No I would never! Well… Actually I probably would. I can be your quality control officer to make sure that it won’t happen 
haha
Ummm Overhead Press and Behind the Neck Press? That’s how Ive described them anyways… Unless you are trying to confuse people just so there are more questions which inevitably increases your log replies 
That would actually be really nice, I’ll probably need a slap in the face somewhere down the line
[quote=“Irishman92, post:242, topic:223959”] Unless you are trying to confuse people just so there are more questions which inevitably increases your log replies
[/quote]
Damn, you got me
As you see, I was rather dumbed out at the time
Altering your skeletal structure
This is quite a controversial topic (and I’d probably get a lot of shit for this if I posted this onto something like reddit) so I hesitated a bit before I began to write about this. Now, before we begin I’ve got to make a couple of things clear:
That’s probably the first time I’ve had to devote almost half a post to “before we begin”
But let’s begin
I have one exercise, one stretch and one eating strategy (if that’s what you want to call it) for you
First off, the exercise:
The dumbbell pullover. (You’ve probably heard this one many times)
This has been an bread and butter (or eggs and spinach if you will) movement to me for quite some while. Why? Because it has been rumoured that in addition to hitting you chest, back, triceps and abs it expands your ribcage. If you want this effect it is recommended that you perform your pullovers in this manner:
If you want to enhance the effect, try doing them straight after doing a 20-rep breathing squat set
The pullover is an exercise that pretty much anybody can do, so you don’t really need to be advanced here, just don’t get too cocky with increasing the weight. And remember that this exercise will make your ribcage larger, some people don’t like the effect it has on their physique.
Now, for the stretch (this one should be familiar to anybody who has tried DC)
Hanging from a pull up bar with added weight
The execution of this stretch is rather simple:
In addition to growing your back and helping with lower back problems this will widen your shoulders. Both my girlfriend and I have gained 1.5-2 inches of biacromial width since implementing these into our routine (and believe me, 2 inches of structural shoulder width tends to make a difference)
To do this, you’d have to be a bit more advanced so you know if you set up wrong or something like that, but really, almost anybody can do these
And last but not least, the eating strategy (if that’s what you want to call it)
Okay, the secret of getting huge is…
Get huge
Really, it’s that simple. Get big and hold your size for a while and your skeleton will adjust to it. Think about linebackers or sumo wrestlers, they have huge frames because they have gotten their weight up and held it there for a prolonged time (so no jojoing here)
When I went from 52kg/112lbs to 110kg/247lbs my frame grew like hell (You may not experience it as much as I did because you probably aren’t as young or as light as I was)
So what do we want to do exactly?
Well, we want to spend, say next year and a half steadily gaining weight without getting fat as hell. (you should probably check out post number 27 in this log) At your to weight you should still be able to see the ridges if your abdominals, if you can’t, it’s going to be hard as hell to diet down
Assuming that you are a guy, a good goal to shoot for would be 3.5lbs/inch of height (620g/cm) so you’d go for 252lbs/112kg if you were 6’/182cm tall
When you get there I would suggest trying to keep your weight up for couple of months (you can even try to push it further, just make sure you don’t get fat) while simultaneously losing a bit of fat (so if you are 252lbs/112kg, just try to keep over the 240lbs/107kg mark)
After that, just diet down. It shouldn’t be too hard if you were not too fat at your top weight. Your dieting calories will most likely be really high too as you have driven up your maintenance for 18 months straight. (I believe I went over this in post number 27 as well)
Now, because of the fact that we need to get big and hold it there I would not suggest this for a beginner. Trust me, if you have trained for a year or so you most likely have not developed enough avareness of what you really look like to do this. You’ll end up being 30% bodyfat thinking you would be stage ready if you just trimmed 10kg off.
If you have not followed a diet plan for at least a year with 90% adherence don’t think this is what you need. Getting your weight up this high requires focus and motivation, and if you can’t stick to a normal meal plan how in the hell could you do this?
“But I get to eat pizza on this!”
