Sacrificing health for strength

[Mr.City]

I believe AoA has body image issues. Key phrases like "it would go straight to my fucking abs" and "I would have to sprint for like a month to get it back to normal" suggest this. Also, the metabolic issues are silly because what do you think happens to your metabolism when you gain muscle?

[gamedog]

What's the problem with growing, AoA? Maybe the guys who are not "naturally big" have decided to get that way. This is what must happen if you are small and you decide to be bigger, and eating a lot of food is half of the mechanism by which it occurs.

I like Rip's take on this as outlined in this simple yet concise comment. Back in 2001, I weighed in at a whopping 135 pounds. That's right, I am 6 feet tall, and at one point I weighed 135 on my doctor's scale, and on the scale at home (I weighed myself every day). And this was indeed intentional. Back then I had a long history of being scrawny and weak. elementary school, junior high, high school ... I just figured I was "programmed to be a relatively tall, skinny guy" ... Thing was, I didn't have a 6 pack, and I wanted to have one, so I could look like the Abercrombie models. So I ate less and less and less. I started skinny, and basically became a wraith.

My sister commented once, back when I started Starting Strength, that even when I was a kid, I never seemed to eat enough. My dad did, too. Said I was "finicky" and only ever ate my breakfast if it was cinnamon toast and milk, and wouldn't eat lunch (always out playing or whatever), and would just pick at dinner...

Had I eaten 3 squares a day, I'd have been bigger, healthier too.

I eat 6 meals a day now, about 4,000 calories total but I worry about getting enough protein and fat more than calories... And I'm 261 now, and today I squatted 345 5 x 3 explosively, and I'm still running advanced novice linear progression.

Oh, and my blood pressure has never been better even with my panda bear-like Power Tummy (which is shrinking).

Point is, nobody is telling you to shovel down twinkies and McDonalds and Wendys and pop tarts... No sir. No way. Some people DO do that to bulk up... Others take a more moderate approach. heh, even at my sloppiest, my excesses weren't fast food most of the time, it was Afghani food, or good Turkish cuisine... Heh, I bet Pocket Hercules knew the healing and uplifting effects of Doner Kebab and Durum ;-) ... What I'm telling you is, add to your existing diet 1 9 to 11 ounce porterhouse steak a day, along with one and a half cups large green olives with some feta cheese and evoo. I bet that helps you recover better, build muscle, and drive the weights up. You need the protein, and sure, you get some saturated fat from the beef, but it isn't necessarily bad for you as long as it's not "modified" and its still nowhere near what you'd get with fried chicken in the case you're worried about it, AND the monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fat in the olives and olive oil are great for you!

So just eat the fucking food and stop agonizing over this.

[Marotta]

Yeah, that's why I don't understand I mean -

3000 calories? Sure.
4000 calories? If you're naturally a big guy
5000 calories? Hmm
6000??? Now it's getting excessive.


Some of the guys here just don't know when to put down the fork.

And considering most people here train casually rather than for competition, that is not a good thing. Esp long term which many here are doing.

I'm a short guy with a short frame. I ate 7000 cal a day on training days, and 4000 on off days. I gained 60 lb and didn't get even close to 20% bodyfat.

No one here has told anyone else to eat 6000+ cal every day for the rest of your life. You do it until you're big and strong enough, then slow it down.

[travelgirl1978]

Yes, it seems that you must be different than other people.

Greetings all.

I have been training on and off for a while, so am fairly aquainted with the iron lifestyle.

Anyway, my aim, as my title says, is to get fucking HENCH without any needless restriction, which is why I placed my log under general training - I don't need any really stringent routines or guidelines to get where I want.

And i've decided that I don't even like squatting that much, which is why i'm going to cut back and do it 'every other day'.

I will train what I want, when I want and will use more than 3-4 exercises.

My primary aim is to develop a balanced muscular, athletic, fit physqiue with raw strength, power and explosivenss whilst keeping my bodyfat between 10-15% at all times.

That's why i'm going to focus on the big lifts, plyos and HIIT.

That being said, I do enjoy loading up on No2 and blasting my pecs from time to time so EZ bars and cables are not entirely out of the question.

Stats:

6'
Just over 80kg

Yes, he's different. And a wonderful troll as well.

[peteUK]

It's good you did all that 'cardio' to lose the fat tho!

[Mark Rippetoe]

Yes, he's different. And a wonderful troll as well.

Good point. I have some deletions to make.

[Mark E. Hurling]

In what may be a vain attempt to re-rail the original intent of this thread I'll just put in my observation about sacrificing (or risking) health for strength and competition. I was never a high level competitor in judo during my college years, but I won way more matches than I lost. When I was a senior I broke my ankle in the 2nd round of the NCAA regionals because I tried to hop over my opponent's foot prop rather than take a fall for a half point or full point against me. My ankle rolled when I landed and it broke. It swelled up to size of my calf. The team drove back from Ball State in IN to Southern IL. U. about 300 miles and me in the back seat with an ice pack until I got to the Health Service for treatment. They already knew me pretty well there because I had been in for a separated shoulder, a wrenched knee, and a total 9 broken toes on both feet since I had been a freshman.

A few years after graduation I landed a police job in Carbondale, IL and started up workouts again with the team just to sharpen my edge for the street. Big mistake. We hosted the Taiwanese Olympic judo team for a competition as a fund raiser. I got paired up with the biggest Asian that to this day I have ever seen in the flesh. He was 6'7" and I am guessing a good 280 lbs. I was 5'11" and 190 then. I could have withdrawn, because he was better, bigger, and stronger than me. You could hear the titters all through the crowd when we bowed onto the mat across from each other. They obviously didn't think this was going to be a long match. They were right. I had one shot at him with my best and strongest technique. It was trying to throw a telephone pole with a gi wrapped around it. He didn't budge. He did, however, pick me up bodily to his own shoulder height in a throw called O-guruma and landed on me. In retrospect I think had a mild concussion. Went on patrol that night for graveyards with a headache that I take my pulse with.

The point? If you are going to compete and you are serious about it, you will put your body at risk. I never did this with weights because I didn't have good advice to follow then, unlike now. If I had, I just might have transferred the bug from the tatami to the platform. Given what I have learned about myself since then, that may have been a good thing. My back, ankle, toes, and shoulders hurt enough from what I did over 40 years ago. God knows what I could have done to myself competing under the iron!