Just Because You're Bigger....

… Doesn’t Mean You Train Smarter

Yesterday I was at the gym when an ex-Marine / paramedic started waxing poetic on what I needed to do and not do in the gym. He’s gotta be 6’4’', 250+.

At first his advice was sound, simply because my posture in a particular back exercise wasn’t perfect, and, of course, as a paramedic, he knows a thing or two about human physiology.

Then he started telling me about how “high reps and bodyweight exercises” were what I needed to get “ripped,” and he told me “give it a try for a month, you’ll be ripped.” I said I wanted to keep getting bigger…

“Noooo…you don’t want to do that. You’re in great shape…you just need to get ripped now.”

No mention of nutrition at all in this conversation – I just needed to do his exercises and I’d be “ripped.”

I politely nodded and didn’t bother to argue with him or make things awkward.

I just thought I would share this to illustrate, even if its preaching to the choir, that just because someone is big, doesn’t mean he is an expert. Take all of your advice with a grain of salt, and always remember…YOUR BODY is the ultimate judge of what works and what doesn’t.

…and knowing is half the battle.

G.I. JOE!!!

sorry I just had to…

So the guy is clueless because he believes, like 90% of the other people who lift weights casually (and yes, I am doubting the 250lbs because smaller guys almost always overestimate the actual size of people bigger than them) that lighter weight and more reps “rip you up”?

I hear “lighter weight and more reps” from people who would put most on this forum to shame. That mind set was real big in the 80’s and early 90’s when dieting. I am sure I could probably find at least one article relating as much in an old Flex mag. Info like that dies hard…especially when not speaking to serious trainers.

The truth is, turning your weight session into an aerobic workout will help you lose weight. The bad thing is, dropping the heavy weights that built all of that muscle will most likely lead to much more muscle lost in the process.

I am unsure why this warranted a warning to people as if this advice you were given was so harmful. He isn’t completely wrong. He just isn’t right.

He also shouldn’t be telling you what your goal should be.

Plus, 250lbs on a 6’4" frame isn’t particularly huge.

you should have whipped it out and wanged it

In the gym I usually train there’s a guy who trained me for about 3 months who has many myths. He’s like 220 and 5 7". He thinks the same for cutting, but I think he hasn’t done it himself, at least since the first time I saw him he has been with the same bodyfat percentage. But the principles are the same… I’ve seen him shrug 7 plates per side.

[quote]Professor X wrote:
So the guy is clueless because he believes, like 90% of the other people who lift weights casually (and yes, I am doubting the 250lbs because smaller guys almost always overestimate the actual size of people bigger than them) that lighter weight and more reps “rip you up”?

I hear “lighter weight and more reps” from people who would put most on this forum to shame. That mind set was real big in the 80’s and early 90’s when dieting. I am sure I could probably find at least one article relating as much in an old Flex mag. Info like that dies hard…especially when not speaking to serious trainers.

The truth is, turning your weight session into an aerobic workout will help you lose weight. The bad thing is, dropping the heavy weights that built all of that muscle will most likely lead to much more muscle lost in the process.

I am unsure why this warranted a warning to people as if this advice you were given was so harmful. He isn’t completely wrong. He just isn’t right.

He also shouldn’t be telling you what your goal should be.[/quote]

It was more anecdotal than anything…a lot of small newbies here seem to think that those bigger than them are the end-all-be-all of advice, and don’t always filter out the BS. Like I said, I don’t give a fuck if he wants me to stop now – I’ll stop growing when I’m good and ready.

Not to say that the big guns here aren’t credible - a good deal of you are - but in the real world, many people get big from genetics or shit-luck. And pass on that shit advice thinking it will work for everyone just because it worked for them.

That’s really the point I wanted to drive home – even if it worked for some big guy, doesn’t mean it will work for you. Maybe he got big on that program because he eats a piece of celery and puts on a pound of muscle (gross hyperbole, of course). Maybe he ate like a tank and any program would suit his fancy. Or maybe its all too easy for him and he lives in a hypertrophy bubble.

ALLS IM SAYIN IS GUISE IS ITS A FUNNY STORY – STICK TO YOUR GOALS AND MAKE SURE YOU READ YOUR TNATION AND LISTEN TO UR CREDIBLE ELDERS. READ BETWIXT THE LINES YA DIG?

Reading through this thread makes my head feel like it’s imploding.

theres this guy whos always at the bar where i work.

i dont know him at all but the last two days hes come up to me and said “youre getting smaller” (ps i weigh more)

im like uhhh ok dude, blah blah idk dude hes out of it, he’s like you on the sauce? im like no. hes like yes you are. im like lol, uh no im not

wierd people dude. - like who the fuck are you?

