bodyweight.

[tomsammce]

i read in optis steroid post and have been reading alot around the forum as of late ppls obsession with bodyweight and dreaming of getting to body weights of 110,120 and now even 130kg...

im just wondering how you conclude to wanting to get to this bodyweight? if you even care about they way you'll look at this weight... (which most of us will look like absolute shit that heavy anyway)? your athletic performance and your health? being 120-130kg doesnt equal strong or a winning bodybuilders physique, in top level most likley yes. but those guys have been winning even when they weighed 2/3rds of that.

interested in ppls answers and mentalities around this.

[PeterDolan]

I don't get it either, forgetting sleep apnea and other serious ilnesses that come with being a big fat f*ck, your weight doesn't do much apart from getting you into a certain weight division

[crazyfacials]

pretty much what PD said...I know this from competing in the under 81kg div as it's always easier than the 81-95 or the open div.. (judo that is)

[HarryB]

It's just the old school mentality, guys would just set a target weight and go for it... in the hope that when they dieted down they would be bigger than last time. You change your bodies idea of what it can be in terms of weight. I remember being a huge fat bastard the first time I got to 100 but over time I have competed at that weight so I don't know if I would have been able to without that bulk up stage! Or many of them!

[PeterDolan]

You've still gotta try put on weight but you don't need to balloon for the sake of it

[Bobsta]

I have to say the bodyweight obsession annoys the hell out of me. Partly because I was there once myself. ofcorse my goal wasnt anywhere near 130kg but a measly 90!! For me that was plenty at the time given my starting weight of 63kg.

But this obsession made me forcefeed myself blindly thinking once I get to 90kg i will have the body I desired,i managed to go from 63kg to 90 in about 6months!!

However at 90 I still didnt look the way i wanted so the dumb ass that i was came to the genius conclusion that maybe i need to be 95kg to have "THEEE LOOK"

My wake up call came one day when i was travelling in the U.S for a couple of weeks and saw this guy at a gym that i went to have workout at, he looked huge to me... and had the muscular shape and the look that I've been wanting right from the start, roughly my height, I asked him how much he weighd and I never forget this, he said he was 176lbs, thats fucking 80kg's i thought no way....surely this guy gotta be 100plus to look like this!!!

Anyway to cut the long story short i thought to myself this is absolute bull shit, came back home and dieted my ass off and ended up at a tiny 73 kg, but ended up looking more like i wanted than when i was 90.

From then on i decided to not worry about what the scale said too much and make slow and steady gains as opposed to focus on a number as it had been proven to me that it didnt mean shit in most cases. The muscles can only grow at a certain rate and by focusing on a number sure you might get there fast but it aint always gonna be pretty.

Other than being fat one of the reasons why body weight normaly doesnt mean jack, bone structure also plays a role, you can be lean and still body weight is not a great indicator of where you're at, you can be 90kg on a 60kg frame or 90 on a 80kg frame, the former will always look bigger than the latter, at least on stage anyway as it would have to carry a hell of lot more muscle to be at that weight...

[Grover]

:nod:

have to agree with Bobsta, look at soundsgood and Android as an example, look great at what they are but are pruning down.

Opti went from 128 to 90 something for comp.

As a "fat f*ck" at 120 I don't look anything like them

Hence the desire to get ripped rather than weighted!

[HarryB]

well you don't want to get sumo style fat lol but a little won't hurt you!

[michaelk]

well you don't want to get sumo style fat lol but a little won't hurt you!

don't tell all the secrets H, keep trim boys....7.5% all year round will make you massive, plenty o cardio, and definately no burgers or dairy

;-)

[HarryB]

lol and compete in the same division every year and always look great at the beach! lol

[Maximus]

I think that you have a natural bodyweight that feels good and athletic to you and if you mess with this you can feel the results. For example, I'm 86kg, 6 feet 2 inches with a 12.5% body fat. I have gone up to 93kg before with a 14% body fat by lifting heavy, supping with creatine and training like a monster. I had a really stressful time, got sick and stopped training for a month and lost all my gains as a result. Pointless. My body simply could not sustain it.

If you put on some serious size then this does not bode well with your body chemistry. Nothing wrong with being big and strong, you just have to be smart about it as well.

[tinytraps]

For me its a personal thing. I was the skinny kid at college walking around between 67 and 70kgs :roll: The biggest I got was 77 when I was playing league but that dropped back down pretty quick. When I hit the gym seriously, all I wanted to do was be as big as I possibly could be. at that time I was working out at genetics home of some top powerlifters, these guys were the biggest in the gym and the strongest too and they told me if I wanted to get strong I needed to get bigger. So by the end of my journey I got pretty close to 125kgs at just under 6ft, a big fat tub of lard that had little strength to back it up ( shirted bench 170 at the peak). Big aint strong only strong is strong, the added weight should of been a by product of being stronger, it shouldnt of been getting stronger as a by product of being bigger. Now that Im sitting at 105-107 I still feel small and have the need to get bigger. However im going about it smart now eating clean foods and not resorting to the kfc maccas binges to get every extra kilo I can.