No you don’t. You are going to eat the same way you would if you followed a sound meal plan now, the amounts will just get bigger (and they continue on growing)
Or you could just eat pizza and get fat, I can’t stop you. But don’t blame me when you have to diet for a year.
Yeah, I’m cautious about this. I just don’t want you to waste a year on a diet.
Apart from these three, I’m going to state that lifting heavy stuff will most likely grow your frame as well. That’s why the guys who go from deadlifting 135lbs to deadlifting 675lbs have a lot larger frames than guys who go from curling 45lbs to curling 110lbs
Now, to recap:
For a big ribcage, do breathing pullovers
For wide shoulders, hang from a pull up bar with added weight
For overall growth, get big and lift big
Questions and comments are welcome, as usual
Man, does it feel good to write something informative for a while (even if it isn’t too broad of a subject)
I really wonder how long did it took you to recover from that set?Also how much you hated everything for having to unload the bar after that?
Can I ask how old is your gf? 2 inches is insane!
Meh broad is overdone ;p
I got up from the floor after ~five minutes and waddled over to the water fountain, after I finished drinking I was fine
It was not as bad as the first time, but I wouldn’t call it enjoyable
When I was on the floor I believe I said something like “Christ… fuck… empty the bar please” and my girlfriend took the plates off (perks of not training alone)
She’s eighteen and wide as hell (really, she’s wider than 90% of guys I see)
You should probably take it out of the oven then
Oh it wasn’t bread that’s overdone
I should probably learn to read again
For the hanging from the pull-up bar, what exactly would you recommend the scap position be? Retracted?
Also, at 5’10 aiming for 245 just seems to be too much for my frame. I’m at 200 currently and can only imagine going up to 215-225 at most. I’ll post pics once my morning weight hits 200 consistently to get your input. Trying to recomp at the moment.
Retract first and as you ease into it let you scapula elevate
Exactly, and thus your frame will eventually adapt to the added stress (bodyweight) you are placing on it.
The trick is to do it slow enough to not get fat
With pictures it’ll be a lot easier to evaluate your physique, post them when you feel you are ready and need an objective view of your physique
I’m with @lil.greggy. I fear I’d be a fat ass at 265 lbs. I’m also 32 now.
That’s a link to one of my posts with multiple photos. The first is from 2007 when I bulked up to 247 lbs. You can see I’ve mostly trimmed the fat and improved my V taper by dropping down to the 220’s.
Man, I understand that. I’ve been there myself (and let me just say I’m glad I did it even though I only got to 3.3 pounds per inch of height at the time)
The beautiful thing about this is that because we are gaining weight slowly and controlling fat gain with mini-cuts you can’t really get too fat (if you don’t mess it up)
Seeing that you are 32 it’s quite unlikely that you would get any real benefit frame-wise but it could be just the thing you need to gain even more muscle mass
Going from 260s to 235 or so could have the same effect 
But I do trust that you know your body better than I do as you have been in this for a while, I’m just trying to give you things to think about
You should read the two posts if mr. Trudel I have in this log, I can look them up
Edit- Here are the posts
Post 142
Post 67
I have not taken the time to really jump into this log yet, but there is a TON of useful info in here. Just spent the last hour + reading posts and still have some more to do. I just wanted to pop in and say I’ll be reading along…and you also have me interested in looking into DC training further.
Good reads but they lack one thing: acknowledging that there’s a ceiling for natural lifters. There’s a reason there aren’t 250lb natural bodybuilding champions. It’s not feasible. Of course, there’s also a reason there aren’t a lot of tall bodybuilding champions too. And I assume that “natural” bodybuilders still may or may not use gear. It’s just a matter of how far out from a show they quit or using stuff that’s not caught by the tests.
When you’re 100% natural it’s not possible to just keep eating and lifting heavy objects and adding muscle year after year. It works when you’re new but once you surpass the newbie gains everything slows down. It slows down more as you get older. If I could add two pounds of muscle in a year then I’d be pretty happy (compared to calling it a wasted year by DC). I have a hard time finding realistic expectations for myself because most of the people telling us what’s achievable are 5’10" or less. Bone structure also plays a roll.
