When it comes to lifting genetics . . . are you . . .
In our editorial last issue we followed along the line of thought that not everyone will want a 20-inch arm or to clean & jerk 400 lbs., and that not everyone can spend either the time to accomplish those things or could they follow the programs of these champions, because of the lack of physical energy and capacity.
Apparently many readers fail to read our editorials or Readers Roundup, for we get letters like one today which asked, "Why do you publish articles about the supermen and their programs. The programs could not fit the average man because the supermen will gain on any kind of programs."
What this man says is true. Most (not all) of these supermen are what would be classified loosely as easy gainers. Bill Pearl once told us that he has no problem whatever in gaining weight and can gain muscular bodyweight very, very fast and with ease. He could go up to 275 in fairly muscular condition in a short time if he so desired.
John Grimek used to be able to fluctuate his bodyweight either upward or down by 50 pounds in a matter of weeks and still retain a small waist. We could name other top men who can do the same. In fact most of them can. Larry Scott now weighs about 170 but could be at 210 in a matter of a month or less, even tho it has been more of a struggle to attain this ability than it has for some of the others to do so.
If you're around a gym much you will see other fellows who may work on exactly the same programs as the champions use and work just as hard (according to their capacity), eat the champions diet and still they can't gain a pound. So it is partially true that the program of a superman is not the program for the average man. However, these stories and programs serve several purposes. First, they provide inspiration for every man to keep working. Second, they will serve as a guide in many ways and they will educate the reader in the science of bodybuilding -- something he must have if he is going to succeed.
Lifting success is not something that can be attained in a haphazard manner, but something that must be studied and worked at over a period of several years if you wish to really accomplish anything worthwhile.
Temu Squat Suit
Yesterday a young fellow in the gym asked me how he could gain 20 pounds of muscular tissue in two weeks. He was terribly disappointed when I told him that it was impossible and that considering that he had gained very little the first month, it would probably be more a matter of several months. I tried to explain that such accomplishments are not overnight miracles.
The most I know of anyone gaining in one month (who had not previously been at a high bodyweight) was 30 lbs. and this was not all hard muscle. A 10 lb. gain of hard muscle in one month is considered very good and not a speed of gaining that could be maintained for a very long period. Two to five pounds per month is considered good for an average.
Of course, if you're content to add some fat with the muscular gain, then bigger gains in bodyweight are possible. The young man finally agreed that if he could gain 10 lbs. or so during the summer months for football, he would be satisfied, but I'm sure that even yet he has not developed an awareness of the discipline in diet and training that he will have to maintain during the summer months.
What our letter writer previously mentioned in this editorial failed to realize is that Iron Man does not cater to the supermen alone, but rather to the average fellow, and tho we do print programs of the supermen (I mean authentic training programs -- not some fictitious programs to which the athlete's name is attached) we also publish programs which are suitable for the average fellow who can be classified as a hard gainer. Yes it is very easy to publish programs that will give remarkable results to the easy gainer. Like the man says, they will gain on anything. It is, on the other hand, very difficult to develop programs for the man who just seems to fail to gain on anything.
You don't hear much about these failures because they don't make good reading, but there are a lot of them. In reading the bodybuilding magazines you might be inclined to believe that if a person followed the recommended program of training he would be guaranteed success and would be able to attain the physique comparable to his idol.
This is ridiculous and dishonest journalism to promise such things. It is no more likely that the average fellow can attain a physique like Pearl, Park, Scott, Schwarzenegger and others than that the average fellow can make a million dollars if he follows certain procedures. On the other hand, if the average fellow, and even the harder gainer will follow certain procedures it is quite likely that he will develop a physique that is far above average in size, shape and strength, just as by following certain rules in discipline he might be able to earn $5,000 per year where he was perhaps earning only $3,000 before. Now is isn't this highly worthwhile? In addition to this he will attain superb health, man's most priceless earthly possession (assuming he follows certain rules of exercise and nutrition).
