God I wish getting “huge” was a problem. I wish having excellent nutrition and wicked workouts would send my lean muscle mass skyrocketing overnight. It is IMPOSSIBLE that any natural bodybuilding will make you too huge. The BODY was built for WORK. When you make your body work, it grows. There’s no way you can naturally “outgrow” your body.
Note, the converse of your “too huge” argument would be to simply run and not eat. Seriously. You’ve already shot yourself in the foot worrying about getting to huge. Get that out of your head, start eating big and clean, and get the weight above your head (or chest, shoulders, whatever). Push yourself and let the testosterone flow.
I don’t think that its being huge that is necessarily unhealthy, but I do think that the Method of getting there, even after you exclude steroids and other drugs is what opens the door to some health problems.
One factor that’s not discussed too often is food sensitivities. Plainly, to get huge, you gotta eat huge, and the problem here is that too many bodybuilders and avid weight trainers consume too much of the same foods day in day out with no respite in an effort to get enough protein/calories. Eating the same foods in large quantities, or even small quantities but frequently sets u up for food sensitivities or allergies. Consider how allergenic foods like wheat,dairy, eggs and peanuts are and now consider how many bodybuilders use milk or milk proteins,eggs, whole grain bread and pasta and peanut butter on a daily basis as staples w/out laying off of them for a while.
While I realize that getting huge is REALLY hard (I understand that it is a pipe dream for most people, and even if you are dedicated it takes years and years). Likewise, I do not want to get “huge” (That is of course until I become obsessed with getting bigger, which is already happening).
I am 5’10" and i weigh roughly 170, and looking to pack on another 20 - 25 pounds. This goal is based on what I have seen people weigh that are roughly my size and what I want to look like.
The reason I might sounds like a girl is because my girlfriend is a health nut and has mentioned that being big has health risks, I was just wondering when these risks start to come into play.
Having said all of this… Its time to hit the gym and get HYOOOG.
Add a good run in two days a week and you’ll be much healthier than your girlfriend.
Whatever people on here say, don’t just concentrate on the iron. Lifting weights is one type of strength, being able to run, sprint and jump is another.
The two things go hand in hand and are not mutually exclusive as some here would have you believe.
Does anybody know of any men in their 60s, 70s, 80s or beyond who have trained hard since their teens/20s, and continue to do so at an advanced age? It would be interesting to know what aging effect weight training has had on these people. Personally I’m 25 and have trained with core lifts since I was 18, but I also play alot of soccer. I guess I have what you would consider a sprinters physique and carry a couple of stone more muscle than most players my height bodyfat %…but am the most athletic & easily the strongest on the team.
[quote]Strongarm wrote:
Sorry, Prof X, I couldn’t resist.[/quote]
Actually, you could and you should have. I want you to find the posts where I write like an idiot. In fact, your entire waste of a paragraph could be seen as racist because I don’t write like that and never have. If “funny” was your goal, you missed it and fell right into “dumbass”. Congratulations.
Well, since we are already off topic, sort of, here’s a little anecdote from my trip to the gym yesterday evening.
I’m just changing out of the winter wear and these two guys walk into the changeroom.
I don’t see them, but I overhear this one saying to the other “blah blah, cardio, blah blah”. I start to eavesdrop and hear “cardio is the best for your body anyway, not all this weightlifting stuff, that’s why it’s always so much busier”.
Curious, and withholding my laughter, I look over and the guy talking is some high pitched voice nancy boy who proceeds to traipse on down to cardio up.
Okay, while I’m not huge, I probably weigh about fifty more pounds than cardio boy. I’m also not lean. However, I suspect I’m healthier. I do a small amount of cardio, but I also do very short rest periods between sets.
I know other people will have lower rates and whatnot, but for chrissake, when I wake up in the morning my resting heart rate is 49! When I was cycling and x-country skiing in high school I never approached such a low rate. My doctor listens to my heart and takes my blood pressure and says things like a surprised “perfect”… since I’m sure he hardly ever gets to see healthy people anymore.
Anyway, just had to vent about nancy boy extolling cardio as the “best” for you, not that ucky “weightlifting stuff”! Sigh, I guess I’m glad people feel that way, the weight section is busy enough as it is.
Take it easy guys. I happen to respect 99% of what Prof. X says. It was a joke! Sorry, bad taste I guess. Call it a satirical take on how most people view us “muscleheads”. By the way, I have never eaten Krispy Kremes, and never intend to.
Being hyyyooogggge is not healthy. Pro bodybuilders nowadays, while they look good now (actually, they don’t, most chicks wouldn’t go near one those guys) are going to be broken down by the time the get on the other side of 50, by lifting too many weights too hard and steroids.
However, lifting weights is great for you! Going to failure each and every time is a recipe for a broken body when you get older, moderation is key.
