Sorry, can’t help you there. Mine were 17.
kidding a bit.
I’m humble, 16 is more than enough for me
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You do know there are drug free bodybuilders, right?
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Probably is the right word. However, steroids in different forms appeared long before 1960s. Use of PEDs in professional sports dates back to late 1880s. In May 1935 testosterone was isolated from bull testes. The period from 1930 to 1950 is known as the golden age of testosterone chemistry, with clinical trials conducted in late 1930s and steroid becoming cheaper and more affordable in 1940s. Between 1948 and 1955 Searle Pharmaceuticals founded in 1888 synthesized over a thousand different testosterone versions, hoping to create a steroid with minimal androgenic effects. Do you think that those days people who were obsessed with strength development and were aware of those “discoveries” would not be interested, at least, to try this magic elixir? Many of them were even more YOLO (You Only Live Once) than the iPhone generation today. You can read Bill Pearl’s recollections of his steroid use.
Not so many as they are claimed to be.
It’s not that difficult to predict your potential for a muscular arm (with 10% or less bodyfat) based on your height, wrist circumference, distance between elbow and edge of contracted biceps, distance between elbow tip and top of the inside triceps “horseshoe”. Of course, I am speaking of a natural training. Modern steroids make you grow in a short period of time even without training. Not mentioning other PEDs.
God help me, I’m about to support a Navy guy…
I think a lot of us would do well to read “Extreme Ownership” before we start pointing fingers
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Don’t take this the wrong way because the way you put things is genuinely funny. But you seem totally annoyed. Just move onto training differently, like tomorrow, in a way that’s suitable to your body and life constraints.
As you know, gurus/writers/coaches are not gods, and I’m convinced most do not know how to work outside of a particular niche or with individual needs. That goes for some of the best bodybuilders of all time. So consider that when you seek out advice.
I closely know some people who were coached by or know some of the biggest names in the bodybuilding guru scene and the guidance they received or know that was given to someone else was outright dumb and/or dangerous, which might even shock some people considering who they are.
What do you want out of training?
What are your goals?
Interesting that you mention that here in particular, as one of the frequent and recent past posters here @The_Mighty_Stu , has one of the biggest lifetime natural sets of guns measured using that estimation system.
He hasn’t been around much lately, but has documented his training and contest prep logs here for at least 15 years or so.
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My goals were 16 inch arms, maybe even a bit less. Not care much about being ripped to the bone, even 15 % bf is good. I already established that high volume bro split don’t work for me. I was heavily influenced by the Hardgainer magazine so I’m still into low volume, basic exercises and trying to add weight to the bar, that is key imo. Some make fun of low volume training but in my experience it gave me better results and also made me spare a lot of time.
And you are Not a fan of Starting Strength?
How does that jive?
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You don’t have to train to failure if you don’t want to.
Wendler’s 531 has plenty of templates where you don’t do any all-out sets, and they’re all solid.
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Doing the BBB challenge right now. It features no failure sets and I’m loving it! Best of all, it’s free here on T-Nation!
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Along the same vein, I believe OP needs to read The Subtle Art of Not Giving A Fuck.
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That was a shockingly good read
For sure, I’ve been trying to embrace more stoicism in my life. Surprisingly, since implementing more of the book practices in my life, I’ve become more emotionally in tune in all my relationships.
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It’s a lot about being present and the freedom of commitment. I really liked it. He has a follow-up that’s good too
What’s it called?
Yep. That’s a great example. Also, if the opening poster doesn’t want to do something as draining as the BBB challenge (as fun as it is), they could just do regular BBB or even FSL 5x5 with 5s Pro for the main 531 sets.
Regarding the BBB challenge, I wonder how utterly insane it would be to do 10 x 10 instead of 5 x 10 with the 50%/60%/70% for the challenge haha.
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You know, you may be on to something there… that’s so insane I love it haha
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