for those who lift weights and exercise

[The Storm]

Ok. Ill get some up in a bit. If you click my avatar, I have a face picture of me last August when I weighed 210. Why dont they add up? Just outta curiosity.

 

[ROB64]

Haha, I knew you'd show up eventually.

 

[LevesqueIsKing]

It's not just for this thread.

Great, Storm. We've got a lot to cover, so I'll start from the top. Again, I'm not saying it's not possible, just that there are a lot of inconsistencies that I believe make it very unlikely that you're being entirely truthful. Responses to individual numbers are in bold:

Hellz yea. I exercise constantly, pushing my limits as much as I can every time. I also practice Shotokahn, cant get enough of it. I am also in boxing classes, leader of the pack. Im not sure if anyone else is doing this, but im gonna go ahead and start since it fits the thread. Here are my stats.

Height: 6'0" It should be noted that, for someone of his alleged size, this is relatively small
Weight: 284 pounds Again, in comparison to size, this is monstrous. There honestly isn't any other way to put it. For those of you familiar with my past avatars, Triple H is roughly 6'1" and 240 lbs. I was willing to accept this, but wait...
Physique: Muscular
Body Fat Percentage: 7% Then he throws out the game changer, which just doesn't make any sense. I honestly sat here for a few minutes trying to decide in my mind what this would look like. For those unsure, I've provided a picture of someone with about 7% body fat (I googled it, don't judge me):

Spoiler

Additionally, 6% is generally the point that health officials begin to get worried. Anything below six percent body fat can disrupt your organs' ability to function and just have debilitating effects on your body in general. It's certainly not impossible, but 6'0" at 284 lbs. at 7% is honestly unheard of. I googled it and got no applicable results (although one request to check out "hot fat chicks")
Nickname: My friends call me minivan because of my enormous size I thought this was interesting. Storm does a thorough job of providing outside evidence of his size, which I'll mention again later.
Bench Press Max: 350 pounds
Deadlift Max: 750 pounds
Squat Max: 810 pounds Given, I haven't been in the loop for a while, these numbers seem very low for your alleged size. This is because 284 lbs of lean muscle mass on someone that's 6'10" is a lot, but 284 lbs of lean muscle mass on someone that's 6'0" is exponentionally more. Again, I can't imagine.
Dumbell Curling Max: 110 pounds
Lateral Pulldown Max: 320 pounds
Maximum Number of Consecutive Chin-Ups: 12 This is what proved my thoughts for me. It just makes no sense whatsoever. To me, it seems like he went through a thought process of, "If I weighed that much, it would be hard to lift all that weight," but when that weight is muscle (and 93% nonfat), that isn't applicable. Unless you lost your arm in 'Nam, this is unexplicable.
Maximum Number of Consecutive Sit-Ups: 168
Maximum Number of Consecutive Push-Ups: 89
Maximum Punching Power With Gloves: 1450 pounds per square inch I just thought this was funny. I've never seen a arm puncher measurer before, but if you have one then my hat's off to you. This has nothing to do with my explanation, though.
Average Punching: I break my knuckles on every punch without gloves Again, providing outside evidence for strength, backing up his claims.

And thats about it. Tell me if I missed anything. :lol:

That's all for that quote.

Right now Im hitting the weights 5 times a week with Protein shakes, regimented diet prone to gaining size, the hole shabang. Im gonna get big as f**k, which I am already, so ill get bigger.

You seem to be doing a lot of cardio. Given, I have a stigma against cardio because my metabolism is so high, most powerlifters very strongly oppose all serious cardiovascular exercise. Trying to put on muscle while doing cardio is genuinely comparable to trying to lose weight while on a "No vegetables or fruits" diet. Possible, yes, but not suggested by many. The saddest part of this part of my post is that someone I know is on that diet.

Now, as for your defence of your statements. The first time that someone questioned the validity of your numbers, you kind of...belittled them. Personality does have a lot to do with people's responses to different events, but I don't think that someone that was truthful in their claims would react so radically. It seemed like you were trying to put to rest any nay-sayers by lecturing them rather than just providing proof. I just thought it was interesting, in addition to the nickname and the punching.

