[quote]hueyOT wrote:
not to disprespect you, but you’re way too young to know anything about anything regarding strength training/bodybuilding.
[/quote]
This attitude pisses me off. I’m 18 and for years I’ve had to sit through people curling in the squat rack, doing abwork on the dip bars, etc. and then thinking they know more about lifting than I do because they’re older and have been doing their pathetically ineffective excuse for a lifting program for longer. I was fortunate to have an athletic family and sites like this one to learn from. However, the athletic director at my school only cares about football, and I only wrestle, so I’m basically on my own when it comes to strength training. Somehow even though I’m too young to know what I’m doing I have gained 50 lbs in the past 2 years and taken my bench from 160 to 275 and my squat from 405 to 540. Amazing how that happens by sheer luck. Okay, rant over.
look, i wasn’t stating it as an absolute, just as a general thing i’ve noticed with the young guys over the past 6 years i’ve been traing in many different gym in different cities.
generally, the younger guys know less. does this mean there aren’t tons of clueless older guys in the gym? no. but it’s unlikely that an 18-year-old has been training long enough to learn enough about natural training, let alone steroid use.
and not to play down your accomplishments, congrats on your gains… but i know many guys who make big gains with stupid training programs just because they’re young and still growing.
let’s just see how steady your gains are when you enter your 20s.
[quote]willymammoth wrote:
hueyOT wrote:
not to disprespect you, but you’re way too young to know anything about anything regarding strength training/bodybuilding.
This attitude pisses me off. I’m 18 and for years I’ve had to sit through people curling in the squat rack, doing abwork on the dip bars, etc. and then thinking they know more about lifting than I do because they’re older and have been doing their pathetically ineffective excuse for a lifting program for longer. I was fortunate to have an athletic family and sites like this one to learn from. However, the athletic director at my school only cares about football, and I only wrestle, so I’m basically on my own when it comes to strength training. Somehow even though I’m too young to know what I’m doing I have gained 50 lbs in the past 2 years and taken my bench from 160 to 275 and my squat from 405 to 540. Amazing how that happens by sheer luck. Okay, rant over. [/quote]
yah but in the end unless you are into power lifting, the amount of weight you can move is pointless. When the girls see you at the beach, they won’t be asking you how much you squat, and your on the wrestling mat if someone is quicker and better then you, it won’t matter how much you bench. 550 or whatever it is you said you squat is pretty heavy, and sure your joints may feel fine right now, but if you keep that up for a few yrs you’ll be feeling those joints for the rest of your life. At 18 years old you probably can’t picture it, but trust me when I tell you everytime you injure yourself you create an ache or pain that isn’t fully going to go away. They just accumulate more and more over the years untill… Hell I’m just about 29 now and I thought I was indestructable at your age. Now I am reminded everyday that I am not! There is one lesson I have learned that I am perfectly willing to share with everybody.
YOU NEVER HAVE TO LIFT A SINGLE HEAVY WEIGHT IN ORDER TO GET BIG.
Yes all the pictures they show you in the magazines of bodybuilders lifting heavy weight - and listing what they do for their workouts, This is all a sham! Pictures of Arnold training heavy e.t.c. All done because a camera was present. In real life most successfull bodybuilders and keep the weight very light. A rep range of 10-20 reps using perfect form and getting a great burn, will not only creat a bigger pump, more hypertrophy of the muscle, and cardiovascular health, It will also reduce the risk of joint and tendon injuries giving you greater longevity and decreasing the time you spend sitting at home unable to do a bench workout or a squat workout because your knee or shoulder is sore. Yes power training has its merits, and I don’t think it should be shelved altogether, however, the focus should be on building the body, not tearing it apart due to overload.
To all you Teens out there, this is not a rant, it is an insightfull gift you should all be very thankful for.
Come on P22, lets be real. Weight follows with size to a degree. Why did Ed Coan ever get bigger, you think he wanted to? Was he not winning at a smaller size?
The training you prescribe could work while on roids, but anything could as well. I could sit down to take a shit and see hypertrophy. Feeling the burn is whats a sham. The rep range isn’t inherently bad.
There was an article on this site a while back about a method that didn’t make you any stronger, but how so useless. Why not get big and strong?
Prisoner,
Great post bro!
