For BG fitness fanatics, a question..

[richardd]

How the hell are you being stereotyped as small/skinny? You step into any gym I've ever been in and you would be at the higher end. Think you are a "victim" of wherever the hell you are living atm.

You have a good look going right now anyways, idk why you would even want to get bigger. Stronger? Yea sure we all do, but you have a nice balance going right now.

I feel like I'm listening to an anorexic girl talk about how shes not skinny enough when in reality she weighs 90lbs and is super skinny.

i was doing 320 lbs on the bench today and some kid comes up to me and goes "why the light weight?"

now NORMALLY this wouldnt bother me lol. i can ignore and keep pushing myself, especially since i was with a friend. but i was nice. i reply with "just trying to better myself". he has no idea i used to weigh a million lbs and lost it, but he replied with "than use more weight". now. normally i wouldnt give this guy the time or day. but we decided to spot him since that was his way of opening up to us lol. this "kid" put up 400 lbs and did 10 reps FLAWLESSLY. his arms are HUGE, and he's about as tall as me. he told me if i train with him more often, i wont be "as skinny" lol. everyone is different. but i know he wasnt really trying to be an ass. it was just his personality, lol. my other friend told me that i been doing better, but he didnt say anything along the lines of "you're not skinny". to me "you're doing better"= you are making an effort, but you still got a ways to go before you reach your goal, lol.

idk, that got to me a bit. but im not THAT big, good lord. you guys need to go to LA fitness or something. 17 inch arms arent impressive in a room full of guys like that. im average. but i do see your point. in society, i guess im bigger than normal ppl lol

[Jefe]

Sounds to me like you have self esteem issues. Anyway, I just introduced peanut butter to get some extra protein... shit gives me the runs, godamn it.

[richardd]

Sounds to me like you have self esteem issues. Anyway, I just introduced peanut butter to get some extra protein... shit gives me the runs, godamn it.

idk why everyone keeps saying that. what am i supposed to do? act cocky and e-thugish and brag about scoring bitches and doing 1 million pushups? lol

i'm me, and im humble and thankful about where i am now. i give my thanks to ppl on here all the time. i know i got goals to work for, but im cool with it. i think the worst thing is to actually get there. its like FFXI. once you get a dring/relic/etc, what do you see most ppl do? quit/rmt. what else is there left to do? im going to constantly be changing my goals, but for the most part, i dont hate myself or anything. i just want to be a better man than i was yesterday.

and aren't you that guy who told ppl peanut butter sucked in protein shakes? why are you suddenly taking them now? change of heart? lol

[Hyan]

You guys seem to know more about this shit than I do so I figured I'd ask here:

Is it normal for your pulse to fluctuate a lot between different training sessions? 'Cause I've noticed in the few months I've jogged that sometimes I have to basically run to get my pulse to 130+- area while some other days I have to actually slow down and walk and still have a pulse of 140-150 throughout the session. I have no idea what the hell is going on there, but the difference is significant enough that I don't think I'm just imagining it.

Even more weird is that while my pulse is sometimes higher I don't really get out of breath any more than when my pulse is "normal", but it's still something I'd like to get rid of if possible since I think that's a bit too high pulse for me if I want to get into better shape.

Anyone have any ideas?

[Jefe]

Yeah, it sucks in shakes. To me is a challenge like one of those from fear factor... I gave it a try w/ wheat bread because I have a hard time getting 2k calories and decent amount of protein.

And I never said to act cocky, or w/e just seems like you care too much what others think. Peace.

[Gustave]

I was considering taking the real thing when I played ball in college but to be honest what I really needed was a better diet. I would say around 30% of the players were using something illegal and this was only juco ball.

I got back in the gym because I was sick of my shape and my back was to the point I missed work 4-5 days a month. Now I'm doing atg sqauts and deadlifts working out with 225-315. I'd say my back is much better. My overall goal is get up to 195 with 11-12% bf. As long as I'm seeing results every couple weeks I'll be happy.

[Moss]

i'm not gonna lie. i'm at that point where i feel like i cant get any more progression as far as size goes without some miracle supplements or hormones. i know it takes years, but its hard to take in. everything was going so fast and so steady. i lifted HEAVY for 2 months with pre/post-workout supplements. im almost at 17 inches on my arms and when i measured today, im still only at 16 3/4. its vexing, and not only that. but i went on the scale and i DROPPED 7 lbs. i've been eating like i was when i was a fatass, but with healthy organic foods. im eating fucking over 3k cals a day. i buy a can of peanut butter every week and 5 dozen eggs with misc meats, and i DROPPED lbs. lol.

im at a point where i guess i'm happy where i am. but im not that big lol. its frustrating to be stereotyped as a small/skinny guy in a gym full of people who dont know me on a personal lvl. im glad i got some good friends who dont judge me and help me regardless. but man.... like i said before. i'd be lying if i told you that i didnt think once or twice about taking it.