Iron Man does carry articles for these hard gainers if you will watch for them. One appears in this issue, the article "A Limited Program With the Breathing Squat" by Sterri Larson. Beside it we have a simple, special homemade gaining supplement -- the two used together are calculated to give the harder gainer maximum progress where he would not gain at all on a conventional superman program.
Frequently a man has trouble gaining because he has some imbalance in his body chemistry and for this reason he needs special exercises and specific nutrition to help bring about a better balance so he will respond normally to his program. To do this he may have to follow what seems like an abnormal training program for a considerable period of time. Frequently he may suffer from poor health, too. Exercise alone is not a guarantee of good health. We have seen many bodybuilders who train for muscle alone who are not in good health and suffer from colds and flu regularly. This is partly due to faulty exercise training procedures and partly due to poor dietary practices.
You can only be properly nourished when you study your food intake long and deeply and experiment a bit yourself. You will not be properly informed if you accept some scientist's opinion just because he is a scientist. Scientists do not agree on these things. You yourself must shoulder the responsibility for a thorough study from which you can arrive at conclusions which will be beneficial when applied to yourself.
We at Iron Man are not trying to brainwash you. We present both sides of many controversies or questions so that the reader may make his own decisions. Iron Man is for thinking people. We are the only magazine following this policy. We treat our readers with respect and a high regard for their wisdom and intelligence. We do not believe that you want to be regimented in your thinking and actions, but rather that you wish to view the whole picture and make your own decisions. Not everyone likes this. Many people prefer to have their lives laid out in black and white so they don't have to do any thinking or make decisions. They become confused when confronted with two or more choices where they must make a decision. Iron Man is not for these people. Iron Man is for men who want to masters of their own lives and who lives that are full to brimming over with health, happiness, prosperity and future, and who are willing to pay the price for these treasures.
So we will continue to present a variety of items aimed at stimulating readers to total self-improvement. We will bring information for the harder gainers, for the people who want health and condition and for those who want the ultimate in size and strength and we will continue to encourage everyone to aim for and work towards the four-fold development of the total man.
Enjoy Your Lifting!
"Two to five pounds per month is considered good for an average (fellow)."
ReplyDeleteBeginners (with reasonable genetics) in the first year who gain one to two pounds per month (12 to 24 pounds for the year) will have achieved exceptional progress. Intermediates after the first year (and for the next two years) might reasonably expect to gain a half to one pound per month (6 to 12 pounds per year). 24 to 48 pounds of lean muscle over three year would completely transform the person. Advanced trainees after the initial three years could reasonably expect a gain of five pounds per year. Preemptively, yes I know there are very hard gainers who struggle...that's different...a focus on good health and reasonable strength is still a worthwhile result from sensible training.
JOHN,
DeleteYep, that 1-to-2 pounds of lean mass per month the first year, 1/2-to-1 pounds per month the consecutive second year, 1/4-to-1/2 pounds per month the consecutive third year of consistent training and eating and recuperating , for a grand total of 21 to 42, more-or-less seems to hold true for most guys.
The outliers on either end of the genetic bell curve represent the cursed and the blessed among trainees.
As my reply to ANONYMOUS explains, I gained a total of 25 pounds across almost five years; but I was so unathletic and unhealthy when I began that it took me the first year merely to get to a place where my body subsequently began responding with significant hypertrophy. After that five-year point, despite my dedication, despite advanced training techniques, despite my (insane!) determination, I was (and have been) unable to add any more lean mass.
Without drugs, even the genetic elite hit mass ceilings after about four consecutive years of consistent bodybuilding. Diminishing returns are the unavoidable biological killjoy of natural hypertrophy. Otherwise, you'd observe naturals getting bigger and bigger every year (imagine how big that advanced naturals would become if they gained 5 pounds of lean mass every year for, say, six years?); in reality, without drugs [and even with the drugs, which also bump into various genetic limitations including deleterious side effects at increasing, extreme dosages], the naturals/drug-frees inevitably enter national and world-level contests about the same weight as previous years, with their focus being entering a contest as conditioned and ripped as possible.
