My Bigger, Stronger, Leaner Meet Report

Training
61

[quote]SteelyD wrote:

[quote]detazathoth wrote:
I didn’t put the brakes on and dropped and came back up, nor was my goal suppose to be more competitive in a lower weight class, I’ve never been a 242er, and my frame is built for 220, which is what I am.
[/quote]

Sorry, that’s how I read this:

[quote] Stronghold wrote:
After reaching the 220lb mark, he realized he was barely competetive as a 198, and dropped about 30 lbs of worthless weight without much detriment to his strength. Over the course of about 3 years, he’s put 25 lbs back on by gaining and leaning out in a slow, cyclical manner.
[/quote]

OK, I’ve had enough parsing replies-- I really glean no entertainment out of e-dick-swordfighting. In the end, you done good, kid, so, congrats, dude. I hope you continue to make great gains.[/quote]

Hey man, we all mis-read posts sometimes. Glad you cleared that up on your own though!

62

[quote]UtahLama wrote:

[quote]super saiyan wrote:

[quote]SteelyD wrote:

[quote]Maiden3.16 wrote:

[quote]SteelyD wrote:

[quote]Mtag666 wrote:
And just to clarify when steely asked why he though overbulking caused a stagnant total I’m sort of curious too. [/quote]

I’m not trying to be provocative by asking that, btw. I think it’s a legit ask for a follow up to the claim.
[/quote]

Well you did put overbulking in quotes, which makes it a little more provocative than you may have intended. I dont want to speak for det, but to me its pretty clear that the extra bulk he put on did not lead to the added strength that he thought it would. Fact is he is lighter and stronger. How?[/quote]

It’s not clear that it’s necessarily the result of ‘overbulking’. The quotes are meant to stress the point and the fact that it’s his word.

We all have n=1 stories from our own experiences. I’m 15-20# lighter than I was 2 years ago (275->255-260). I put 30 lbs or so on my bench and increased my squat at a lighter weight, but those PR’s weren’t blocked because I ‘overbulked’- it’s because I cleaned up my diet a little and started training harder and whatever I did was what was needed to break the plateau. Maybe the extra conditioning helped my body utilize nutrients better and aided recovery.

Don’t know.

I didn’t diet down in the sense of cut calories for the sake of doing it, it just happened because those calories were better quality and I worked harder. I’m not even sure I cut any calories-- maybe in the effective sense that I worked harder.

I could have done the same and purposely upped the calories and I still would have gotten stronger no doubt in my mind, maybe even hit PR’s faster.

Don’t know.

I’m just curious as to why Det’s “overbulking” was somehow the actual cause of stagnation rather than just the manifestation of lacking somewhere else like enough protein or not training as hard as needed to progress.

Of course I have to state this explicitly before the trolls latch on–> I’m not saying he didn’t train hard, obviously he’s a monster, but everyone stagnates at some point and God only knows what it takes for anyone to break that plateau.

The flip side is there are decades of history of Powerlifters who ate themselves to bigger PR’s, hence the phrase “He looks like a powerlifter” and “Not.Sure.If.Fat.Or.Just.Powerlifter”
[/quote]

Blessed post

From the Church of Full House[/quote]

Teach me oh Magi of the Blessed best postus…I must know.
[/quote]

Jest post.

63

[quote]super saiyan wrote:

[quote]UtahLama wrote:

[quote]super saiyan wrote:

[quote]SteelyD wrote:

[quote]Maiden3.16 wrote:

[quote]SteelyD wrote:

[quote]Mtag666 wrote:
And just to clarify when steely asked why he though overbulking caused a stagnant total I’m sort of curious too. [/quote]

I’m not trying to be provocative by asking that, btw. I think it’s a legit ask for a follow up to the claim.
[/quote]

Well you did put overbulking in quotes, which makes it a little more provocative than you may have intended. I dont want to speak for det, but to me its pretty clear that the extra bulk he put on did not lead to the added strength that he thought it would. Fact is he is lighter and stronger. How?[/quote]

It’s not clear that it’s necessarily the result of ‘overbulking’. The quotes are meant to stress the point and the fact that it’s his word.

We all have n=1 stories from our own experiences. I’m 15-20# lighter than I was 2 years ago (275->255-260). I put 30 lbs or so on my bench and increased my squat at a lighter weight, but those PR’s weren’t blocked because I ‘overbulked’- it’s because I cleaned up my diet a little and started training harder and whatever I did was what was needed to break the plateau. Maybe the extra conditioning helped my body utilize nutrients better and aided recovery.

Don’t know.

I didn’t diet down in the sense of cut calories for the sake of doing it, it just happened because those calories were better quality and I worked harder. I’m not even sure I cut any calories-- maybe in the effective sense that I worked harder.

I could have done the same and purposely upped the calories and I still would have gotten stronger no doubt in my mind, maybe even hit PR’s faster.

Don’t know.

I’m just curious as to why Det’s “overbulking” was somehow the actual cause of stagnation rather than just the manifestation of lacking somewhere else like enough protein or not training as hard as needed to progress.

