Jacked but not very strong

P

Pugilistic

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This might be a stupid thread, but I'm just curious about this. I see some super jacked guys (they're all PTs employed at the gym and compete in bodybuilding) at my gym who don't seem that strong. Some of these guys are massive and shredded but when I see them lifting, they always seem to be lifting pretty lightly. Even when they go heavy, it's not that much more than what I do, and I'm pretty small and relatively new at lifting weights. Considering how much bigger than me they are, I would expect them be putting up massive numbers but it's that's not the case. Most of the time these guys are lifting extremely light weight for countless reps. It's very little intensity and all volume with these guys.

It's not just my gym but it seems like how the fitness community in this country is. My friends say it's the same at their gyms. They don't see guys do anything heavy. A skinny guy I know who just started doing 5x5 says he sees these huge jacked guys lifting weights not that much heavier than him. It's the same if you look up fitness guys on instagram here. Guys with massive, shredded legs half-squatting weights that I can lift.
Compared that to all the people from the US I see on instagram who lift huge numbers.

My friend and I ponder how it's possible to get as jacked as some of these guys are without lifting heavy at least a little bit? I know that being jacked doesn't equate to being strong or vice versa, but I thought you would need to have some level of intensity in order to induce hypertrophy. I don't know how these guys are developing massive shoulders by doing 2kg lateral raises a million times. I don't know much about bodybuilding so I may be missing something entirely. Maybe these guys are all really strong I just haven't seen them lift heavy. Or it's roids.
 
It's roids.

You see, I recently saw some numbers. Like 20% of gym goers are doping. 7% of under 18s are juicing. 10% of the whole populace (the numbers are all via questionnaires so they don't fit together). And that's Germany, I guess in the US and with the current self-improvement bullshit, there are many more juicers.

Or they do volume training with light weights to pump themselves up, which means they could lift more, but don't. Look up Serge Nubret, the guy never benched more than 220 in training iirc. However, volume training is dead like disco music, so I still go with roids.

https://correctiv.org/aktuelles/fussballdoping/2017/06/07/jeder-neunte-dopt
https://www.aerzteblatt.de/archiv/56243/Doping-im-Breitensport-Anabolika-per-Mausklick

Links are in German, use google translate if you're interested.
 
Do not believe their shitty mind muscle connection or so much time under tension. Natties need to go big or else have no result over time. Ofcourse with good form. Squat, Bench and deadlift should be the main lifts.
 
Listen here. I'm trying to get hot enough to stick my thumb in girls booty holes, not be the best at picking shit up.
 
There's a big difference between load and tension. You don't need much load to produce enough tension to stimulate muscle growth. You can pick your favourite PT and listen to them instead of me.



 
There are studies out there that show training to failure with high reps (30+) with loads at 40% of 1 rep max can elicit the same muscle hypertrophy as traditional (70% to 85% of 1 rep max) training in the 6 to 12 rep range.

The main difference is that the high reps do not have as much strength benefits, so you can get big without getting strong.

There is also a study where they showed that steroids without any resistance training, induced more muscle growth than resistance training without steroids. So guys (and girls) on gear can get very big without needing to get correspondingly strong.
 
Interesting stuff guys. I didn't know intensity wasn't a necessity. I know high level bodybuilders like Coleman and Arnold had pretty high numbers for their max lifts so I thought it's something you had to do in order to get jacked.

Roids are probably a factor too. I read an article about how my country (Korea) is ranked one of the highest for roid use in the bodybuilding community along with the US and a couple others. People I know with PTs have told me their PTs encourage to them to use a bunch of "supplements." There is no stigma of using roids unlike in the US as well so people seem to talk about it like it's "medicine."
 
Pugilistic said:
Interesting stuff guys. I didn't know intensity wasn't a necessity. I know high level bodybuilders like Coleman and Arnold had pretty high numbers for their max lifts so I thought it's something you had to do in order to get jacked.

Roids are probably a factor too. I read an article about how my country (Korea) is ranked one of the highest for roid use in the bodybuilding community along with the US and a couple others. People I know with PTs have told me their PTs encourage to them to use a bunch of "supplements." There is no stigma of using roids unlike in the US as well so people seem to talk about it like it's "medicine."
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Its definitely roiders youre seeing. Just to give you an example i have 5 friends who lift seriously. Only 2 of them hang out together but they all know me. Outta that 5, 3 of them use roids.

