CarlitosWay said:
lol get BIG...I for one don't want to look back when I'm 40-50 years old and say "damn why didn't I just get big as **** just too feel what it's like?" Aim to stand out in a crowd don't do it for anyone but yourself. Yet these are my goals
...My career/education/family is first and training/geting big is second. You know what? I love that combo.
I agree with your priorities... Maybe our goals are different based on age/life experience? I'm older than you, and have probably been training longer than you. For the past 3-4 years I've had to "stand out from the crowd" as no one wants to see an average dude off the street take his clothes off! Generally speaking I aim to be in the top 5-10% of male physiques... I'm 5'8" - 180, but most people think I'm 190+... I have fairly good genetics, in that I have a small waist, but long clavicles, and a wide shoulder girdle. I naturally have a very accentuated V-taper. I think my bone structure naturally makes me look more muscular than I am. Even when I was quite lean at 165, people thought I was 180-190. Its a PAIN IN THE ASS to buy clothes that actually fit right. Anytime I get a dress shirt, I have to buy the athletic cut and spend an extra $20 to get it tailored to fit my weird measurements. Don't even get me started to t-shirts! Thank god I get free scrubs at work!
Through out my stripping career I've done hundreds of shows/stagettes and made at least 50k-60k cash just for taking my clothes off for a bunch of screaming girls. If that's not a sweet deal I dunno what is! The biggest challenge for me was to try and stay lean, especially because I was going to school or working full time on top of stripping. Girls don't care too much about a dancer being huge as much as they do about proportion/general aesthetics, being lean, and performing well.
I never really tried to "get big" as I was already a good size (for stripping anyways) and had to focus on staying relatively lean. Plus I hated the bloated feeling of taking in 4000+ calories everyday and walking around feeling pregnant! I lift heavy cuz quite frankly, I'm addicted to it. I feel shiitty, weird, and irritable when I take more than a week off the gym or dont' lift w/ sufficient intensity. I don't think I've taken more than 2 weeks off in the last 11 years of training. For me Frank Zane represents the ideal male physique for someone my height. I think he was 5'9" and 190-200 lbs. If I was training purely for aesthetics, I'd strive to look like him.
My gf always bugs me to wear tank tops in the summer so she can "show me off" <-- her words not mine! I don't really like the attention I get when I wear tank tops anymore... I used to love the attention when I was younger, but not so much in my old age. I've had women approach me on the street, guys compliment me, etc etc... it feels good to get the attention, but I don't love it like I used to. Maybe its because I'm getting older, and have "been there/done that"? Not really sure.
I don't know about you, but I plan to be big AND strong when I'm in my 40s-50s! Barring death, serious injury/illness, I'm gonna keep on lifting heavier and continue to get bigger. Many top bodybuilders/power athletes are in their 40s and are the biggest and strongest they've ever been! I for one look forward to what I can accomplish in my 40s and beyond when it comes to throwing around heavy shiiite!
Jake on of the most important things you can do before starting to seriously get into fitness, is to figure out your core reasons as to WHY you wanna get started. This will really help to focus you mentally on achieving your goals.