Of course I have to state this explicitly before the trolls latch on–> I’m not saying he didn’t train hard, obviously he’s a monster, but everyone stagnates at some point and God only knows what it takes for anyone to break that plateau.

The flip side is there are decades of history of Powerlifters who ate themselves to bigger PR’s, hence the phrase “He looks like a powerlifter” and “Not.Sure.If.Fat.Or.Just.Powerlifter”
[/quote]

Blessed post

From the Church of Full House[/quote]

Teach me oh Magi of the Blessed best postus…I must know.
[/quote]

Jest post.[/quote]

Bless’d Toast

64

[quote]SteelyD wrote:

[quote]super saiyan wrote:

[quote]UtahLama wrote:

[quote]super saiyan wrote:

Blessed post

From the Church of Full House[/quote]

Teach me oh Magi of the Blessed best postus…I must know.
[/quote]

Jest post.[/quote]

Bless’d Toast
[/quote]
+1

T-Nation really needs this feature. LowfatMatt, make it so.

65

Great work Det. Your logs/videos always a source of inspiration.

Good to see Ev, Stronghold drop in too, now waiting on Bug :slight_smile:

66

[quote]detazathoth wrote:
You don’t magically put on 300lbs on your total doing it that way.

What I’m saying is that I’m making the best gains now doing it through tracking my macros, training volumes, and proper periodization to maximize my body. That means tracking body fat is one of those components and that like muscle gains, strength gains have diminishing returns, letting yourself be a higher bodyfat percentage isn’t going to make your body anymore anabolic, just like it won’t get you any more stronger.[/quote]

following a very well planned diet and training system eh? It’s interesting how success leaves the same tracks, even though X is so vehemently telling us the hxcore thing to do is “listen to your body,” also known as winging it

67

[quote]SteelyD wrote:

[quote]Stronghold wrote:

[quote]SteelyD wrote:

[quote]Stronghold wrote:
At the time he refers to himself as “stagnant”, he was gaining weight (presumably bodyfat) at a rate that was outpacing his strength gains. At that level, you need to put 2.5-3lbs on your squat and deadlift per lb of bodyweight gained just to keep up. Unless you’re a superheavyweight or lifting in a thick squat suit, there’s not much point in carrying weight that doesn’t lift weight. Det doesn’t need a big power belly to improve his bench, as he’s got his arch down to a science and he doesn’t need it for his squat and pull because he’s built his midsection appropriately to handle big weights without a gut to push with.
[/quote]

Thanks Stronghold. I still don’t see that the “overbulking” was the reason for the stagnation as implied by the original post, but rather as you described (and I alluded to) that fat (deadweight) was outpacing the gains. It appears his goal was to be more competitive in a lower weight class. By necessity, that means dropping scale weight.

So, Det “put the brakes on”, dropped and came back up.

In the end, he did what was right for him, and with impressive results.
[/quote]

Take note that during the three years of moderate eating and 25lb gain, he made the same absolute progress on his 3 lifts as he did during the previous 2 years and 70 lb gain.[/quote]

Cool, so he did it more efficiently the second time. We should all learn so well from our experiences.
[/quote]

That’s kind’ve what I was getting at, all the Prof X drama aside.

68

All arguments aside, this guy is just, for lack of better words, fucking badass. Some of the most exciting vids i’ve seen.

69

Anyway, one of my training partners looked up the current American Men’s Lifter Rankings for Top 220 Class Raw Male Lifters, once they update the list, my total will put me at #29 in the country.

I thought that was cool.

70

[quote]detazathoth wrote:
Anyway, one of my training partners looked up the current American Men’s Lifter Rankings for Top 220 Class Raw Male Lifters, once they update the list, my total will put me at #29 in the country.

I thought that was cool.[/quote]

Outstanding

71

[quote]detazathoth wrote:
Anyway, one of my training partners looked up the current American Men’s Lifter Rankings for Top 220 Class Raw Male Lifters, once they update the list, my total will put me at #29 in the country.

I thought that was cool.[/quote]

Think about how higher you could be if you only ate more.

/science’d

72

The interview is up

73

Is it on the face book? can you link it? I am not on the book face

74

[quote]MattyXL wrote:
Is it on the face book? can you link it? I am not on the book face[/quote]

It’s on 70s Big

Edit: I don’t think I’m allowed to post the link, and I don’t want to upset the mods

75

lol ok thanks

76

That’s great man! Congrats. Nice to have some recognition for your hard work.

77

[quote]SkyNett wrote:
That’s great man! Congrats. Nice to have some recognition for your hard work. [/quote]

Danke

78

Great interview Det, so umm whens your e-book coming out?

79

[quote]MattyXL wrote:
Great interview Det, so umm whens your e-book coming out?[/quote]

LOL

I would like to continue writing articles, but that’s as far as I’ll go.

I appreciate your feedback btw

80

You are younger than I thought. Awesome work for your age. Or any age for that matter. :wink: