Permabulking Memoirs

Training
41

Fat won’t increase strength at Majin’s level. You do realize Majin puts you to shame with both his physique and his lifts? There’s a reason our resident RD has made a thread dedicated to his training. Read it and you may learn something.

[quote]Bauber wrote:

[quote]Majin wrote:

Like everyone else, I thought it was the ticket to big muscles. Not a chance. Looking back at my own results as well as everyone I see doing it - totally unnecessary to ever go above, say, 12% bf to get all the natural gains you can. Didn’t increase my strength either, strangely enough. I guess it’s because I did it after having gained my base of muscle. You live, you learn.[/quote]

I agree with everything else posted and most of this, but man getting “fatter” increases my strength lol.[/quote]

42

[quote]8020beef wrote:
Better question who here on this site has a impressive physique that didn’t dirty bulk at one time??[/quote]

Even better question is: would those guys do the same thing again if they had the opportunity to go back in time and do it all over again?

43

[quote]BrickHead wrote:

[quote]IamMarqaos wrote:

[quote]BrickHead wrote:
When I look back on my obese permabulking days, I look back with both regret and nostalgia. Permabulking gave me some problems, but I also liked some aspects of it.

Perhaps we can share our permabulking stories. Here is a serious of questions.

  1. What did your permabulking diet look like?

  2. What was one of your permabulking regular meals?

  3. What did you like about permabulking?

  4. What didn’t you like?

  5. Why did you permabulk?[/quote]

  6. Sample day:
    Breakfast: 1 lbs of ground beef (30% fat) with spaghetti noodles and meat sauce
    Snack and lunch: 20 slices of bread with ham/cheese/lettuce (1 loaf a day was the goal)
    Dinner: regular meat and potatoes with veggies plus protein shake and dessert
    After training: 1/2 gallon milk, yoghurt, cheese and a carb source like mashed potatoes with carrots (Dutch dish, has lots of grass fed butter in it!)
    Before bed: Cottage cheese with sour cream

  7. See snack and lunch: this was during college (in Holland) and during my first years in the States…

  8. I like the just massive amount of work I could do on all these calories. I could easily do 20 sets of really hard work per muscle group on this diet. Felt strong and pumped all day long and actually slept really well, if I remember correctly…

  9. what I didn’t like is that it ruined my physique.

Although it got me up to 290lbs (no steroids) I have completely ruined my proportions. I started out exceptionally skinny weighing only 116 lbs at 6 ft. By the time I hit a ripped 176 lbs I still only saw that really skinny kid in the mirror. Didn’t matter that I was offered modeling gigs and that I got compliments on a daily basis. I kept pushing the envelope and worked my way up to 216 then 235 followed by 269 and finally 290. All on a bone structure of a Frank Zane.

Yes I was large, and very impressive looking (in clothes) and I was incredibly strong but I did NOT look like a bodybuilder and my 26 inch waist was gone. I also was not in proportion with a super thick back and quads yet arms (extremities really) that did not match.

The other thing I do not like is that as a result I am ravenously hungry almost all the time. Not easy for me to lose fat whereas before it was no issue.

  1. why I started? I was 116 lbs at 6". I think virtually all of you can imagine the mental and emotional state that caused me to be in. I was also relentlessly bullied. Aside from being terribly skinny I had reddish hear, very, very pale skin with freckles as well as a stutter and you can see why I wanted to get to a size where no one messed with me.

Things is, I achieved that at 176-180 lbs and even more so at 216-225 lbs. There was never a reason to go all the way to 290 lbs.

Would not advice anyone to do this for more than 1-2 years. And only if they are under 150 lbs and tall, like I was. To anyone under 5’10" weighing more than 135 lbs when they start out, I’d say do not do this and aim for 2-3 lbs of mass gain a month for the first two years. Now, if that takes 6,000 calories a day…than go for it

I realize that it will not be linear and that some months you gain 1 and others you gain 5 lbs but gaining more than 20 lbs will likely lead to too much fat gain.[/quote]

That menu is insane! 20 slices of bread in a meal?! [/quote]

I was living in Holland at the time (I was born there) and it is the custom there to eat bread at breakfast and dinner. Even the smaller people probably eat 4-10 slices divided over those two meals. Very different bread than what you get here, by the way.

My view, at the time of course, was to simply eat twice what other people were eating so I would get twice as big, twice as fast.

Youth is wasted on the young… :slight_smile:

Lets not forget that I was exceptionally skinny with a blazing metabolism. 116 lbs at 16 years of age at 6 feet. I weighed 32 lbs less than the next lightest guy in my class :frowning:

44

[quote]ryanbCXG wrote:

[quote]myself1992 wrote:

[quote]gregron wrote:
Looking like you live in the gym > looking like you live in the all you can eat buffet.[/quote]
This is so true. Ultimately bodybuilding is about having the best body possible and permabulking certainly isn’t the way to get there (since you’ll never get lean)[/quote]

Technically true comeptition bbing is about looking crazy amazing one day[/quote]

I wasn’t talking about competitive bodybuilding but you are right though. A permabulker never competes though, because he’s always bulking. Once a permabulker steps on stage for the first time and starts competing regularly he stops being a permabulker imo

45

[quote]Depression Boy wrote:
Fat won’t increase strength at Majin’s level. You do realize Majin puts you to shame with both his physique and his lifts? There’s a reason our resident RD has made a thread dedicated to his training. Read it and you may learn something.

[quote]Bauber wrote:

[quote]Majin wrote:

Like everyone else, I thought it was the ticket to big muscles. Not a chance. Looking back at my own results as well as everyone I see doing it - totally unnecessary to ever go above, say, 12% bf to get all the natural gains you can. Didn’t increase my strength either, strangely enough. I guess it’s because I did it after having gained my base of muscle. You live, you learn.[/quote]

I agree with everything else posted and most of this, but man getting “fatter” increases my strength lol.[/quote]
[/quote]

I wasn’t busting on him. I have always found his posts informative and well written.

And I am always up for learning. Have no idea about his physique or strength, but due to his knowledge I am sure they are both probably good. I’d dare say I would stack my lifts against his though. Not saying I’d come out on top, but I don’t think I’d get put to shame there.

Love the call out though with your 14 posts and no lifts or physique to speak of. Typical.

46

[quote]BrickHead wrote:
When I look back on my obese permabulking days, I look back with both regret and nostalgia. Permabulking gave me some problems, but I also liked some aspects of it.

Perhaps we can share our permabulking stories. Here is a serious of questions.

  1. What did your permabulking diet look like?

  2. What was one of your permabulking regular meals?

  3. What did you like about permabulking?

  4. What didn’t you like?

  5. Why did you permabulk?[/quote]

  6. Breakfast: Eggs, bacon, oatmeal
    Snack: protein shake, fruit
    Lunch: All you can eat Hibachi grill. All you can eat for $8 5x per week.
    Snack: Nuts
    Pre-workout: Fruit
    Intraworkout: Shake-mix (BCAA, creatine, carbs)
    Post-workout: protein shake
    Dinner: Meat with rice or potatoes
    Before bed: Protein shake

KCals: 5,000
Protein: 300 grams +

  1. Only regular meal was breakfast: 3-4 eggs, banana, 3-4 strips of bacon, 1 cup oatmeal

  2. Strength gains! Massive increase in basic compound lifts

  3. Getting fat

  4. Wanted to gain size and strength

I did this during the winter months (November to Feb), and I gained 30 pounds. I think I probably gained 5 pounds of muscle and 25 fat. I was training on a 5 day split with a 5/3/1 progression on the basics.

Actually, looking back if I did it smart, I think I could have gained 20 pounds in 4-5 months with it being half muscle. It was very effective for strength, I have to say that.

47

At what point while on surplus does a lifter cross the line and become a bermabulker?
6 months?
1 year?
2 years?
More?

Or is it just a matter of body comp. regardless of duration?

48

If a lifter is in ‘pool ready’ condition at 200 lbs.; are they permabulking if they increase their bodyweight to 220? 230? 250?

49

Clearly only Brickhead has the authority to determine if you are a permabulker or not on this site :slight_smile:

Go on, BG answer the man… I’m dying to know.

[quote]BlueCollarTr8n wrote:
If a lifter is in ‘pool ready’ condition at 200 lbs.; are they permabulking if they increase their bodyweight to 220? 230? 250? [/quote]

50

[quote]BlueCollarTr8n wrote:
At what point while on surplus does a lifter cross the line and become a bermabulker?
6 months?
1 year?
2 years?
More?

Or is it just a matter of body comp. regardless of duration? [/quote]
I think, like my other post said, it’s a matter of body comp.

PermaBulker: someone who bulks for years on end without every dieting to respectable levels of leanness.

DreamBulker: someone who gets on that “see food” diet thinking they’ll get huge. See Mac from Its Always Sunny

51

[quote]myself1992 wrote:

[quote]ryanbCXG wrote:

[quote]myself1992 wrote:

[quote]gregron wrote:
Looking like you live in the gym > looking like you live in the all you can eat buffet.[/quote]
This is so true. Ultimately bodybuilding is about having the best body possible and permabulking certainly isn’t the way to get there (since you’ll never get lean)[/quote]

Technically true comeptition bbing is about looking crazy amazing one day[/quote]

I wasn’t talking about competitive bodybuilding but you are right though. A permabulker never competes though, because he’s always bulking. Once a permabulker steps on stage for the first time and starts competing regularly he stops being a permabulker imo[/quote]

I was just instigating :slight_smile:

52

[quote]Depression Boy wrote:
Fat won’t increase strength at Majin’s level. You do realize Majin puts you to shame with both his physique and his lifts? There’s a reason our resident RD has made a thread dedicated to his training. Read it and you may learn something.

[quote]Bauber wrote:

[quote]Majin wrote:

Like everyone else, I thought it was the ticket to big muscles. Not a chance. Looking back at my own results as well as everyone I see doing it - totally unnecessary to ever go above, say, 12% bf to get all the natural gains you can. Didn’t increase my strength either, strangely enough. I guess it’s because I did it after having gained my base of muscle. You live, you learn.[/quote]

I agree with everything else posted and most of this, but man getting “fatter” increases my strength lol.[/quote]
[/quote]

Fat increases ‘strength’(in the sense of weight lifted) at all levels, the amount will certainly differ from trainee to trainee but I don’t know what else to say other than your post is factually incorrect.

53

[quote]red04 wrote:

Fat increases ‘strength’(in the sense of weight lifted) at all levels, the amount will certainly differ from trainee to trainee but I don’t know what else to say other than your post is factually incorrect.[/quote]

It actually tends to reduce strength on the deadlift due to negatively impacting your ability to get to the bar. It can also force one to take a wider stance for a similar reason, because the stomach runs into the quads unless you open up the stance. Certain other lifts can run into a similar problem, depending on how exotic your training is, and how high of a level of fat we’re talking about.

54

[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:

[quote]red04 wrote:

Fat increases ‘strength’(in the sense of weight lifted) at all levels, the amount will certainly differ from trainee to trainee but I don’t know what else to say other than your post is factually incorrect.[/quote]

It actually tends to reduce strength on the deadlift due to negatively impacting your ability to get to the bar. It can also force one to take a wider stance for a similar reason, because the stomach runs into the quads unless you open up the stance. Certain other lifts can run into a similar problem, depending on how exotic your training is, and how high of a level of fat we’re talking about.[/quote]

Even the deadlift will go up until you reach the point where it does interfere with your technique, which is part of ‘differing from trainee to trainee.’ Yes there are both diminishing returns and a point where it stops being beneficial and starts being negative, but it’s no less false to say ‘at <anyone’s level> fat doesn’t add strength.’ Pretty sure top dogs in every strength sport on the planet aren’t walking around as heavy as they are for the looks or their health.

