I know I’ve asked you this before, but how heavy were you walking around in the offseason?
Hatred keeps them satisfied with mediocrity. It’s honestly baffling the attitude towards physiques built with the use of steroids.
Like, it’s always these little 150lb skinny-fat dudes crying that the physiques of the IFBB guys can’t be achieved naturally, when they’re nowhere near having a decent enough physique for it to ever matter anyway. These guys need to look at the top natural guys and realise that they’ll never achieve those physiques either, even though those guys don’t use, because they’re too busy crying when they should be working towards a goal.
If you busted your ass and built a physique like a top natural competitor you’d be fucking delighted with your body and wouldn’t care that the bigger guys are using steroids, but instead you’re wasting your time sitting in front of a computer arguing on reddit weighing 160lbs with a fucking 225lb bench and a 275lb squat, neither of which have gone up in like 3 years.
Before my first contest, I was about 210. After that first show, I realized that I was going to stay around 200 to make gains for future shows and not add weight (fat) just to say I weighed more when I would only have to diet it away anyway.
So anywhere between 200-205 TOPS. Not what most people would think of as a monster, but I made my best gains keeping myself in the 190-200 range during those years, in my late 30’s, finally ignoring all the online experts screaming about bulking up. 18" arms, 17" calves, 50" suit jacket and 32" suit pants… I had a hell of a time renting a tuxedo -lol.
lol, no, I was muscular. Wearing a winter jacket, at 5’8, I was far from intimidating walking down the street. Of course it’s usually the fat guys who delude themselves about how much muscle they actually have that scream the loudest about “how anyone under 200 lbs is small.”
Lean 200 pounds at 5"8 is awesome! But I get what you’re saying. I’m 6"1 and only 185 but really lean and with excellent muscle definition. People with no clue (so 99% of the gym) think I’m 30 pounds bigger. And it’s even worse for my friend who’s 17 and competes in junior physique. He’s 155 at 8% right now, and his definition makes him look waaaay bigger
lol! I always hear that line from An Officer and a Gentleman in my head… “I got nowhere else to go!!”
My last show, I was a hair under 180, and for people who have never been in actual bodybuilding contest shape, and I say this with no ego (because I didn’t even place top 5 in this Pro show, so I know how I stacked up with some very impressive competitors), 5’8, relatively small structure/joints, 180 lbs is pretty darn decent IMO.
I actually kept my weight under 190 the summer right after that contest because I had gotten fitted for a Tuxedo, and let me tell you that when seeing a few pics of myself at “only 190”, the “150 not ripped lbs in college Stu” was pretty damn floored at what I had achieved over the years. It certainly didn’t make me better than anyone, but damn if I wasn’t quietly proud of myself.
It certainly is. Proportion matters. I always think back to HS wrestling and the kids in the upper weight classes. They were either tall and lanky or shorter blocks of solid muscle, and even that was often a bit above stage leanness.
When I lived in America my best friend wrestled, so I saw a few HS wrestling matches, some of the kids had insane physiques, whether the really insane ones we’re natural or not I don’t know, however I’d assume the people in question with the really good physiques were the genetically elite. that being said back when I watched these matches designer steroids (prohormones and designer AAS) were readily available over the counter and lots of kids were taking them (I never did, no medical literature = stay away for me) so that’s a possibility
Ryan Sharp has a great physique but it’s entirely achievable at that age naturally.
I think all the talk of ‘great genetics’ & ‘hard gainer’ in the old magazines & now the interwebs is unhealthy. It makes people defeatist & turn to steroids way too soon.
Do local competitions in gymnastics or swimming & train 20 hours a week from age 8 or 9 & you get a great physique by your early teens.
People too easily write off a great physique as drugs & genetics, when usually there’s a story behind it - and that story is normally that person has done tons of sport for a long time.
If you’ve done a lot of sport from a very young age, then did a few years of weights, I’d expect similar results.
They also under estimate the value of coaching. If you take a kid that has interest and just cut him loose in a weight room it is going to be relatively aimless, and even the effort is going to be lacking. Enthusiasm may be there, but that doesn’t necessarily translate to effort. With coaching, its like installing a work ethic that enables them to match their enthusiasm with the effort. They need that guidance to push, and direction so that the effort works toward a goal.
There have been a few of these kids pop up on social media and everybody cries steroids. They’ve obviously never seen what happens when you take a young kid that is already relatively lean and give him some direction.
Part of the thing is most of your IG followers probably never been to any actual kind of contest and have never been back stage to be able to put things into context. I would say many would be surprised about how small some guys would appear to them and how other would look even bigger. Since IG pics do not give a true sense of scale.
I’ve been to the Arnold classic, does that count? Saw Roley winklar, dexter jackson and Kevin Levrone in his (apparently) last ever show. Roley winklar looked absolutely insane (not sure if spelling his name right) the thickness he had in his arms was unlike anything I’d ever seen before, and not only was he thick and well proportioned, his separations were on point too.