So if you take those 5 and I, thats half that use roids.

Im not saying its going to be half of a big population but i will say youd be surprised how much roids get passed around.

They still put in the work but in a different way then us natties.

Its amazing though how casuals who dont even go to the gym think all these guys are natural. Like when im with one of my friends who do roids, hes 200 lbs at 9% bodyfat at 5’9”. We’ll hang out at the bar and ill be told i should workout with him while he gets all the attention for his jackness. Im like you motherfukkas i dont need to work out with him i just gotta hop on a cycle you idjiots.
 
hearthstone25 said:
Its definitely roiders youre seeing. Just to give you an example i have 5 friends who lift seriously. Only 2 of them hang out together but they all know me. Outta that 5, 3 of them use roids.

So if you take those 5 and I, thats half that use roids.

Im not saying its going to be half of a big population but i will say youd be surprised how much roids get passed around.

They still put in the work but in a different way then us natties.

Its amazing though how casuals who dont even go to the gym think all these guys are natural. Like when im with one of my friends who do roids, hes 200 lbs at 9% bodyfat at 5’9”. We’ll hang out at the bar and ill be told i should workout with him while he gets all the attention for his jackness. Im like you motherfukkas i dont need to work out with him i just gotta hop on a cycle you idjiots.
Click to expand...

After hearing stories about how PTs try to push roids on clients and how I see sometimes incredibly fast transformations, I'm pretty certain these guys are roiding. I actually occasionally get asked if I use roids which is funny to me because I don't think I'm jacked but I guess to the average guy I'm built like a tank.

Either way, I might try a block of doing tons of volume to see if I look any different. The hypertrophy gains probably won't hurt my strength in the long run.
 
Without having a conversation with these guys you're referring to I would estimate that their goal might be hypertrophy with strict form, and ROM. I see guys that lift huge but have crap form. These guys usually don't look very aesthetic. If your goal is a physique competition you want to "lift to sculp" not necessarily for strength gains.

Also, lifting heavy brings with it an increased chance of injury, especially with crap form.

I would never go out of my way to try one of those big roid looking dudes you see in the gym. I don't care how light I think they're lifting lol.
 
FightGuyOpenMind said:
I would never go out of my way to try one of those big roid looking dudes you see in the gym. I don't care how light I think they're lifting lol.
Click to expand...

Well I wouldn't go out of my to try anybody because that would be weird.
 
https://breakingmuscle.com/fitness/the-benefit-of-increasing-training-volume-for-hypertrophy

When increased hypertrophy is the goal, that means the focus of progressive overload should be on increasing training volume over time.

While training for hypertrophy has both an intensity (as % of 1 rep max) and volume component, it appears that volume is the more important variable. Research shows that you can gain muscle across a wide spectrum of intensities. As such, lifting super heavy isn’t required to build muscle. In fact, it might be counter-productive because it limits total training volume. A clear dose-response relationship between volume and hypertrophy has been established. In fact, assuming that an intensity threshold of >60% of 1 rep max is met, it appears that volume is the key determinant of success when it comes to gaining muscle mass.
...
Also, roids.
 
Some ignorant posts here. The reason why a majority of white belt level gym rats use ped’s is a combination of impatience, laziness, and misinformation. They want it all and want it now. I’ll bet a good lot of them are stronger than they think/display. Even a “mild” dose of 400mg per week of testosterone works fast.
 
FightGuyOpenMind said:
Without having a conversation with these guys you're referring to I would estimate that their goal might be hypertrophy with strict form, and ROM. I see guys that lift huge but have crap form. These guys usually don't look very aesthetic. If your goal is a physique competition you want to "lift to sculp" not necessarily for strength gains.

Also, lifting heavy brings with it an increased chance of injury, especially with crap form.

I would never go out of my way to try one of those big roid looking dudes you see in the gym. I don't care how light I think they're lifting lol.
Click to expand...
I used to do heavy deadlifts all the time. After hurting myself badly, I stop giving a damn, since mixed martial arts is mostly technique and cardio. Now I only just go to a weight lifting gym to sculpt my body or do intense cardio.
 
If on juice, then you can grow if you fatigue the muscle and have plenty of calories/protein.

A natural lifter needs heavy compound movements, rather than isolation movements.

You can usually tell if a lifter can lift heavy by the density of their muscle. A lot of guys juicing just blow up by pumping the muscle and feeding it.
 
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