And finally, there's your last statement. My apologies for not having quoted it, but it was something along the lines of weighing "210 last August." Here, I think you're trying to ease yourself back to a safer number so you won't seem so at fault. To my knowledge, it's not physically possible to put on 74 pounds of lean muscle mass in 9 months (assuming this was the beginning of August).

So, my basic conclusion is that you're either a liar or you're a God. If I'm right, I won't hold anything against you for admitting it; if I'm wrong, please do post a picture because, again, I'm genuinely interested to see what you look like. If I am wrong I will be glad to apologize and leave you to your work, as most of the information you were giving was right.

 

[The Storm]

Wow man... You provide a really good arguement. Yea, an sorry for the beliddling thing before, I was having a really bad day. Personal issues.

Now, as for the body fat percentage, I do not look like that. I look more or so like a tank, not ripped abs and junk. I definately got that wrong bc that was speculation of what some friends of mine told me. My apologies their.

As for the chin ups part, I have a large scar on my right arm (my dominant arm) that I got a few years back. I had fallen off the side of a sea wall of a canal and my arm had gotten caught on the side of the sea wall. It had been lined with barnacles, and a large portion of my muscle tissue in that arm was ripped out. Surgery, stitches, the whole thing I had to go through recooperating for three years before my arm was fully funcional. In the meantime I had been working the rest of my body, so when my arm came out of its cast it resembled something like jello. I limit the amount of chin ups I do bc my doctor says it is possible to tear my arm open again. Thats why I stick primarily to stationary excersize when it comes to my arms. I will post a picture of that shortly.

And as for the weight, I did weigh 210 in August, and I weigh 284 now. Im not sure how to prove this other than my word, cuz I dont have any pics of me before cuz I felt outta shape. This past year I have hit the gym as often as possible bc I never wanted to feel as weak as I did when my arm was in a cast.

As I said before I think, my dream is to participate in the World's Strongest Man competition. The current champion (I beleive he is current, he won last year) is Phil Pfister, 6'6" and weighs 395 pounds. I am nowhere near that big, but I am attempting to go for that. His Bicep flexed is 29 inches, mine is currently 22 inches. I am still building and still attempting to get that or more.

Also, its not completely hard to beleive my size, I have played baseball for four years, then I played football for four years all the while boxing and still boxing today. Thats alot of conditioning, but Im not 7% body fat. Im not sure what I am, but Im sure its more around 13 or 14. The punching thing isnt hard to beleive either, bc the average heavyweight boxer (which I am heavyweight) breaks their knuckles on every power punch.

With the weight difference between August and now, I was only trying to express how much I have gained. I am very proud to have come such a long way in such a long time. This isnt too hard to beleive either, since I drink protein shakes every day and am on a regimented size gaining diet, still.

Noone beleives that I weigh 284 in person, so Im not sure what help pictures will do. Ill post them anyway, but I still dont think you guys ll beleive me. I cant put any documents cuz I dont have any that I know of...

Anyways, I will post pictures shortly. Gotta use my sisters camera when she gets home. Hope this helps your conclusions.

 

[Kiwi]

I dont really do much cardio.. i lift weights 3 - 4 times a week though. i weigh like 205, not sure how much bodyfat i have but if i had to give a real guess probably around 15 - 20%. the lowest ive ever been was 7% in 9th grade, but that was a LONG time ago lol.

idk if im supposed to go into detail, to be honest i haven't read much if at all of this thread, but ill go ahead and say i do wide grip flat and incline for chest, i havent maxed out on the bench press in a few months but right now i can rep about 215 x 5 and 225 x 2 on my last couple of sets of flat bench. so if i had to guess prob around 245 - 250. i dont do chest and triceps on the same day, so i just do close grip bench and skull crushers on another day. close grip isnt too far behind my wide grip...

i dont have a squat rack or a power cage, so i cant really say ive gone too heavy on squats to see what i can do, but the first time i did do them i did 185 x 10 ATG for two sets. heaviest ive gone is 215 for about 5 reps right after those 2 . i should really try and get a squat rack though... squating is so important for muscle growth lol.

deadlift.. i havent really done that much either, but i maxed out with all of my friends weight pretty easy. 305.. if i had to guess i could probably get 330 - 340. i got decent form too, nothing shitty.

so yeah, as you can tell im one of those guys who only really benches, though if i did have a squat rack or a power cage i can def tell you right now id be squating alot more then anything else.

