I thought it’d be worthwhile to take a photo from December 2012 and put it side-by-side with a photo taken this month (December 2013).
If you’ll remember from a previous post, I am a raw foodist. I was also slowed down for a couple of months by an ankle fracture which required two surgical interventions. And yet, this was my progress. I’m satisfied with it.
I plan to grow even more. There are certain measurements I want to reach. I am so glad I started bodybuilding again.
Here’s a triptych where I included a shot taken in March of this year.
I’d like to show you a marathon 8-hour arm workout that is not for the weak of heart (or body). This is for the dedicated few that really want to go the extra mile in order to grow. If you think that this is too grueling, too taxing, or that it can’t be done without steroids, then do not do it. For those of you that do end up doing it, be prepared to stop when your body tells you it can’t go on. Listen to your body! It’s one thing to push through a plateau or to go on when you’re tired, and it’s quite another to tear a muscle or a ligament in a misguided search for vain glory at the gym.
We all reach certain stages in our workout routines when we need to shock the body and this workout will definitely do the trick — if you can get through it, and most people can’t. I couldn’t. I tried it and got through five hours of it before I had to call it quits.
You’ll understand it best once it’s explained to you in this video featuring Rich Piana. Don’t be fooled by his tattoos and intimidating demeanor, he’s a nice guy who’s been publishing all sorts of informative bodybuilding videos. Sadly, he’s also passed away recently, possibly due to his overuse of steroids. At least he was open about his usage, unlike most other pro bodybuilders.
Following the instructions in the video, I made an infographic, a guide to help you out. Just print it and you’ll be set.
This past weekend, I recorded portions of a chest and back workout I did. It marked an important point in my plan to add muscle mass. During the past month, I’ve started to feel the pump during my workouts. A pump, for those who are uninitiated, is a feeling of well-being, of swollen muscles that occurs during your workout. It’s a great motivator and it helps with the pain one normally feels during the sets. You don’t get a pump unless theres a certain amount of muscle mass on your body. In other words, you could be working out for years and still not get a pump unless your muscle mass grows to a certain point where every time you work out, you start to feel your muscles grip your bones like armor plating. It’s pretty nice. Getting the pump is a mile marker, it means you’re well on your way. So it’s good.
I got asked this question recently and answered it with a video. Here it is:
There are two main things you can do:
Eat like a horse
Work out like a horse
There are more things involved, such as getting enough sleep and focusing on big, whole body exercises such as the deadlift, the squat, the clean and press and other similar exercises, but those two things, if put in practice with determination and with the clear goal in mind of getting big, will take you from a skinny ectomorph of 135 lbs. to a muscular, strong 195 lbs. See the diptych below. On the left is what I looked like when I started college and on the right is what I looked like when I graduated.
There is one more thing I must mention: there is a price to pay for this and it’s also big. Huge. You will inevitably get gas from all the protein-rich foods you have to eat frequently during the day. It’s not a toot here and there. Exactly when you make most of your gains in mass, you have to prepare for flat-out flatulence, all day long and all night long. It gets nasty. The odor is unbearable. Intolerable. It’s not like I was gulping down cheap buckets of mass gainers. I was eating healthy foods from the cafeteria at one of the top liberal arts colleges in the US. Between meals, I was drinking quality whey shakes and supplementing with cans of tuna. But it was very, very unpleasant. I loved working out, I loved getting big, I loved the way I looked and felt but boy, did I hate the farts… I messed up my gut for a number of years and I’m still not sure if my gut is fully recovered these days. I wonder if I did something wrong with my diet back then and if I were to do it again, I’d focus on gaining weight more moderately and more slowly and definitely eating less, even if it meant the progress would be much more gradual. Food for thought…
Here’s one of my chest workouts, captured on video by Ligia recently. I warmed up with standing cable flyes, followed by the workout, which consisted of incline dumbbell presses, dips, machine chest presses, lying cable flies and incline dumbbell flyes.
I talked about each exercise in various detail, giving advice gleaned from my experience. At the end of the video, I extended an invitation for bodybuilding-related questions. I’ve got about nine years of intensive experience in the gym, on both animal and vegan diets, and I’ve learned what works and what doesn’t along the way. If you’ve got some questions, I may have the answers.
Raoul Pop 