Having to settle for a lower gain of 25 pounds of lean mass was frustrating for me; as a teen, I'd naively assumed that, with dedication and perseverance for several years, I could at least build seventeen-inch arms and sixteen-inch calves even if I couldn't have the 18"-and-plus arms and comparably sized calves of the champions. Regrettably, nope, I couldn't. But I decided at age 22 that a quarter-glassful was still better than an empty glass, so I accepted my genetic limitations, and have kept consistently hoisting iron until my age of 69 this year.
John, I gained 63 pounds my first year, and another 30 pounds my second year, without getting much fatter. From ages 17 to 19 I went from 147 to 240 at 6'2", drug free.
ReplyDeleteANON,
DeleteA 93-pound drug-free gain of primarily lean mass in two years is "ULTRAman" genetic level. Even factoring in that at 6'2", a 147 pound bodyweight was seriously underweight so that some of that lean gain probably was your body building up to a normal bodyweight for that height, those gains are world-class level. A top guy such as Larry Scott didn't gain that much in his lifetime even including what he gained after he began Dianabol.
On the opposite end of the genetics spectrum was me. I began at age 15 1/2, and after almost six years of consistent, progressive, living-and-breathing of weight-training, eating, and recuperating, I went from a skinny-fat 145 pounds at 5'7" to 175 lbs at 5'8"; adjusting bodyweight for that added inch of height, I gained a grand total of 25 pounds of lean mass. That was my genetic drug-free mass ceiling. No matter what I did, tried, gave-up-my-social-life to do, I could gain only bodyfat from that point on.
I went from 165 in high school to 220 in my forties and looking back it was more work than it was worth . . . and now back to 165 at 72. It's all somewhat of a circle, a spiral, a toilet being flushed and perceived in slo mo. Good times, though, and I don't give a shit about genetics in the least and have no regrets about anything lifting-related. It don't matter for long.
DeleteJoe S . . . yep, same deal. It became more than clear to me that eating and sleeping more was becoming my whole life . . . YAWN! Christ, the amount of food I musta shit out all those years that was more than likely not even being used or fully processed. Oddly enough, the human form ain't a machine, eh. Even odder . . . I enjoy lifting much more now that those days and now-silly dreams are over . . . WHEW! Youth is quite a time alright.
This is likely beyond the realm of this site, but who cares, it's worth fishing for interesting, like-minded types that are readers. So many of our heroes go to such great lengths to "fill the emptiness" and somehow believe their endeavors in whatever field will make them whole. Why is that? Why is it that, aside from those who have sold themselves and bought into some self-delusion and convenient manmade belief lies, people can't see that the emptiness is just another part of what we are. It's a grand and wondrous life once all that self-imposed list of regulations and rules are vaporized. To relate this to lifting . . . don't bother listening much to the overachievers and their need to fill that hole that's simply a part of what we are. I'll put the soapbox back in storage and step back down now . . . unsaddle that high-horse, you fool!
DeleteThis is me, Howard Menkes
DeleteWith a slight variation, I say that every morning when I look in the mirror.
DeleteGIVEIT,
DeleteYeah, hell, I'll take th' clickbait (what much else I got to spend my time doing, at age 69?)
I hypothesize it's a byproduct of the human need for hope, which in turn serves to motivate us to survive n' thrive, in order to reproduce, in order to sustain the species (itself merely for the sake of sustaining the species)? Deluding ourselves with some sense of higher purpose seems to provide reason to keep going, keep striving, keep reaching, rather than lying in the fetal position on the floor with a "what's the point of doing anything, it's all ultimately meaningless" despair.
Myself, after getting past that bodybuilding-or-die absurdity at age 22, I settled in to what I (self-importantly) termed "living for the points of pleasure" - - those moments and times, between the necessary activities to survive, of enjoyment with and from my wife, our adult kids, our grandchildren, my siblings, my friends, a book, a TV program, a day at the beach, playing guitar, more sweet potato pie, the moonlight, morning coffee, a workout, a Dezso Ban post...whether intellectual, familial, spousal, philosophical, physical, sensual, sexual...including the enjoyment of writing this reply on this thread.