but.. im happy lol. i fit in with society. if ppl want to think of me as a "weakling" or skinnyboy or whatever, than who cares? my standards are my own lol

If you are aware and comfortable with the risks, I would tell you to go for it. It is your body. I echo the others' thoughts that you are already huge and would be the strongest dude at my gym, but I know that doesn't really mean anything if you aren't personally happy with your body. You should talk to a serious weightlifting coach, like one at those training centers that NFL players always go to to train. Tell them your situation and ask them what they think. I have read about all kinds of different ways to get past stalls in muscle mass and strength, some as radical as not lifting for a month.

tl;dr Ask a professional about what you should do before you turn to HGH/steroids/whatever.

[Byrthnoth]

idk why everyone keeps saying that. what am i supposed to do? act cocky and e-thugish and brag about scoring bitches and doing 1 million pushups? lol

Rich, you need to go to a gym in suburbia so you can feel as built as you look to most of the people reading this thread.

Goldo, my love for you is eternal. I will hop on AIM so that we may chat about bitches and hos and other relevant subjects.

[Weiing]

idk why everyone keeps saying that. what am i supposed to do? act cocky and e-thugish and brag about scoring bitches and doing 1 million pushups? lol

i'm me, and im humble and thankful about where i am now. i give my thanks to ppl on here all the time. i know i got goals to work for, but im cool with it. i think the worst thing is to actually get there. its like FFXI. once you get a dring/relic/etc, what do you see most ppl do? quit/rmt. what else is there left to do? im going to constantly be changing my goals, but for the most part, i dont hate myself or anything. i just want to be a better man than i was yesterday.

I don't know, I'd have to agree with Zoo and everyone else, you don't look small/skinny... MAybe around the waist but that's a good thing I thought? I think if you're at the pinnacle of your body physique at the moment, then...that's awesome. Yes, as you have said, it takes time to continue to build bigger, and I doubt you need the drugs for that. Gains and losses come faster when you first start... and then... you wish you could start at the beginning again.

I don't think he meant low self-esteem as you need pretend you're all thug and cocky... Usually it's those cocky people with the low self-esteem. It's just... you say your standards are your own yet you still seem to care what others think. You're right, that guy was a douche and you shouldn't give a rat's ass what he thinks. However, I know you've told me you sometimes still have that mentality from before, and that's something you may still need to change, as it seems apparent it's lagging behind your physical changes. It takes time, but I think you can get there... This is a friend talking to another friend here. I know you say it's about overall health, so...is there a point in getting bigger? In getting too big? Are you hoping to start competing? Screw those haters. Your body may be where you generally want it to be, so now I think it's time to really focus on yourself.

****
@Hyan: No idea-- I hope someone addresses the issue for you.
@Gustave: Just remember sometimes you may not see results every couple of weeks...sometimes it takes longer, but don't get discouraged.

[Atreides]

Yeah Rich, for someone who just a few months ago didn't want to even take vitamins cuz they were too unnatural, steroids/HGH are a big leap.

Remember there is ALWAYS going to be someone bigger and stronger than you are. You've made a lot of progress, seems extremely silly to start trying to play catchup to people who are potentially doing things differently (and for different reasons) than you.

Just do what you've been doing, or start looking into bodybuilding plans on bb.com that will help you get stronger faster, but remember this stuff is supposed to take a while. Shortcuts are an easy way to get yourself hurt/burnt out/whatever.

[Meat]

i'm not gonna lie. i'm at that point where i feel like i cant get any more progression as far as size goes without some miracle supplements or hormones. i know it takes years, but its hard to take in. everything was going so fast and so steady. i lifted HEAVY for 2 months with pre/post-workout supplements. im almost at 17 inches on my arms and when i measured today, im still only at 16 3/4. its vexing, and not only that. but i went on the scale and i DROPPED 7 lbs. i've been eating like i was when i was a fatass, but with healthy organic foods. im eating fucking over 3k cals a day. i buy a can of peanut butter every week and 5 dozen eggs with misc meats, and i DROPPED lbs. lol.

im at a point where i guess i'm happy where i am. but im not that big lol. its frustrating to be stereotyped as a small/skinny guy in a gym full of people who dont know me on a personal lvl. im glad i got some good friends who dont judge me and help me regardless. but man.... like i said before. i'd be lying if i told you that i didnt think once or twice about taking it.

but.. im happy lol. i fit in with society. if ppl want to think of me as a "weakling" or skinnyboy or whatever, than who cares? my standards are my own lol

Spoiler: show

http://a.imageshack.us/img291/1980/photo1673.jpg

I know the feeling about being the smallest\weakest in your gym. if you're not bending the bar at my gym people scoff at you. I get embarrassed when the girl next to me is deadlifting what i do

But not for nothing you're a ways off from needing juice. I don't think you can properly judge where you really stand while carrying as much bodyfat as you(we) do. Lets be honest everything begins and starts at abs, so you need to be at least sub 10% before you can really evaluate yourself.