I like Dr. Casey Butts’ article on natural expectations. He’s come up with some formulas to determine potential based on bone structure measurements. I think he reverse engineered them from the measurements of natural bodybuilding champions of the past. The numbers make sense (at least, to me) but I’m a fan of numbers, stats, etc. I can interpret them and trust them more than a large person just telling me to eat more, train harder, and be more dedicated.
At age 25, do you think there’s enough potential for growth to make it worthwhile? I can see how this might make a difference as a teenager.
Welcome, nice to have you along!
Hopefully you find a lot of useful stuff in this log
If you decide to start training DC style, I’ll be glad to help you set up your program (and if you log that stuff I’ll be following)
Natural guys who are 215 pounds on stage are usually around 250 pounds in the offseason without being overly fat, they are around 10-12%
(These guys are around 6’2")
So I wouldn’t say that getting to 260 pounds at 6’4" while being in a decent condition is nowhere near impossible (if you had any luck in the genetic lottery)
Now we have to aknowledge the fact that if you wanted to get to 260 pounds at 10% bodyfat that would be unrealistic, but that’s not what this is about
Here is one taller natural bodybuilder for you:
28 years old, 6’2", ~215 pounds or so in the picture
www.fast.fi/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/hulk2011_04d.jpg
(Hopefully the link works)
In terms of absolute muscle mass, us tall guys have the edge
It’s just that if a 5’5" guy can look great after a year of lifting, but a 6’4" guy will need a hell of a lot more time, so being tall kinda makes you feel like you can’t find a good point of reference
I don’t like formulas telling me what I can or cannot do, personally I find it limiting.
Mr. Butts can tell me that 17 inch arms are the best I’m going to get, and but I don’t care about that, if anything, I’ll try to prove him wrong
Out of curiosity, are you from a city or some other place that does not really have a strong strongman/bodybuilding/etc. culture?
I find that because I was “brought up” by the dinosaurs at my gym I like the simplest things and people moreso than numbers and formulas.
I’m just asking because the human nature is very interesting
Could be, if anything, I don’t see it hurting you (given that you don’t get too fat)
I’m in a city with plenty of meat heads at one of the local gyms, but I get nothing from them because they went straight to steroids. There are a couple bodybuilders who actually compete, but as usual they’re 5’10" or shorter and look ginormous at 200 lbs. The popular thing here is the physique class that wears board shorts.
I’ve never met anyone locally who competes in strongman but I imagine if they exist, then they probably train at home. Power lifting is becoming more popular from what I can tell but I only stumble across new/young competitors at the Y. I’ve never seen any true power lifters. Again, maybe they exist and train at home. We have several commercial gyms that are well equipped but no hardcore lifting places. CrossFit gyms are more popular now and I think there are a handful of them around but I’m not paying over $100 a month for a novelty. The only thing I’d be getting from them is the ropes, rings, tires, and sleds.
I have a Y membership but it’s nothing like the Y’s that most places have. Our facilities are state of the art, multi million dollar places. They’ve added an Olympic platform and have purchased some decent bars. And the main reason I go there is that in addition to having all of the equipment I need they have a Kid Zone. For an extra $19 a month I get to drop my kids off for 2 hours a day so I can go lift and have some much needed alone time.
And lastly, on the note of personal experience, I haven’t met many tall people who share my passion for lifting. There are a couple of tall guys that I see on occasion. One is quite large and moves plenty of weight, making me feel inferior. I’m not sure if he just has a larger frame/bone structure, has used steroids, or is just a big dude. I’d love to look like The Rock but he was my current size in high school so clearly he is ahead of me in the gene pool. I suspect that could be the case for this guy that I see on occasion. Too bad it’s not acceptable to just ask a guy, “Hey, not judging, but for my personal mental well-being, are you natural or on steroids?” I definitely don’t want to adopt the mindset of “He’s bigger than me. He’s on steroids!”