[Android]

Weight and size goals are the norm for (competitive) bodybuilders, together.

Weight is a coarse-grained measurement for goal-setting your growth.

A fine-grained measurement is then comparing individual muscle groups with each other and targeting muscles for a portion of that growth.

(For competitive bodybuilding) it can't be just about the scales or you are leaving your symmetry to chance/ genetics. There has to be some thought that goes into targeting weaker areas and these are not "weight-based" goals at all.

Even if I want to gain 5kg I have it in my head where I want most of that to go and train accordingly. Ever since day one in the gym.

RE: large weight equals strain on the body

True.

Experience has taught me that every time I hit a maximum weight I get tired walking up slight hills or stairs more easily and start getting acid reflux too from constant eating until late at night, and snoring alot (apparently...I don't believe it).

Then if I can stay at that size for a while or drop back, the next time that size is reached it's not so bad, and if I again reach a maximum weight it comes back again.

So I got these symptoms at 99kg 2 years ago, but now never see them below 115kg.

The body just adjusts. It has to be equipped with some degree of flexibility to allow you to grow from an infant into an adult.

[Dubble_D]

I have never looked at gaining weight as my target. Starting at 96kg at the age of 15/16 I have always tried to go down not up. (I was a fat f*ck :oops: )

Different mentalities for different people starting at different weights (fat vs skinny).

I don't know, :shrug: can't even get my own head around it.

[Ronin]

I'm with Dubble D on this one. Having been over 100kg in the past (about 110 :shock: ) I'm in no hurry to return to it (I'm 5'7). Even now when I'm supposedly "bulking" I find that when I get on the scales I still have this dread in the back of my mind that the number is going to be higher than last time. Despite the fact that I've increased my intake, and the added carbs and creatine will mean increased water, and the fact that I'm meant to be trying to get bigger, I still mentally cross my fingers and pray to not see a weight increase.

Maybe I'm just a fucked unit, but the legacy of my fat-bastard days appears to be a pathological fear of gaining weight, even when I know it's "good weight".

[Dubble_D]

I'm with Dubble D on this one. Having been over 100kg in the past (about 110 :shock: ) I'm in no hurry to return to it (I'm 5'7). Even now when I'm supposedly "bulking" I find that when I get on the scales I still have this dread in the back of my mind that the number is going to be higher than last time. Despite the fact that I've increased my intake, and the added carbs and creatine will mean increased water, and the fact that I'm meant to be trying to get bigger, I still mentally cross my fingers and pray to not see a weight increase.

Maybe I'm just a fucked unit, but the legacy of my fat-bastard days appears to be a pathological fear of gaining weight, even when I know it's "good weight".

Thanks Ronin! :nod:

Couldn't have said it better.

[HarryB]

Well I have always found that some weight on in between shows was always a good thing, my strength would climb correspondingly and it would help me keep my strength up while I was having a break from my supplements. These days I actually prefer being bigger. I mean love being lean but prefer how I feel when I have just a few abs and about 10 - 15 kilos over comp weight. I just feel strong, joints don't hurt and I like how I look at that weight.

I guess because I never actually get sumo fat even when I have hit the mid 120s.. and I am only 5'7 too it's never really bothered me that much, plus I know I can get into shape.

[steak]

The increase in bodyweight has helped me no-end in my sport (PL) At 6'3" (about 20%BF) and now 140kg my chest and back has filled out with a corresponding increase in bench press. The legs are thicker (quads -cold are 70cm) and the squats have improved during the past 6 months because of it. I generally have more power and feel pretty fit for the most part although long distance I would be an easy take down I have no trouble lugging a 200kg sled up and down the drive though and for my goals this style of "cardio fitness" is about all Im interested in.

I prefer to be in the SHW class as a master lifter and maintaining at this weight - 135-140kg, is managable so far as the food intake goes. If I wanted to lean out to 120-125kg it would take a bit of work and Id probably look OK with the mass I have...it might mean a few curls though

The other way to go is up in weight but that would mean stepping up the food and with current maintainence calories at about 5000+ if I was going to do that it would have to be during winter to make it easier to get the kai down.....or go to dirtier food and the consequences of that are not too pleasant.

Like Harry I enjoy the weight and with the style of training Im doing its easier on the joints and the extra calories ensure pretty good recovery times.

[ThePman]

When I started working out right after high school, I was skinny. Not that I'm huge now, but I was the same height and walking around at 125-130 lbs (that's 56-59kg for the locals) when I was 18.

I don't remember focusing so much on my weight until I managed to force-feed myself up to around 200 lbs. After that, I think I got caught up in the head games and that's when the numbers started talking to me.

This was a time when I was reading into a lot of the culture that had built up around US powerlifting, which basically said "shoot more test, eat more pizza". Get big, get fat, get strong, and who cares if you turn into a slob?