Not to mention there's more to muscle than size, there's density and "graininess" anyone that's ever eaten 8oz beef vs 8oz veal can tell you there's a distinct difference, that same difference applies to humans as well.

but yeah, test production slows down at 25, but not enough to matter till in your 30's.

[Weiing]

I know the feeling about being the smallest\weakest in your gym. if you're not bending the bar at my gym people scoff at you. I get embarrassed when the girl next to me is deadlifting what i do

But not for nothing you're a ways off from needing juice. I don't think you can properly judge where you really stand while carrying as much bodyfat as you(we) do. Lets be honest everything begins and starts at abs, so you need to be at least sub 10% before you can really evaluate yourself.

How exactly would you define getting to a point where you see abs? Where you see it well-defined ? Or when you see a general outline of the sides and middle, but not each muscle?

I know girls may be a bit different, but... I know I can probably lose some more fat but at the same time I fear I don't know how much fat I can lose without my body freaking out and stopping my menses. Right now, I'm more like the latter... you can see the general outline of the side and the middle but still got some flabbiness on my lower stomach. :\

[Osede]

if between 10~11% you should only able to see a general outline, but you can see it more clearly if you at certain distance away. Because my current body fat is about this range. But I found that getting below 10% is really hard


I think that I didn't focus much of my upper body training lately, which result my max bench keep becomes lower and lower. Used to be able to bench 135 without any difficulties, but I have difficulties on bench 135 for 10reps lately. Hopefully it is not because that I played table tennis for one and half hrs with other professors before come to workout.

[Meat]

How exactly would you define getting to a point where you see abs? Where you see it well-defined ? Or when you see a general outline of the sides and middle, but not each muscle?

I know girls may be a bit different, but... I know I can probably lose some more fat but at the same time I fear I don't know how much fat I can lose without my body freaking out and stopping my menses. Right now, I'm more like the latter... you can see the general outline of the side and the middle but still got some flabbiness on my lower stomach. :\

isnt the magic number 17-18% ish for women. you're probably not too far from that if you can see the outline

[Headspace]

I'm a skinny fuck and can't really get good definition on my abs lol :-\

[Diamicles]

How exactly would you define getting to a point where you see abs? Where you see it well-defined ? Or when you see a general outline of the sides and middle, but not each muscle?

I know girls may be a bit different, but... I know I can probably lose some more fat but at the same time I fear I don't know how much fat I can lose without my body freaking out and stopping my menses. Right now, I'm more like the latter... you can see the general outline of the side and the middle but still got some flabbiness on my lower stomach. :\

This website has a really nice table with percentages on it. For females, if you're getting below 10% you're pushing an unhealthy range.

if between 10~11% you should only able to see a general outline, but you can see it more clearly if you at certain distance away. Because my current body fat is about this range. But I found that getting below 10% is really hard

I just got my body fat checked last night and I'm just under 12%....so I feel your pain about getting below 10%. I'll probably rework my diet and up my regiment to 6 days a week to try and lean out more.

[Weiing]

Yeah. I've been wanting to get my body fat checked...still thinking about it. When I last researched, it was around $50 for the in-water one. I know it's probably inaccurate, but my scale says I'm around 20%. I generally use it to note trends... so I assume I'm probably 21-22...maybe even 24%? > _> Either way I should still be able to cut, it's just so hard to get over that mental hump of being a girl and knowing I need that fat.

I guess at this point, I'm at a healthy range and not competing so maybe I shouldn't fret? But I want to look better naked. :\

edit:
Nevermind....I'm stupid and should have read everything first. Actually reading the entire thing helped, thanks Diam. :D
Guess I just need to lose 3-5 more lbs =\

[Osede]

I just got my body fat checked last night and I'm just under 12%....so I feel your pain about getting below 10%. I'll probably rework my diet and up my regiment to 6 days a week to try and lean out more.

Actually, right now, I just only want to get ride of my side abs fat... they are too annoying lol. And I'm happy about 10~11%. Probably just need to bit alittle more less, with my waist reduce to about 28.5".


@weiing
did you try the caliper and measuring tape method? I was thinking to buy the electronic body fat measuring before. But after done a few research, most ppl seems not recommend it. So, I only use the caliper and measuring tape to estimate the body fat.

[Weiing]

@Osede
I've thought about measuring tape + caliper. Sure they're more accurate than electronic body fat measuring but...there's still a margin for error, though smaller than with an electronic one. I'm still thinking about doing the hydrostatic body fat testing. I almost also want to get my metabolic rate tested, but those cost money. :\

[Meat]

? But I want to look better naked. :\

if you need an honest impartial opinion, i'm here for you. i'm that nice of a guy