The Getbig experiment. Training photo at 69.

[Vince B]

Let's talk injuries. If you tear a muscle you know it immediately and you stop doing what you are doing. It is usually a sharp pain. You have to cease training that part for a couple of weeks at least. If you do a major tear then the healing will be longer and you will see a deformed muscle. This can happen to the pecs and biceps. Some guys have torn triceps or muscles in their backs as well.

Then you have the little niggling pains. These can persist until it is painful to do an exercise. You can get sore in the deltoids so that doing bench presses hurts. Eventually you can't do heavy benches any more. There is no noticeable pain as long as you don't bench heavy. This can occur over decades.

Then there are hidden pains. These appear for no good reason. For example, you can have a long layoff but when you resume you might feel that something hurts when you do an exercise. That happens to me now with pulldowns. It used to be an exercise I could do with no worries at all. Now I get some pain in the shoulder area and it makes it unpleasant to continue and definitely gets worse if I go heavy. Exactly what is happening in the joints is a mystery.

So all you experts out there beware when you get older. Your body starts to fall apart. The muscles are capable of rapid hypertrophy but the connective tissue is easily damaged and somethings won't heal properly or at all. If you go heavy the injuries present and you have to scale back your training and do more reps with lighter weights. With triceps it is possible to train with tender elbows if you thoroughly warm up with several sets of high reps. 40 or 50 reps. The swollen tissue masks the pain and allows you to progress and use heavier weights. If you go real heavy and do less than 10 reps you can get minor tears. Just one of those things. It sure is frustrating. Perhaps all the injuries over the years makes some of our joints weaker so they give way in old age? Injuries can happen from doing various sports such as throwing. Bodybuilding is usually safe. Powerlifting is not safe. Eventually you will tear something. Deadlifts are a curse. I tore a biceps doing that stupid exercise. They have absolutely no place in a bodybuilding program.

[wes]

10 sets of 10 with 30-45 seconds rest between sets.

The first few sets will be easy,but much harder as you go on to the latter sets.

This way you can avoid going so heavy and spare yourself some pain.

I know your dogmatic about your own theories,but there are more ways than one to skin a cat.

[a_pupil]

Genuine advice for big man Basille:

Take 1 shot of 250 mg test enanthate weekly/bi weekly
1-2 hours of cardio 5-6 days per week
Diet
High rep/low weight resistance training

Your like one of my fat friends. He always argues when I tell him to do cardio and diet by claiming to have a better physique because his arms take up more size in clothes. Neglecting the fact that he is a fat blob with tits bigger than his wife's 

You can't flex fat my friend

[Vince B]

Listen to some of you guys. You aren't bodybuilders if you talk like that. I see heaps of little guys who have no clue about how to get big. They fear losing their condition so remain little guys. No way that is bodybuilding. You have to do something right for a long time to get big muscles.

The amusing thing is no one here gives a damn about my looks or health. All people are doing is revealing what they value and believe. These people fail to comprehend the search is for effective hypertrophy training, not impressing people who think big muscles are weird.

10 sets of 10 is okay but no way you can do those sets that quickly. You would have to drop weight and that is counterproductive to maximum hypertrophy. You can't get really big using light weights.

[Mawse]

You already got 'really big' Vince... at least around the middle and the turkey-gobbler.

perhaps at 73 it's time to drop both the safety fat and the insane ideas about having to train to failure with heavy weights.

[Vince B]

One thing is certain. Getbig has an endless supply of dickheads, know-it-alls, and assholes who know bugger all about hypertrophy training.

[wes]

Listen to some of you guys. You aren't bodybuilders if you talk like that. I see heaps of little guys who have no clue about how to get big. They fear losing their condition so remain little guys. No way that is bodybuilding. You have to do something right for a long time to get big muscles.

The amusing thing is no one here gives a damn about my looks or health. All people are doing is revealing what they value and believe. These people fail to comprehend the search is for effective hypertrophy training, not impressing people who think big muscles are weird.

10 sets of 10 is okay but no way you can do those sets that quickly. You would have to drop weight and that is counterproductive to maximum hypertrophy. You can't get really big using light weights.

Vince,doing the 10X10,the weight feels heavy as the sets progress.........(I realize that you are aware of this)....the point is,if it feels heavy,then it is heavy.

Your arms don`t have eyeballs,they have no clue about a couple of numbers painted onto the sides of a plate or dumbbell..........only your mind knows the numbers.

I was only trying to point out that even if you gave 10X10 a shot,you`d lose no size even if you gained none in the process,and it would be a helluva` lot easier on your joints.

I know I`m not huge,but I`m in damn good shape for a guy over 50 or for any age for that matter.

I gave up trying to be huge years ago when I realized it just wasn`t in my genetic make up.

As we age,we should be thinking about looking good,staying somewhat lean,and retaining our health.

[bike nut]

One thing is certain. Getbig has an endless supply of dickheads, know-it-alls, and assholes who know bugger all about hypertrophy training.

Would take one to know one.....

Imbecilic blowhard.  

[dj181]

You can't get really big using light weights.

FACT

[a_pupil]

Genuine advice for big man Basille:

Take 1 shot of 250 mg test enanthate weekly/bi weekly
1-2 hours of cardio 5-6 days per week
Diet
High rep/low weight resistance training

Your like one of my fat friends. He always argues when I tell him to do cardio and diet by claiming to have a better physique because his arms take up more size in clothes. Neglecting the fact that he is a fat blob with tits bigger than his wife's  

You can't flex fat my friend

Big man Basille,

Please see the bolded and reflect. You're getting genuine advice here. Don't be so stubborn. Your failed experiment is proof that your theories are incorrect. Listen to the advice of others for a change.  

