Get Big Tomorrow

Written by Fig

Expectations!!! We all have them. Some people want 20″ arms in 6 months. That is not going to happen. Some people want to gain 30 pounds of muscle and be ripped in 6 months. That is not going to happen (even with roids!!!). I want to try to talk some sense into people who are beginners. At best a natural lifter will gain 7-12 pounds a year. In order to put one inch on your arms you have to gain at least 10 pounds of body weight. It takes years of training and dedication to get your body big. I have been training for 10 years. I first started working out in 1986 when I weighed in at 140, I could do some curls, misc stuff and I could do 3 pull ups. I got serious in 1988-89 I weighed in at 160 , I could bench 100 pounds and do 12 pull ups. It took me 2 years to break the 200 pound barrier (could bench 225-245 and do 18-20 pull ups). I ate a lot of food. I gained some fat, but I got to my goal. I would go into work and eat until I gained 5 pounds a day, just in the weight of the food. I would drink a gallon of chocolate milk, eat fried chicken, eat a pound of potato salad, and eat anything I could find that was fattening. I have witnesses that can vouch for this. I was a eating machine. I had a goal and I kept eating until I saw progress. Then after 4 years of training and eating like a pig, I weighed in at 230. In 1992, I joined the Air Force and lost 27 pounds. I was then weighing in at 203. I then ate again. Then 3 years after that I weighed in at 250. I really looked like Ramsay then. So, I dieted down to 230 and then bulked up again to 255. Then I got sick of looking like crap again and dieted some more. I dieted down to 210. I looked great!!! I was not strong, but I looked great. I made one major mistake while dieting!!! I did not add more recovery time, I did not cut out some exercises. What I did do was over train myself. I did less weight and more reps, while keeping the same volume of exercises. My legs suffered from it bad. Then I was deployed to the desert and met a guy who showed me the workout I do now. I then ate again and bulked up to 260 in 5 months. My bench was then at it’s best of 455×2. So then I gained weight up to 267 and then I said “well time to diet.”. Now I am at 245 at 11.2% body fat. I am going to stop dieting at 230. Then I might gain a few pounds. The point is that you got to cycle your weight up and down. You gain weight and then you improve the quality. I am not sure I am going to bulk up so much this next time. I think I learned my lesson. I will keep my BF under 14%. I was up to I think 18-19%. Yeah some times I looked bad, but I knew I would diet and make it go away. I focused on the long run. If you focus on only the short term, you will fail miserably. Make your own goals and stick to them. Don’t just give up after a week of eating and then complain that you only gained a pound. It takes time. It took me years. I know of no workout that will get someone huge in a year (even with roids). Some people just focus on the workout and do not care about what the body is going through. They just go to the gym and do a balls to the wall workout. Then they go to the bar and get drunk. Then they sleep 5 hours and go to work. That does not work. Look I know people are not stupid. If you want to gain weight, I doubt you need anyone’s help. You know what to do. It is just the matter of you trying your best to do it. People are always looking for the easier way to do things. Guess what it is not easy, this is not a bus that takes you to the land of the big people, where they drink from the fountain of bigness. I only write the truth. Hey if you are in High School and weigh in at 160 and you want to weigh 210. You might be in college by the time you reach your goal (unless you get fat). But, you will get bigger and stronger in High school than you previously were. I will never look like I belong on the cover of Muscle and Fitness. I know that. I realize that. But, I can workout and look my best. A real goal s to look better than any run of the mill steroid user. That pisses them off. I love it.

A good goal is this: For weight gain 7-12 pounds a year is good. For arm gains a inch a year is good. Hey I can put 2 inches on my arms in 1 year, but that does not mean it is all muscle. Heck I lost ¾ ” on them so far after dieting (which is fat and I expected to lose some size). But, they look bigger.

When you bulk up in weight, you got to have your body fat tested before and after. Do not go above 14-16%. You will regret it. As a rule of thumb, go up 10-15 pounds and then diet to the previous BF level.

Do not pile on extra weight every time you workout. Go up in a maximum of 5 pounds or less. Some people pile on 40 pounds in a week and then use sloppy form to compensate. Do not do that.

Keep a training log of what you do each workout. Plan to gain 15-20 pounds on your bench in 1-2 months. That is a good goal.

When you get to a sticking point do not pile on more weight!!! Instead go down in weight a little (20-25 pounds) and then get your reps up again. Then add a little weight every week, until you get to the sticking point. Then try to get more reps. Like let’s say are stuck at 200 for 6 reps. You would then go to 180 for 8-10 reps. Then week after week you add 5 pounds, until you get to 200. It is almost like a car in 5th gear going up hill and the engine bogs down. You would then want higher rpm’s so you down shift.

Take your time, because your body is. You can lead your body to the gym, but you can’t get it to grow unless you let it recover. If you feel like crap then take a day or two off. It does not hurt, it does not kill your previous gains and like damn it is good for you.