I see commercials/infomercials all the time on TV for bowflex,perfect pushup, perfect pull up, power bells, the shake weight thing, the ab swivel thing, etc etc etc. In all these commercials, and all the guys are super jacked. Huge arms, huge abs, low body fat, etc. When I saw these commercials forever, I knew that they obv didn't get to looking like that from whatever product they were promoting. But then i realized something a few weeks ago (duh)

What % of these guys are on steroids? All of them? I realized it's pretty hard to be that big with that low body fat. What about the girls? Probably not very many?

Almost all of them. If you were trying to make a living by being muscular, wouldn't you?

Totally uninformed opinion is that there would be very, very few male fitness modles that aren't joocing.

Couldn't tell you about the chicks, because I am always mesmorized by the guys 6-packs and guns... wait... wat?

Yes, I probably would. I guess I was a little sad when I realized it because I always thought, 'well you can't look like that if swing on a circle for 3 minutes a day, but maybe if you got on a good diet, exercise program....'

No? They're juicing? Oh...

nearing 100% imo. it could be achieved natural sometimes, but it's a stretch because it'd entail 10+ years work.

Yeah. Almost all of them are juicing to some degree. They're also carrying dangerously low levels of bodyfat and probably do some insane cutting prior to the shoot. It is still impressive.

Well I mean it's sort of a double juke to a weak fatty with no knowledge of anything health or fitness related. Like me. One day you wake up and feel like it's time to get in shape. But you don't know where to start. First you see these informercials on TV. You order them and do them, but along the way you learn that you can't look like those guys doing these things. So then you get on a real program and diet. And then you realize you won't look like them doing real stuff either. Edit: but you will look and feel a lot better, which is what matters anyway

Anyone ever take the 5 hour energy stuff? I've taken it a few times a long time ago, I think it was alright, I have some friends that swear by it. Anything bad in it I should watch out for? Besides sucralose? (bad flavor anyway)

Meh. ClearShot is better than 5 Hour Energy. Caffeine pills work just fine, too.

JohnnyFondue, i'm glad you're asking all these questions a lot of them i've also been interested in the answers.

Goal setting for next year. Any guides on how much i can expect to increase? I'm still a rank novices with:

Dead: 90 x 5
Squat: 65 x 5
Bench: 60 x 5
Press: 35 x 5

in kg.

Going 3x week for 46 weeks. Exhausting SS then trainer wants me to move on to 5 3 1. What would be some reasonable goals that i should attain if did that? I guess it's massively variable, but ballpark figures would be nice!

Many thanks.

i thought 531 was also a novice programme. am i mistaken?

you will be able to increase a ****load. depends how fat you are prepared to get as to reasonable goals though.

how much do you weigh and how much are you willing to weigh in a year?

46 weeks?

5/3/1 is something to try for late intermediates or when weekly periodization stops working. how can it be a novice program when you only add weight to your lifts every 5th week?

started at 171 ~12 weeks ago. now at 182lb. i'm 6ft. i'm to vain to get v fat.

i might be mistaken but i thought i read a Jim Wendler quote on t nation saying he sees great progress no matter what level of trainer takes it. that could be a nothing statement since beginners will see progression from opening and shutting doors but i imagine he's thought if it would be good for beginners before saying that?

novice = workout to workout progress

obviously the guy isn't going to say beginners shouldn't use his program. the number of novices vs. intermediates+ in the world is staggering, and any book makes its money from that group. that doesn't mean it's a novice program (or that it won't work for novices).

ok so it would be a bad choice to go on this program after exhausting SS? i'd love to blindly follow the routine given by my gym but there's a fair amount of conflicting ideas from there compared to here.

re: goals. to get to intermediate club on 4 lifts at the 198lb weight so 16lb more than i am, i'd need these increases:

d: 135lb
s: 142lb
b: 81lb
p: 69lb.

possible? good goal to aim for?

if you need long term goals for some reason, those are decent numbers to use.

exhausting SS at least means novice programming won't work. usually you just skip to something that has you progressing weekly. the texas method does this. ppst has a few other routines (split routine, starr model) that you could try. i'm not saying using 5/3/1 at this point would be awful, my point was that it's definitely not a novice program like tmcdmck said earlier.

You guys ever hear of blood doping? I just heard about it for the first time tonight. Anyone have any 1st hand experience with it or know someone who has done it?

I imagine it would work better for endurance type sports, but I'm not really sure.

In the Nordic sports like cross-country skiing, blood doping in all its variants is all the rage and has been for the last 20ish years.

Btw dude, you obviously know it's still possible to look very good without juicing right? I.e. muscular and with a decently low body fat? Just checking...

Does this mean you plan to do SS for 46 weeks then switch to a new program? Setting an arbitrary schedule is pointless, just do SS until it stops working then switch to Texas Method or whatever else you fancy.

Ok I mentioned this in my log, just gotta ask.


I have ridiculously small hands, will this matter much/at all for my bench (which sucks)?

i don't see why it would matter much.

and kitaristi0, yeah that's what i was trying to figure out when i asked "46 weeks?"

that's how long he has been going imo.

don't think so.