I shake my head when I see people here bash jogging. Jogging for 20 minutes a day is probably one of the best things you can do, healthwise. Mohammed Ali jogged, Bruce Lee jogged, even Bob Marley jogged (mind you, they’re all dead or in bad shape otherwise but’s besides the point). I don’t care how low a bf or how much you can bench, if you can’t jog at a reasonable pace for 20 minutes, you are not fit.
T-Nation has amazing advice and even better supplements, but your typical bodybuilder mentality irritates me.
[quote]Professor X wrote:
Strongarm wrote:
Sorry, Prof X, I couldn’t resist.
Actually, you could and you should have. I want you to find the posts where I write like an idiot. In fact, your entire waste of a paragraph could be seen as racist because I don’t write like that and never have. If “funny” was your goal, you missed it and fell right into “dumbass”. Congratulations.[/quote]
[quote]VinceDee wrote:
T-Nation has amazing advice and even better supplements, but your typical bodybuilder mentality irritates me.[/quote]
This is a body building site. It’s not a typical mentality, either. We talk about getting big because that’s what we’re here for.
If you want to jog, knock yourself out. You’d probably find a lot more joggers on a jogging site than you would on a site that calls itself a “Bodybuilding Thinktank”.
Being huge is unhealthy? Tell that to Katz, or Mariusz Pudzianowski.
I agree that cardio is needed in some way. Here is where we part company!
Have you ever done squats, clean & press’s, Deadlifting, Pull-ups and a host of other multi-joint movements that really get your heart racing? After all, what is cardio anyway? It doesn’t have to be running around a track until you are dizzy, or bored to death (although I do like my hill sprints).
Let’s do some squats together. We will do ten sets with a one minute rest in between each set. I assure you that if you strapped a heart monitor on that your average BPM would be quite a bit higher than a simple 20 minute jog.
Don’t underestimate muscular guys who live right, eat right, train right and do no jogging!
I agree that cardio is needed in some way. Here is where we part company!
Have you ever done squats, clean & press’s, Deadlifting, Pull-ups and a host of other multi-joint movements that really get your heart racing? After all, what is cardio anyway? It doesn’t have to be running around a track until you are dizzy, or bored to death (although I do like my hill sprints).
Let’s do some squats together. We will do ten sets with a one minute rest in between each set. I assure you that if you strapped a heart monitor on that your average BPM would be quite a bit higher than a simple 20 minute jog.
Don’t underestimate muscular guys who live right, eat right, train right and do no jogging![/quote]
Amen!
olympic class 100 meter sprinters avoid ‘cardio’ like the plague and are some of the most physically fit humans on the planet…
the old wives tale that you have to do boring ass ‘cardio’ to be physically fit is horseshit.
Know what the great thing is? Second year of high school, before I ever started lifting, I struggled to run twice around the track. I think I made it once. Pathetic for someone who weighed 170 pounds soaking wet.
Couple years later I was doing several weeks of hill sprints. One day I decided to go for a jog for kicks. I must have gone for a mile and didn’t even feel winded.
Now if I had been jogging for several weeks, do you think I could have handled some hill sprints that well? Ha!
[quote]ZEB wrote:
VinceDee:
I agree that cardio is needed in some way. Here is where we part company!
Have you ever done squats, clean & press’s, Deadlifting, Pull-ups and a host of other multi-joint movements that really get your heart racing? After all, what is cardio anyway? It doesn’t have to be running around a track until you are dizzy, or bored to death (although I do like my hill sprints).
Let’s do some squats together. We will do ten sets with a one minute rest in between each set. I assure you that if you strapped a heart monitor on that your average BPM would be quite a bit higher than a simple 20 minute jog.
Don’t underestimate muscular guys who live right, eat right, train right and do no jogging![/quote]
World-class 100 metre sprinters may avoid cardio like the plague but everyone of them is still able to knock out a 5k run whenever they turn their hand to it. You can deadlift ten times your own bodyweight for all I care but if you can’t run two miles in fifteen minutes, you’re not fit in my book.
Fitness is all round strength, speed, a little endurance. Fitness is being able to adapt quickly - to a new sport, to walking hills, to sprinting, to swimming.
I don’t doubt for a second Zeb that you are fit considering the type of training you do. I do have serious doubts about the squat-rack curling brigade, however.
VinceDee: Bullshit. I currently run 3miles in 18m30s. I sprint once a week. However, on death day (once every other week) I do the following.(This was last death-day or blood’n’guts day)
30 Squats (breathing) 350lbs
20 Bench Press (rest-pause) 285lbs
20 BentOver Rows (rest-pause) 225lbs
10 Standing Mil. Press (no pause) 155lbs
30 Chins (however they come out) BW
25 Romanian D-lifts (no pause) 255lbs
I currently BP385, Squat500, and DL550 (All raw with witnesses to determine openers for PL meet). In Nov I ran 3miles in 17m50s. I do a PFT every other month. (Old habits die hard. Semper Fi)
My BP is 120/80 and hasn’t changed since my 18th bday. My pulse is ~50BPM.
I have proved it once. I will prove it again. You can improve your endurance through squatting alone. The running is for pace and form.