[quote]acelement wrote:

It was more anecdotal than anything…a lot of small newbies here seem to think that those bigger than them are the end-all-be-all of advice, and don’t always filter out the BS. Like I said, I don’t give a fuck if he wants me to stop now – I’ll stop growing when I’m good and ready.[/quote]

No offense, but if someone actually needs to be told that simply because someone can be a source of info that it doesn’t mean EVERY FUCKING THING THEY SAY IS CORRECT, then they are going to have much larger problems in life than listening to someone’s misguided advice.

Yes, you listen to the big guys if your goal is to also be big and strong. No one has ever said that this means you blindly follow every single word with no individual thought. Oh, and for the record, 250lbs at 6’4" is like someone of average height at under 200lbs. In other words, THAT ISN’T BIG…so I am not sure why the guy in your scenario is representing “big serious weight lifters”. He’s just bigger than you.

However, the same thing you are for some strange reason harping on for big guys is THE SAME EXACT MENTALITY of the fanboys on this site who act like everything an author says is indisputable fact.

You aren’t writing threads about how following their every word and opinion could be harmful…for some reason, it is only “the big guys” you feel newbies need to be warned against.

[quote]acelement wrote:

but in the real world, many people get big from genetics or shit-luck. And pass on that shit advice thinking it will work for everyone just because it worked for them.

?[/quote]

what the fuck? are you kidding me?

you’re right dude. i got huge b/c of shit luck. and genetics. infact, i just look at weights and get huge. keep telling yourself to make you feel better.

you whiny bitch. i wish you were around so i could backhand the shit out of you.

i HATE that every small motherfucker always has to come back to the whole ‘genetics and luck is what made him big’.

stop fucking crying and grow up. hit the weights. no more excuses.

[quote]HolyMacaroni wrote:
acelement wrote:

but in the real world, many people get big from genetics or shit-luck. And pass on that shit advice thinking it will work for everyone just because it worked for them.

?

what the fuck? are you kidding me?

you’re right dude. i got huge b/c of shit luck. and genetics. infact, i just look at weights and get huge. keep telling yourself to make you feel better.

you whiny bitch. i wish you were around so i could backhand the shit out of you.

i HATE that every small motherfucker always has to come back to the whole ‘genetics and luck is what made him big’.

stop fucking crying and grow up. hit the weights. no more excuses.

[/quote]

Agreed. I heard this from someone the other day…as if the last decade plus of lifting more regularly than anyone I know isn’t why I look like this…or the fact that I plan my meals in advance and don’t take extended time off. Nope, it must just be genetics.

For the record, HM, you weigh about 230lbs right? At 5’10". The guy he is speaking off weighs a WHOPPING 250 while carrying 6 more inches in height…yet this is the representation of what “big” is now.

I can see why there are so few people on this site who do actually get big themselves. They are too busy trying to tear down other people who have passed up their progress by either belittling their accomplishments (by blaming it all on genetics, drugs or the weather) or acting like their every word should sound like a college physiology lecture. If they say anything that isn’t a direct quote from a Poloquin article, then we get internet threads WARNING newbies to avoid the advice of big guys.

This shit is retarded.

I doubt anyone will have to ever worry about people like this becoming very big themselves. Their search for faults will prevent that.

[quote]Professor X wrote:

For the record, HM, you weigh about 230lbs right? At 5’10". The guy he is speaking off weighs a WHOPPING 250 while carrying 6 more inches in height…yet this is the representation of what “big” is now.

[/quote]

i guess it’s what happens when you’re a part of the generation that grew up on Men’s Health magazines.

but it’s ok. it just means i have less compitition when i’m trying to stand out in a crowd, lol.

[quote]HolyMacaroni wrote:
Professor X wrote:

For the record, HM, you weigh about 230lbs right? At 5’10". The guy he is speaking off weighs a WHOPPING 250 while carrying 6 more inches in height…yet this is the representation of what “big” is now.

i guess it’s what happens when you’re a part of the generation that grew up on Men’s Health magazines.

but it’s ok. it just means i have less compitition when i’m trying to stand out in a crowd, lol.[/quote]

It just strikes me as funny that this thread is being started as if the guy in question is damn near a pro bodybuilder when the truth is, he sounds pretty damn average for someone who lifts weights regularly.

I am not sure how someone like that becomes a representation of all big bodybuilders. He isn’t one.

