Building Muscle without 'Bodybuilding'?

Bigger Stronger Leaner Competitive Bodybuilding
1

I don’t bodybuild, but I think I should have a body.

Don’t have a pic, but my body looks quiet normal 9 to 5’er

Bit of a gut, nothing really standsout.

Problem is I train and lift.

I do Brazillian Jiu Jitsu with a crazy conditioning workout at the beginning of each session (3 or so a week)

I also lift heavy on my days off. I powerlift too.

I eat massive amounts of food.

Even though my goals are mostly strength and function related, do you body builders think I should at least have something after all this work?

2

yep.

you should be huge dude.

3

no

4

[quote]tektools wrote:
Don’t have a pic, but my body looks quiet normal 9 to 5’er

Bit of a gut, nothing really standsout.

Problem is I train and lift.

I do Brazillian Jiu Jitsu with a crazy conditioning workout at the beginning of each session (3 or so a week)

I also lift heavy on my days off. I powerlift too.

I eat massive amounts of food.

Even though my goals are mostly strength and function related, do you body builders think I should at least have something after all this work?

[/quote]

No.

your body is a direct result of the shit you put into it. If you put crappy food into it, you’ll reap a crappy body. You can’t out-train a bad diet, unless you’re willing to put in about 30 hours of training every week.

I’m also willing to bet

a) you’re not training nearly has hard as you think you are in lifting, and

b) you haven’t been weight training long enough to get results.

5

[quote]HolyMacaroni wrote:
yep.

you should be huge dude.[/quote]

QFT

6

[quote]Aragorn wrote:
tektools wrote:
Don’t have a pic, but my body looks quiet normal 9 to 5’er

Bit of a gut, nothing really standsout.

Problem is I train and lift.

I do Brazillian Jiu Jitsu with a crazy conditioning workout at the beginning of each session (3 or so a week)

I also lift heavy on my days off. I powerlift too.

I eat massive amounts of food.

Even though my goals are mostly strength and function related, do you body builders think I should at least have something after all this work?

No.

your body is a direct result of the shit you put into it. If you put crappy food into it, you’ll reap a crappy body. You can’t out-train a bad diet, unless you’re willing to put in about 30 hours of training every week.

I’m also willing to bet

a) you’re not training nearly has hard as you think you are in lifting, and

b) you haven’t been weight training long enough to get results.[/quote]

  1. lol @ my diet being crap, but sorry I forget to tell you how clean it is.

I avoid HFCS like the plague, in additon to all fast food, BAD fats, any processed food, soda, sweets, white flour, etc.

I do, however ingest massive amounts of clean food + tons of organic green vegetables.

All the food, however, seems to disappear and not pack on muscle.

  1. I don’t know, I condition pretty hard in BJJ so to keep up the intesnsity on the off days I train pretty dang hard with weights too. Ross Enamait (sp) types of stuff. Circuits. MMA / BJJ type conditioning.

Stuff to make usual gym-goers jaw’s drop

I usually end it with some cardio - maybe 20-30 minutes on a bike (lol-don’t ask) or treadmill. Don’t worry I get lots of glucose right after.

  1. I’ve been slacking on the weight training a bit, yes. But I do train weights HARD.

Ex. Yesterday I did heavy 20 rep (breathing squats) [If that’s not hard - I don’t know what IS!]
Then those rib-cage pullovers.

Than did about a 2 rep max squat.

Then pullups and dips.

Then ran home.

Then pumped myself full of sugar, protien. 45 minutes or so later ate massive amounts of wholegrain organic pasta, broccoli and chicken breast.

I’m stuffed as we speak. Just ate lunch at work and someone joked about how much I was eating.

It all seems to disappear though.

7

  1. If you did 20 rep squats correctly there is NO WAY you would be able to then do a 2RM squat AND run home. You wouldn’t have been able to do either, walking to the dip/chin station should have been a struggle. You are not training as hard as you think you are. Sure the volume may be there but your intensity is obviously lacking.

  2. Are you still a teenager? It may explain your insaitable appetite.

8

[quote]tektools wrote:

I eat massive amounts of food.

do you body builders think I should at least have something after all this work?

[/quote]

Change up the diet, pure and simple. Lots of articles about dieting on a great web site I’ve heard of. Visit www.T-Nation.com to learn more.