55

[quote]red04 wrote:

Even the deadlift will go up until you reach the point where it does interfere with your technique, which is part of ‘differing from trainee to trainee.’ Yes there are both diminishing returns and a point where it stops being beneficial and starts being negative, but it’s no less false to say ‘at <anyone’s level> fat doesn’t add strength.’ Pretty sure top dogs in every strength sport on the planet aren’t walking around as heavy as they are for the looks or their health.[/quote]

I am inclined to agree with the statement that it will increase until it decreases, but I find that extra fat tends to negatively impact the dead really early on to the point of not even being a worthwhile pursuit. I think extra fat is great for the squat and bench though.

In terms of the strength sports, the reason guys in multiply powerlifting are as big as they are is because it helps the squat and bench to an amazing degree, which is worth the cost of the dead in terms of winning powerlifting. For strongman, we’re starting to see an era of lower fat strongmen, but part of that too is because the sport has a greater emphasis on conditioning and endurance than just static strength. It has been entertaining to watch.

I feel it’s less a trainee to trainee issue and more about the movements in particular. My dead actually went up dramatically when I dropped some excess fat, while my bench has regressed slightly.

56

[quote]BrickHead wrote:

  1. I wrecked three pairs of khakis by fraying the groin area with my fat thighs.
    2)I was always hungry!
  2. Strangely, I would sweat and breath hard while eating, not because I ate fast, because I still eat pretty fast out of habit but this doesn’t happen anymore.
  3. I sweat easily, and regularly stunk, so I had to carry deodorant to work and put it on in the bathroom at work. This increased my cleaners bill because clothes had to be washed more frequently.
  4. My mom thought I looked terrible, seriously! At my biggest in permabulking, we were walking through a store together. I had on a Species baseball style T-shirt and Adidas pants. That morning I walked to the garbage room and some lady I barely know gave me a faux most muscular gesture as I nodded and said hello to her. My mom to this day says, "I’ll never forget the time we were walking through the store and I turned to you and I said to myself, “What is wrong with my son?”
  5. Speaking of “faux most muscular” gestures, In a one year time span during my permabulking time, I had three people at work on different occasions, say to me, “You walk around like you’re all better than everyone,” while giving a hunched faux most muscular pose.
  6. I did like watching the poundages in the big lifts go up. It seemed like, well, I don’t know how to describe; it felt like I could “crack” weights instead of struggle with them, as odd as this sounds. Now it seems more like a struggle as I don’t have the leverages I once did and also my form changed in the squat as my low-bar squat is not as effective as my high-bar squat now. Same with bench: I have to use a narrower grip now.
  7. I never indulged as much as some here. I actually got fat by over-consuming most of the bodybuilding staples with three cheat meals per week.

[/quote]
I truly enjoyed reading this. You were such a tool lol - glad you got away from it

57

**Question–

Do you think people choose the “Permabulker” method b/c they are simply too lazy or ignorant to track their diet and just add a surplus of 500 calories a day and adjust accordingly?

Do they just figure, “fuck it. I will add an extra 2k calories. That will do the trick.”??

58

This is just ONE of the definitions I go by.

From the MW Dictionary: perma-bulker(s) (adj.) - Used to describe the individual who is in a perpetual state of “bulking”. They tend to engage in gluttunous eating habits, dabble with anabolic/androgenic steroids and countless supplements in order to grow as large and as heavy as they can with the false delusions of “ripping it down” for the next bodybuilding pageant 16 months away. As it gets closer to the pageant that was 16 weeks away their plans change to the NEXT pageant 8 months after the previous one. The cycle never ends. Often heard chirping remarks such as… " I should be like 230 at my show, dude… I’m gonna stay a Super, bro… I’m so winning that show next year, man… watch! "

59

Another noteworthy definition from MW.

Feed the Machine (v.) - Stuffing massive quantities of tasteless, awful food down one’s throat to temporarily increase the numbers on both the scale and the Levis Waistline for bragging purposes.

60

3-4 lbs of muscle distributed over the entire body may not be that visible on some frames. So if you don’t look at the scale, how do you know your eating enough?

How does someone advanced who probably wont gain more than 5 lbs of muscle in a year stay in a caloric surplus over the week and not get fat?