back when you were 290. I’ll bet it would be surprising to see how many actually did. Because being big isn’t something you just get to be in the gym–it’s a part of your life the other 23 hours of the day as well, and there are definitely social consequences worth thinking about.
Or am I off base?
[quote]The3Commandments wrote:
X, I’m curious: what percentage of people would you guess actually have the goal of getting huge vis-a-vis the number who say that it is their goal.
I was mentioning this to someone recently: this is probably obvious, but I feel like most people who talk about wanting to get big haven’t ever been big before. In other words, it’s just an idea but not really something they’ve gotten their arms around.
I was a big guy in high school–250lb guy who lifted but of course had more on him than he should have (lol, ran a 5.7 40 and played on the offensive line, but could clean and bench more than 300). To be honest, the main reason that I ended up getting so into running when I went to undergrad is that I was tired of people (even friends and family) treating me like crap for being a bigger person.
Most of my desire to get back to being a big guy (and it’s going to be a long road) is motivated by that experience. I liked being a big guy, regardless of how people treated me about it. But man, society really does treat big people badly. It’s a legit social taboo, and I wonder how many people with the goal of getting big have actually thought about that. And in general, there’s hardly a distinction between “lean” and “fat” with big folks–for example, I wonder how many patients and such see “Lean Prof X” as being pretty much the same as “big Prof X” back when you were 290. I’ll bet it would be surprising to see how many actually did. Because being big isn’t something you just get to be in the gym–it’s a part of your life the other 23 hours of the day as well, and there are definitely social consequences worth thinking about.
Or am I off base?[/quote]
I don’t get treated badly. Quite the opposite. Being this muscular is becoming so rare that people tend to go out of their way to notice it. I’ve gotten free food before at restaurants for no other reason than a smile and being one of the more muscular people they saw that day. I know some people hate to hear shit like that, but it’s the truth…and I am nowhere near the size of some of these guys in Houston that have actually competed in the NPC.
I doubt most people today have a solid idea of what “huge” is unless they have trained around people at that level for many years. I was lucky to have that experience.
The first time I saw Idrise Ward-el at the gym, it blew my mind. I had never seen someone that big…and for us to actually know each other well enough to speak was motivation in itself.
No doubt, you are likely to mimic the potential of those around you.
if you surround yourself with average people, don’t expect to reach much more than that.
That goes for pretty much anything you strive for in life.
So, to answer your original question…if most people don’t even see that many people at that level, then I doubt that many are shooting for that as a goal.
I am surprised at your negative take on the experiences of bigger lifters.
My patients can tell the difference. I also don’t get negative comments from them other than, “damn, doc…you like to lift, huh?”
Guys, a question.
I’ve been doing Leangains fairly strictly for nearly a year (cycling calories up during feed phases). While seeing a doctor for a possible allergy, she noted I had gastric reflux. (“You have a redness in your throat that is characteristic of gastric reflux.” I guess I never noticed… I realized after she said it that I get it during the fasting portion of the day. Given I’ve been on Leangains for a long time, I’d say my body has well-adjusted to the fasting portion of the day and doesn’t, for example, expect lunch. But now I’m thinking about it and yeah I feel that during the fasting portion, I’ve got some acid reflux.
Any tips on this? How to minimize it? Should I lower (increase) fluid intake during the fasting period?