I don’t know about you, but I constantly have people ask me, “Yo,How much ya bench?” I tell them I don’t know, I’ve never lifted weights a day in my life:)
But in all seriousness, it’s not really about the weight you’re moving, because you can make 50 pounds fell like 500 pounds if you establish the mind-muscle connection…Unless you’re a professional powerlifter, I’d say forget about the pounds, and focus on correct form, tempo, exercise sequence, etc.
well, as long as you’re progressively lifting heavier weights over time, you know you’re building muscle. there are definitely merits to low rep training with high percentages, and it’s important for natural athletes to give adequate amounts of time to their high percentage loads.
going for the burn all the time isn’t the way to go. high rep training has its place in a complete and balanced training programs, but all rep ranges and rep speeds should be worked.
anecdotally, i’ve made my best hypertrophy gains off of low rep high percentage training. but that might change every time i switch my loads as i learn more and more over time.
katz: i know that comment of yours about making 50 pounds feel like 500 pounds was sacrastic, but type of training methodology definitely has its limits.
i see way too many guys in the gym looking the same year after year because they’re always using weights that are too light and always training 'til failure… they’re always chasing the burn and never realize that they’re not making gains because they’re training programs do not include training phases with heavy loads. i.e. 5 sets of 3 with 85-90% 1RM.
that’s why they never make gains. also, they never gear up.
they should gear up if they want to consistently make gains with light loads.
At 18 you are far from done growing naturally. Most males aren’t completely grown until 21-25 so take it easy on yourself.
I’ll also jump on the don’t overtrain and injure yourself bandwagon. I was told when I was 25 that jogging was not going to be an option for me because of the damage I did to my knees when I was a teenager. Moderation and youth are not easy words to use in the same sentence. Likewise nothing is more devestating that having something you love doing taken away because you wrecked yourself.
Maybe it is time for you to seriously evaluate your training goals. A herniated disc is never going to get better. Irregardless of how much AAS you use, you will not be able to heal it. If you continue to lift in the same way that caused the injury, you will undoubtedly cause futher injury to other discs. The only treatment for this is spinal fusion. I have had a few patients in the hospital for this procedure. Most of them were dependent on regular pain pills at home. When I get patients like these, I usually ask them what led to them lying there in that bed. They always tell me that it all began with a herniated/ slipped disc - an accident that occured either while moving furniture, or snowmobilling - it all began with a ‘slipped disc’
[quote]hueyOT wrote:
p@@ is definitely right about the injuries, though. they definitely do add up.
i need to learn about rehab, now. my lower back is getting worse, every day. i know i have a shifted disk… still waiting for some x-ray results.
funny thing about it is i got it when i was 17 or 18, and i’m only checking on it now years later.
and i live in canada where the check ups are free! i have no excuse for getting checked out so late.[/quote]
[quote]mikekatz wrote:
Prisoner,
Great post bro!
I don’t know about you, but I constantly have people ask me, “Yo,How much ya bench?” I tell them I don’t know, I’ve never lifted weights a day in my life:)
But in all seriousness, it’s not really about the weight you’re moving, because you can make 50 pounds fell like 500 pounds if you establish the mind-muscle connection…Unless you’re a professional powerlifter, I’d say forget about the pounds, and focus on correct form, tempo, exercise sequence, etc.
MK[/quote]
Yes, this is the idea, I know there are many naysayers, but they have not tried this. I have lifted heavy for years, hell I have been working out since I was 14 so I have tried just about everything. Yes you can put size on lifting heavy, but you can put size on lifting lighter. I at one point was one of those individuals who was performance orientated, I measured my gains by the amount of weight I lifted. And yes I lifted quit heavy, but I also had my share of injuries. I now lift light, I measure my gains by using the tape measure, and what I see in the mirror.
Steroids does not have an effect on training methods. I have always told people who have asked me if they should increase their workouts or volume while on cycle, that they should continue to workout exactly like they did when they were natural. Steroids can give you a false since of health and vitality motivating you to push the weights heavier and harder. Unfortunately joints and tendons will breakdown faster then when training natural because of the increased load. I actually lift less weight then I did when I was natural and 35lbs of muscle lighter. Only my form and training is much more diciplined now. My focus is first on joint and tendon health and second on muscle building. This has kept me in the gym, and out of the orthopedic and physiotherapy clinic. Discovering that mind muscle conection that MK talked about, and listening to your body and being honest to what it is telling you is your most valuble asset in training. Learning how to blend this with proper use of nutrition, and possibly use of AAS down the road, is what sepparates the champion bodybuilders from the wannabees. My final thought is: Bodybuilding is suppose to build the body -not tear it apart. you have to live in your body for the rest of your life, not just your twenties and thirties, so be good to it, and it will be good to you in later years.
I understand there are critics to what I have to say but I notice all these critics don’t have the guts to post their own pic in their avatar -nuff said.
When I posted my last post this thread was in the top 10 posts box on the left of the screen. I didn’t even realize that this was the steroids forum. If you’re talking about steroid knowlege, I admit I have almost none. I know that common knowlege about steroids is way off, and I’ve read a little bit but that is a topic I have no real interest in because I never plan to use them.
To CodyJay: Not everyone is made to be huge. You should consider yourself blessed, relative to others your size you’re a beast. From my side of things (I box, wrestle, and play soccer) size gains are something you try to minimize while maximizing strength gains. If I could’ve made the same gains I mentioned without gaining 50 lbs I would’ve loved it. You should try competing in a sport with weight classes. You’d probably dominate.