Jesus fucking christ you guys are missing the point. I’m not bitching about genetic or bullshit this and that. What am I not articulating correctly? Here the facts:

  1. he is bigger than me…I never said he was a monster, or that he was “huge” by any definition on this site, i just said he was bigger
  2. being bigger, he thought he knew what he was talking about and started babbling to me about what he believes to me is “the way to train”
  3. reality – he didn’t know what he was talking about and further tried to limit my potential by telling me i should stop growing
  4. conclusion = just because you’re bigger doesn’t mean you’re an expert

stop reading beyond that! i’m not bitching about being smaller. i’m not even making excuses about people getting big because of genetics or shit-luck. i’m saying those that DO fit that description live in a somehwat naive bubble of how to train, because they don’t need to exhibit the same amount of effort or discipline to see similar results. and thus, don’t necessarily give the best advice. believe me, i work hard, i train hard…all of that is irrelevant. shit, all i wanted to do was share a scenario. why does that require so much flak?

do i need to draw you guys a venn diagram or something? its like you guys feel the need to be defensive and threatening because i’m hassling bigger guys. and i am! but x, i know you’re a hard worker and you earned that weight, which is impressive, you’re NOT like the guy I saw at the gym. so…why are you so against this thread?

bashes head against wall

[quote]acelement wrote:
Jesus fucking christ you guys are missing the point. I’m not bitching about genetic or bullshit this and that. Can you two not fucking read? Here the facts:

  1. he is bigger than me…I never said he was a monster, or that he was “big” by any definition on this site, i just said he was bigger
  2. being bigger, he thought he knew what he was talking about
  3. reality – he didn’t know what he was talking about and further tried to limit my potential by telling me i should stop growing
  4. conclusion = just because you’re bigger doesn’t mean you’re an expert

stop reading beyond that! i’m not bitching about being smaller, i work hard, i train hard…all of that is irrelevant. shit, all i wanted to do was share a scenario. why does that require so much flak?

do i need to draw you guys a venn diagram or something?

bashes head against wall[/quote]

I doubt we misunderstood you at all.

Fact - This guy sounds pretty fucking average

You don’t walk up to average people and expect Shakespear…then write warnings to newbies because you didn’t get Shakespear.

He’s bigger than you…but smaller than the people we would normally qualify as “big” on this site…which does nothing but bring into question HOW BIG YOU ARE and why you think anyone who simply weighs more than you qualifies as a well trained serious bodybuilder/weightlifter to get advice from.

Hey, you are the one creating WARNINGS for people against big guys when the people you are speaking of aren’t even that big.

We need to create warnings against listening to people who have been training as long as you have but who (according to your profile) have trouble getting much past 200lbs at 6 feet tall.

Just saying.

DOOD!

you JUST wrote how ‘in the real world…blah blah blah’

sounds like bitching to me.

don’t write shit, and then when i quote it, tell me to forget about it. that’s stupid.

X already addressed your main point. i’m not going to beat a dead horse. i hate it when people try to tell me i’m bigger than them b/c i’m ‘lucky’ or i just have ‘better genetics’ or i ‘must do drugs’

which you did.

so there.

X, stop typing so damn fast. dammit.

[quote]Professor X wrote:
acelement wrote:
Jesus fucking christ you guys are missing the point. I’m not bitching about genetic or bullshit this and that. Can you two not fucking read? Here the facts:

  1. he is bigger than me…I never said he was a monster, or that he was “big” by any definition on this site, i just said he was bigger
  2. being bigger, he thought he knew what he was talking about
  3. reality – he didn’t know what he was talking about and further tried to limit my potential by telling me i should stop growing
  4. conclusion = just because you’re bigger doesn’t mean you’re an expert

stop reading beyond that! i’m not bitching about being smaller, i work hard, i train hard…all of that is irrelevant. shit, all i wanted to do was share a scenario. why does that require so much flak?

do i need to draw you guys a venn diagram or something?

bashes head against wall

I doubt we misunderstood you at all.

Fact - This guy sounds pretty fucking average

You don’t walk up to average people and expect Shakespear…then write warnings to newbies because you didn’t get Shakespear.

He’s bigger than you…but smaller than the people we would normally qualify as “big” on this site…which does nothing but bring into question HOW BIG YOU ARE and why you think anyone who simply weighs more than you qualifies as a well trained serious bodybuilder/weightlifter to get advice from.

Hey, you are the one creating WARNINGS for people against big guys when the people you are speaking of aren’t even that big.

We need to create warnings against listening to people who have been training as long as you have but who (according to your profile) have trouble getting much past 200lbs at 6 feet tall.

Just saying.[/quote]

The only advice I gave was to take everything with a grain of salt and not to blindly follow advice. If anything, it was advocating listening to people like you guys who actually know what’s up and did it the old fashioned way. What a crock of shit that was right?

And really Macaroni, where are you getting the idea that I think you or anyone here cheated their way to bigness? I’m really not saying that so you should stop getting so defensive and bashing me for it. Let’s all hug and makeup and put this one to bed. Lesson learned about story time with the T-family.


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