 

[Gikoku Harakami]

Now, as for the body fat percentage, I do not look like that. I look more or so like a tank, not ripped abs and junk. I definately got that wrong bc that was speculation of what some friends of mine told me. My apologies their.

I thought as much, 7% body fat and I would have thought you were Bruce Lee... but not at 284lbs. & 6'0". And if you had 7% body fat, you'd be likely ripped to the core.. all over.

As for my workout, I attend wushu classes of Wing Chun 3 days a week and practice it at home. And do some cardio everyday, along with strength training & toning exercises , I don't know why people have a problem with cardio so much.. walk around for 30 mins everyday and that will be a sufficient amount of cardio to lose weight and strengthen the lower body (to an extent).

I alternate my workouts each day for an even pattern, and then have an off day where I just kick-back and enjoy life (Sunday, if I'm not interested in working out). Among this pattern I go for crunches (much better than sit-ups), waist twists, cat stretches, push-ups (with my fists), general stretching to enhance flexibility, wrist curls, chin-ups, bench pressing, gripping, sandbag punching, etc. I ought to get myself a treadmill for those cold winters and rainy days... but, walking back & forth suffice.

I focus on toning (high reps with light weights, usually 3 sets of 15-30 reps.. with the exception of waist twisting... 90 reps of 3 sets.) with not too much attention to muscle mass building.. getting too big in muscle is the last thing I want to do, slows me down way too much for my martial arts (where I put focus on being as fast as possible). I still do plenty of strength training though, to keep my workout in balance as well as my body. I like to have a strong & healthy diet to boot.

Aiming for my body to be more cut & hard like a marble. I like to read Bruce Lee's fitness book in some of my spare time "The Art of Expressing the Human Body", a very excellent read for fitness buffs.

 

[LevesqueIsKing]

-There's no such thing as exercises that specifically help "tone" your body. The word was created by a combination of the media and personal trainers telling people what they wanted to hear. The only way to tone your body is to lose fat and build muscle, and besides the pace at which you achieve that "tone," there's really no difference whatsoever in exercises. If anything, exercises that claim to "tone" your body are probably less efficient than standard muscle-gaining exercises.
-There are not exercises that make you "big" and "muscular" and there are not exercises that make you "trim" and "toned," there are only exercises that get you where you want to be faster.

I just had the urge to mention this. In theory, Gikoku, you should be able to lift heavy 1-2 times per week and get similar results. You've got a lot of variables going on with your heavy cardio and whatnot, however, the principle should still apply. In any case, I'm not saying that's what you should do, I just like talking about it.

 

[Gikoku Harakami]

I just had the urge to mention this. In theory, Gikoku, you should be able to lift heavy 1-2 times per week and get similar results. You've got a lot of variables going on with your heavy cardio and whatnot, however, the principle should still apply. In any case, I'm not saying that's what you should do, I just like talking about it.

Interesting, I enjoy the talk of it as well and am definitely open to new information regarding fitness (even if it's to let me know I'm doing something wrong). Reading more of Bruce Lee's book and I continue to find out new things, including methods that expose my current training flaws.

I admit, I'm not too knowledgeable on the subject of "toning" and even my martial art's sifu admitted he wasn't too sure on the subject of it either. My little brother however, who I asked about toning methods responded with "I've never heard of anything like that before" and he's more ripped to the core than I am, I'm fit, but he's too much (small too). But, I kept with it figuring it would be alright. I'll remember your quote and do some more research.

What I'm getting more interested in is finding new techniques that target more muscles and does it more effectively. Especially if I'm aiming for this level of ripped:

 

[LevesqueIsKing]

Try searching for compound lifts. Deadlifting, squatting and benching cover practically every single muscle group, except maybe the upper back.

 

[Gikoku Harakami]

Try searching for compound lifts. Deadlifting, squatting and benching cover practically every single muscle group, except maybe the upper back.

Will do, thanks Tyler.