None of those has ultimate meaning or purpose, not that I'm aware of anyway, and, while existential purpose might be wonderful to have, I don't expect nor seek that. I'm content to simply carpe diem et noctem.
But, yeah, most of us humans do seem to want or seek higher or grand purpose, whether individually or by feeling they belong to a group with a special or higher meaning or purpose. I suspect that most people need that to cope with daily life and a lifetime, since without that, they feel a void which saps them of motivation - - a void which leaves them without hope.
I'm in the same boat at 72 end of this month, Joe. Plennnnnnnnnnnnnnty of time for ME and loving every damned second of it. Maybe that's the deal with people and the need for "meaning" in their lives. Personally, I've grown to enjoy life much MUCH more with no goal, purpose or meaning. Of course, it's hard to bother maintaining relationships with people who need those three. They get tight, they can't fly, grow earthbound and become clay shaped according to what they believe gives a purpose to the absurd game. I'm very happy knowing it don't matter.
DeleteAnd hey . . . a big part of that "happy" comes from Enjoying My Lifting. Hey, work like a dog to reach certain poundages, all the while knowing it's temporary as all things are. And as an added bonus, once a guy realizes that, that never-lasting quality about lifting . . . it makes it WAY more fun to lift at this stage of life.
DeleteEarth, the Universe's bargain basement . . . IT ALL MUST GO SO COME ON DOWN. Pick a goal and a hole to rot in a little later . . . IT'S FUN WHILE IT LASTS.
DeleteGIVEIT,
DeleteRegarding th' Pumpin' Iron(y?), I concur, doctor.
After I came to muh (limited) senses circa age 22, and reframed lifting as a fundamental piece, rather than the near-entirety, of what makes life enjoyable for me, the process of a long or short-term goal - - whether striving for some PR, getting cut just to prove it's possible for a working-man-and-father to have 11% bodyfat abs if he wants (even the months of constant calorie-deficit involved is a challenge I actually, twistedly enjoy), regaining after an injury, or simply accomplishing what I planned for a workout - - became one among the "points of pleasure". Since age 63-ish, my enjoyment in lifting is seeing how well I can slow the regression in strength and loss of muscle mass.
I took a bit of Latin in high school, back when such a thing was still a public school language elective. The phrase "carpe diem" is popularly known, of course (not quite as what it meant in Latin, but idiomatically close enough as it's used now). A Latin phrase I learned that better kinda describes my life philosophy is "dum vivimus vivamus"; "since we live, let us live".
I realize many believe my lack of existential purpose makes me pathetic, or at least dumBBBB, indeed; but, I couldn't care less, 'cuz, as long as I get the privilege of this Western society which is essentially still, "do whatever you want in private, long as you don't deliberately or unnecessarily infringe on anyone else". I can smile in response, resume my in-the-moment, transitory pursuit of happiness, and be as "dum vivimus vivamus" as my little heart desires. Including enjoying hoisting my dum-bbells.
Joe, come to think of it I've never heard a person with a stutter say the word dumb buh buh buh bell. This has given me meaning, a goal, purpose and something to seek out before my short time here on Earth is done with. Now, if they're a personal trainer, sign me up and money's no damned object!
DeleteMy mind has always been "creative" in a slightly weird way. All thoughts and plans invariably turn into some silly surrealist near-cartoon in my head. Wedding, funerals, in-person births, the lot of it . . . a strange kind of animated joke perceived, so one might say I am . . . wait for the punchline . . . blessed. Hahaha . . . as you say, LET'S LIVE AS WE CHOOSE TO TOMORROW AND TOMORROW AND . . . then die with a giggle.
As the poets who know the difference between art and ass-kissin' say, Weights are great for those days you just wanna break stuff and see blood. Hey, I got a new set of dumb buh buh buh bells this month. Fresh outta the crate and onto the rack. Smell like fresh rubber. Whole house reeks of it and I love it. Think tire shop scent. Gotta find a spray version of that smell. Life is good for what it's worth.
Delete