9

[quote]pf wrote:

  1. If you did 20 rep squats correctly there is NO WAY you would be able to then do a 2RM squat AND run home. You wouldn’t have been able to do either, walking to the dip/chin station should have been a struggle. You are not training as hard as you think you are. Sure the volume may be there but your intensity is obviously lacking.

  2. Are you still a teenager? It may explain your insaitable appetite.[/quote]

point 1 x2

10

If the intention is to get bigger,
drop the cardio/running/etc on lifting days. (esp. if you’re doing BJJ 3x a week)

11

You are making the same mistake I was guilty of for years. If you want more muscle, you have to stimulate growth and then let it grow. More is not always better. 20-rep squats followed by 2-rep max squats followed by running is counter-productive.

Let me put it this way: In order for muscle to grow, you need to be in a caloric surplus. Eating 4500 calories worth of clean food is work in itself. BUT, if you are burning up all those calories, you’re not in a caloric surplus anymore- you’re body is fighting for survival.

12

A picture would be really good im interested to see what you look like.

13

[quote]JayPierce wrote:
You are making the same mistake I was guilty of for years. If you want more muscle, you have to stimulate growth and then let it grow. More is not always better. 20-rep squats followed by 2-rep max squats followed by running is counter-productive.

Let me put it this way: In order for muscle to grow, you need to be in a caloric surplus. Eating 4500 calories worth of clean food is work in itself. BUT, if you are burning up all those calories, you’re not in a caloric surplus anymore- you’re body is fighting for survival.[/quote]

x2

I was lifting 5+ days a week and eating about 3200-3400 calories a day (I thought it was enough but boy was I wrong) and was losing weight. Eventually I switched my routine to 3 days a week and stopped losing weight but wasn’t making any gains. I finally upped my calories to 4000/day and going to an upper/lower split 3 days a week and I’m finally seeing some gains. The recovery is just as important as the diet and the program.

14

Without sounding like a jerk, if you were eating well enough, and training hard enough, (even if the martial arts work was digging into tour recovery), while you wouldn’t be huge, I imagine you would at least have a somewhat muscular appearance (I was pretty cut up at 150 lbs from martial arts, running and lifting, when I dropped the 1st two, I started growing).

Most guys who can’t make gains overestimate how much they eat, as well as how hard they train. Just like most ‘intermediate’ bodybuilders underestimate their bodyfat levels -lol.

S

15

[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:
Without sounding like a jerk, if you were eating well enough, and training hard enough, (even if the martial arts work was digging into tour recovery), while you wouldn’t be huge, I imagine you would at least have a somewhat muscular appearance (I was pretty cut up at 150 lbs from martial arts, running and lifting, when I dropped the 1st two, I started growing). Most guys who can’t make gains overestimate how much they eat, as well as how hard they train. Just like most ‘intermediate’ bodybuilders underestimate their bodyfat levels -lol.

S
[/quote]

Thanks Stu. I wouldn’t be able to say it any better.

16

Everyone has given some great info but also its a little hard when you don’t give any info on your stats, workout, or have any photos.

height, weight, full workout plan, workout history and a pic or two would help greatly.

17

This post smells of someone who lives under a bridge…

18

Hey Tektools

The Mighty Stu has some great advice there (not that the others don’t, but you know what I mean)

What I’d like to add as well is that you can’t do everything at the same time… A jack of all trades is a king at none.

Don’t try to become Rickson Gracie, Usain Bolt and Lou Ferrigno at the same time…

If you want to bulk up a little give it a 3 months and know you’re gonna focus on SIZE, watch your Pre AND Post nutrition, and get a Bulking routine (Excellent ones on this site BTW) keep weights to 45-60 mins etc etc…

In 3 months you’re not gonna fall far behind in BJJ and your fitness will spring back up to where you were in no time

I’m not gonna question your intensity and whatnot, I never seen you train… It could just be a matter of training hard instead of smart :slight_smile:

What could be happening is that you’re over-training and for too long allowing your Testosterone levels to taper off during training, and letting cortisol eat you up alive, negating your otherwise Hypertrophy inducing workouts

B

19

[quote]DJS wrote:
Everyone has given some great info but also its a little hard when you don’t give any info on your stats, workout, or have any photos.

height, weight, full workout plan, workout history and a pic or two would help greatly.[/quote]

Agreed

20

[quote]tektools wrote:

Problem is I train and lift.
[/quote]

Whatever you say, buddy. Go watch Branch or Ronnie and then realize how half-assed your training is.