When I read posts from from teens on this Forum I often get jealous I did not have the benefit of T-Mag when growing up. I can remeber being 130lbs at 16 and doing Bertil Fox’s arm routine (they hang him yet?) while choking down 20 Olympian Crash Weight Gain chaulky tablets. I had a buddy who squatted every day for 2-3 months-forget which principle that was. I was convinced that if I followed Joe Weider’s principles to a T, I would get huge. Well, I did gain some muscle, but when I look back I sure was gullible. What was the stupidest thing any of you former Weider trainees did?
I clearly remember reading in M&F that you should always train through soreness. Amazing how times have changed.
cherry flavor amino acid liquid. my dad had me drink that shit by the boat loads. not to mention that he thought the soloflex would revolutionize weight training. yea, i was a mentally deprived child.
I recall drinking things like weight gain 2500, which in reality ended up being lots of useless carbohydrates and sugar. I also remember the thought process of being in the gym for three hours at a time would get better results faster. These kids have it good, although I still witness some young guys in the gym adopting poor approaches to diet and training. Not all of the myths and rumors have been totally dispelled.
When I wrestled in high school my coach had us all on that weight gain stuff (once I had slimmed down to fighting weight) and eating nothing but pasta. Once I was on the DL and got into college I kept those bad eating habits, ballooning up to 315 pounds at 6 foot 1. THEN to try and lose the weight, I became a vegetarian for 5 years. My crappy metabolism that developed because of it is still making me pay for that mistake.
Wow, is this a loaded question. At first I was told by a PT that squats are bad for me, so I didn’t do them for the first three years. I was on Tom Platz’ 6 on 1 off split, in which you train each half of your body every other day, sore or not. A PT once told me that post-workout nutrition would make me fatter. Oh yeah, and for the first couple years, I kept dieting all my gains away every three or four months.
I think I did everything that I could possibly to wrong, in the first three years of training. I can honestly say that I’m still feeling the repercussions even to this day.
My biggest mistake was the day I excitedly brought home an issue of Muscle and Fitness…a whole new world of specialized routines and these freakish muscle guys.
Up until then I’d trained with my dad, using the same York Barbell courses he’s used since the fifties–heavy pulls, heavy squats, heavy presses, and lots of rest. It had alway worked well, too, so why I was so eager to change I don’t know (probably something to do with thinking Arnold and the gang got that way through marathon sessions and protein powder!).
It’s taken me a couple of decades, but I finally learned that the old way was better. I’m much bigger, much stronger, and much healthier since going back to the “old ways.”
Weight Gainers, following routines in M&F and Arnold’s Encyclopedia, waisting money on HMB, Vanadyl, OKG, etc. Liftig 6 days/week.
I always dieted my gains away following the cutting routines of the M&F pro monsters. I did this for three years and I worked out for 1.5hrs, four days a week. Doing some pansy bodybuilding movements. No chins, no power cleans, no deadlifts. Now those exercises make up the majority of my routines. Man am I glad I ran into T-mag.
I’m still finding out all the time that things I do and eat are just dumb. Still learning and I don’t think I’ll ever be done…
Keep the free info coming T-Staff!!
What the hell, I actually used to buy those Cybergenics Kits along with spending a lot of money on HMB. I also seemed to have missed the fact that there are muscles in the lower back that need to be strong, too.
The two years after HS I stopped working out and literally only ate junk food for all my meals. Three meals a day, all combo meals from fast food places. I drank soda instead of water. Sadly I was under the impression I was as strong, and in as good of shape as I was in HS.(Where I played a multitude of sports, had two P.E. Classes a day and weight lifting)
I went to the gym, and damn was I wrong. Luckily my body didn’t put on much fat since I’m relatively young.
So at 6’1" 205 pounds, I decided I’m going to get in the best shape of my life, and I took a class at a local college that told me about the evils of red meat. So I effectively became a vegitarian. Living off of fruits, vegetables and breads. I had pretty much NO protein in my diet, and I was lifting weights and playing basketball for at least an hour 4 days a week.
I got down to 185 pounds doing this…
Then I was checkin out the Mens Health message board and a guy named Jim F(was it Foster?) recomended I check out this website. Thanks Jim!
So I came over and stumbled upon the T-dawg diet. So I thought I’d try it, wanting to get as lean as possible for the summer, about 7-8 months ago. So my body, going from no protein and working out, to about 190g a protein a day completely transformed in the matter of a month and a half.(Good thing I’m young I guess) Tons of people asked me if I’m doing steroids and yadda yadda. Now I’m up to 215 and happily aiming for 230, maybe bigger depending on how I look at 230. Sadly it seems all the muscle mass is in my legs, so when people see my upper body they guess I’m around 185-190. T-mag has done wonders for me.
Listening to the words “to get big you gotta eat big”. No, to get fat you gotta eat big…
The biggest I’ve ever been (and leanest) I was on 2500 calories a day.
I tried everything… Cybergenics, Bee Pollen, B6 vitamins - which caused me to break out in a severe flush in the middle of a college lecture as the Professor thought I was going into somekind of anaphalactic shock - and most damaging ---- weight gainers.
First it, Megagain 1000, then Megagain 2000 then Megagain 2000. The calories weren’t the only thing getting bigger. It was the serving sizes which were laundry size scoops. The stuff was so thick, sandy and cement like I thought I was going to gag on it.
Oh… and what did this get me. Nothing but a larger waistline and a smaller wallet. Ahhh… the process of trial and error. I guess we all went thru it.
Although im not old school, not a former weider trainee, i have done my share of dumb things…bought super routines of the super stars and tried several of them, trained 6 days a week, did no horizontal pulling for a year (i thought i was fine since chinups are a back exercise), didnt squat for my first year and a half of training (trained at home), neglected legs, washed down md6 with a ripped force extreme (i thought something serious was about to happen to me, and I was really nervous and angry for the entire workout), bought the EAS “Supershake”, ok you can make fun of me now
-Jason
First I really didn’t follow a routine then I read Arnold’s Encyclopedia Of Bodybuilding and wttempted to work out 6 days a week then did the whole HIT thing for a while. I also injured myself and didn’t really do anything to help the injury tell recently I think I wasted about 2 years of training until I found this site.
Oh let me count the way of my stupid past, Cyclofenil, Boron, Amino Cola, HeavyWeight Gainer 900, Hot Stuff, Pasta, HMB, Paying 90$ for a botlle of Osmo Androstiendione, and the ultimate stupid thing…Cybergenics!!!
Cybergenics…about 2 or 3 “Ab Thingys” (I finally learned…)…probably every diet book known to the Civilized World…and yes…WAAYYY back…a Richard Simmons Tape! (The Lion ducks, and TRIES to run…but he only passes out because of the sudden and precipitous drop in his Testosterone after that admission…)
Doing 3hours daily of cardio to keep wrestling weight 52 lbs under my natural weight. I naturally weighed in at 175 but I wrestled at 123. Like akia that really screws up the metabolism. Didn’t help any that the cals I did get came from pasta and crap like that. Oh yeah and don’t forget to eat your pasta plain and just before bed cause it will cause your body to go thermogenic. Haaa haa. I also made sure I followed the weight training of our wrestling captain who was on the juice. Funny he recovered much faster than I did. Hmmmm.
I actually had a subscription for two years to M&F and followed every thing they preached. BIG $$$$ spent on Hot Stuff, Cybergenics (3x, Duh), Betagen, HMB, Muscle Mix, The Weider Victory Kits,…the list goes on and on.
One body part per day to total exhaustion, 6 days a week.