I got on that bandwagon pretty hard for a few years. For some reason I got 220 lbs stuck in my head, which on my bony frame is pretty beefy. I managed to get there. I couldn't get off the couch without breathing hard, but I did it. I didn't realize how fat I'd gotten, though looking back at pics I'm pretty surprised. The drive to Get Big (GFH they were calling it back then) pushed me into some pretty stupid decisions.

Looking back on it, I don't think it was wasted time or anything like that, but I wouldn't do it again, and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone else. I try to be a little more balanced these days. Being 10kg heavier and lifting 10% more weight isn't worth it if you're a walking coronary and can't do anything besides squat.

[Shutupandsquat]

FAT IS STROOOONG! jooookes

I have goals to hit, but you know, there's other factors such as fat and water retention. I'll be pretty stoked when I break 70kg (at 17 and 5 foot 2, it's hard) but hey, as long as I'm making gains nonetheless, it doesn't matter.

[justhell]

"BIG IS GOOD"

[aidangro]

im 103 at 5 '11 coming down from 112 can't wait to be 95 again!!! :nod: not keen on the weight obsession at all aye.

[drizzt]

I'm a bit like Ronin in that coming from a bit of a yo-yo kinda weight background, I'm always wary of the scales showing I'm getting heavier.

Lately I've started to differentiate between when the weight going on is good or bad though, whereas in the past anything that made the scales go up was bad. All a part of learning more about how what I eat affects my body composition.

[teamfatboy]

and a voice from the ranks of the Oompa-loompas spoke...

Great thread :clap: - coming from the POV of someone working hard to shed the lard, I've got three separate issues working..

a) what is the "right weight".... dunno, never ever seen it before so not a clue where to aim;

b) how much muscle do I need to look the way I want to look - again, dunno, still working on it, but so far all I know is "more is good"; and

c) what do i want to look like - ironically, I'd always had as a goal something more like the athletic/ classic class, but based on four-site Durnin & Womersley, my lean muscle's already too much for that class, even under the lard...

So I've got the opposite problem to Tom, I'm not about getting huge.... but the matter of picking a goal weight is just as difficult from this side of the hill :doh:

[Optimass]

Good thread Tom. Harry is right in it being an old school mentality. This is how we would benchmark our bulking phases back then - Because my training wasn't exclusively driven by the need to compete back then, and as a result I wouldn't mind putting a bit of fat on as long as my strength responded in the same way. (Fully on the same page as Steak).

My infatuation with bulk is not guided by wanting to compete, (this changed after my last show). My direction in training has been leveraged between - body image / overall size / weight / strength / fitness. (fitness :nod: ). My body image is still skewed but I can keep it in check more easily these days. When you look in the mirror at 130kg and think it average and you should aim for a bit more – there is something not completely right.

When you're gaining weight you're gaining muscle and of course fat. At the peak of my first 130kg bulk I remember going to my mates gf 21st and the reactions I got from people. (Looked pretty impressive in a shirt). Taller guys can carry it a bit better. We walked to the party that day approx 2km > I remember stopping at the top of the hill I lived on and having to sit down. – so not healthy (but fucken strong).

Fortunately, each time I have bulked out to 130kg, I have been leaner - had more shape - this is my benchmark. … It’s what I look like at 130kg – not what I look like lean as many “normal” brained people do – many of you have mentioned this already. (rem: my body image is skewed)

I’ll admit it hasn't resulted in more strength as such. But then not many guys comfortably rep 200kg after pre-exhausting chest and then go on to complete 4-5 other exercises. HP will vouch for this – (a display like this is great for selling PT sessions) . As Tom has pointed out … 120 – 130kg doesn’t = strong, but in my experience it does - and its probably got a lot to do with my height.

The 130kg mark now is more a peak for me - a bulking routine / a co-ordinate if you get my meaning.

120kg on a smaller bone structure is certainly going to have a higher fat% than on a 6’3 frame. I find that I am strongest cutting back down to 110-112kg (approx 12% bfat) - even on keto. (I look very mesomorph at this weight). This is an optimal body ft % for anyone to gin muscle and perform at optimal strength.

If I use Bobsta’s example: He went from 63kg to 90 in 6 months. This is a 42% increase. My bulk this time around from 110kg to 130kg will only be an 18% increase. Proportionally my weight gain is substantially less – but physically, because I carry 20kg more evenly due to my size it may look a lot bigger.

Another thing I do differently to a lot of big guys is cardio - if you scan through my journal you’ll see I run. How many guys do you see @ 120kg that can run at a comfortable pace for an hour on a treadmill? How many body builders run period for fear of trauma causing muscle loss? (in 16 years I have put on 17kg of actual muscle – that’s not bad really).

Fitness is critical for me as my metabolism is genetically slow – but my appetite is significant compared to most normal people. During a bulking phase I can easily eat over $300 of solid food per week. (That’s without including protein powder and creatine).