[Hulkotron]

Just an observation, ...If you were 7% bodyfat for Mr. Canada, and you are now 25% bodyfat, how will you be able to determine your bicep is "bigger" than ever before on a level playing field?   

This technique is known as "changing the goalposts".

[wes]

FACT

Food will dictate size as long as tissue is broken down and adequate rest/sleep is provided.

Try training heavy as hell and eating like a bird!

[Hulkotron]

Food will dictate size as long as tissue is broken down and adequate rest/sleep is provided.

try training heavy as hell and eating like a bird!

x2 you can get bigger on pretty much any rep range if diet is good.

[dj181]

yeap, food is anabolic, but you still gotta increase training loads to get bigger muscles

[wes]

yeap, food is anabolic, but you still gotta increase training loads to get bigger muscles

What happens when your strength plateus or peaks.

If strength gains were never ending ,how come we all aren`t benching tons of weight and squatting 1000 pounds?

[The Abdominal Snoman]

100% attributable to extreme masturbation......of other people.

lmfao

[The Abdominal Snoman]

Basile, tell the truth, does your office in your gym have one way windows? So you can look out but no one can see in? I'm guessing you just sit in your office all day drinking a 5th of vodka starring out at people in your gym...

[dj181]

What happens when your strength plateus or peaks.

If strength gains were never ending ,how come we all aren`t benching tons of weight and squatting 1000 pounds?

then you stop growing

my superdrol just arrived today and i just popped my first cap, so we'll see how much strength and size i can gain on it

and yes, i'll have to increase my training loads to get bigger muscles, and being that superdrol is a pretty potent oral steroid i should be able to increase my training loads and thereore my strength and size on it

and the funny thing is, i'm still pretty much obessed with this idea or spot gaining on my arms and delts, so i'll really try to increase my curl, overhead tricep extension and overhead pressing loads while "maintaining" my bench and row training loads (yeah i know that's nuts, but who says that i'm sane )

and yeah, i'll also put some effort into the squats as well

anyway, this should be an interesting experiment, coz if my lats and pecs do get bigger then i'll be eating my own words, since i won't increase their training loads

[wes]

then you stop growing

my superdrol just arrived today and i just popped my first cap, so we'll see how much strength and size i can gain on it

and yes, i'll have to increase my training loads to get bigger muscles, and being that superdrol is a pretty potent oral steroid i should be able to increase my training loads and thereore my strength and size on it

and the funny thing is, i'm still pretty much obessed with this idea or spot gaining on my arms and delts, so i'll really try to increase my curl, overhead tricep extension and overhead pressing loads while "maintaining" my bench and row training loads (yeah i know that's nuts, but who says that i'm sane )

and yeah, i'll also put some effort into the squats as well

anyway, this should be an interesting experiment, coz if my lats and pecs do get bigger then i'll be eating my own words, since i won't increase their training loads

Good luck bud.......train hard!

[TrueGrit]

Vince, in all honesty, I genuinely do care about your health. Surely you can see that at your age bulking is crazy, so is expecting to build large amounts of muscle mass.

Seriously, you could take years off your life doing this shit. They may not be the best years but you could be missing out some great moments. A sunset, a trip to the Grand Canyon , head from a 30 yo stripper. And all for what? To make your arms look chunkier in a shirt.

Not worth it.

[Vince B]

Basile, tell the truth, does your office in your gym have one way windows? So you can look out but no one can see in? I'm guessing you just sit in your office all day drinking a 5th of vodka starring out at people in your gym...

LOL. I knew a gym owner who put that kind of window in his office so he could watch the girls doing aerobics.

Our office is upstairs and I seldom go there. I don't have a desk there, either, but other staff do.

[Vince B]

You see, Wes, if we are going to discuss hypertrophy then let's stick to it. Don't go on about how you can't get any bigger. How would you know for sure that you can't?

I used to tell some guys that they were at their peaks and wouldn't get any bigger. I was never wrong. Well, I saw them remain at the same size for months or years.

I am trying to discover if my theory of hypertrophy is correct by applying it to myself. So far I can't keep training heavy because of injuries to connective tissue or the muscle itself.

That doesn't mean my theory is false but that applying it at my age is not so easy. Sure, I regained most of my lost size quite rapidly but stalled just when I was about to exceed

former maximums. Yes, being heavier and somewhat fatter inflates the result. But I can tell you it is a thrill to measure my arms at over 18 inches.

Wes suggests 10 X 10. That is a variation of what Vince Gironda recommended. 8 X 8. The trouble is if you warm up and select a weight that allows you to do 10 reps you won't be

able to do 10 sets of 10 reps. By the third set you will be down to about 8 reps and do fewer as you proceed. Therefore to do that protocol you need to rest more in between sets.

I elect to do more reps so that by the third set I am still getting 10 or more reps. Better pump and less dangerous.

[dyslexic]

All the semantics, verbology and theoretical B.S. aside for a moment....


Just get your bodyfat levels down into the single digits, and you can go from there.


Nothing else really matters at this point.


People see you conditioned, they aren't going to worry about your arm size or "safety fat" or injuries, lack of viable protocols, etc.


Just get in shape. You are too old to use the old school "bulking" method...obviously.


You start posting pics of a ripped physique, regardless of age, the conversation will change its face, guaranteed.

[Secret Stack]

fuck all this arm size bullshit! lose some fucking weight you fat slob!

i dont need to see your blood test results to know you've got 10 years left in your condition, i just look at pictures of your red face and protruding gut!...10 fucking years you are gone!!!!!

fucking wake up call! read this post again!

stupid 6 month nonsense of a thread about a 70 year old delusional wanting ONLY to have "big arms"

fuck me...

10 years, or even less! mark my words!

[MP]

fuck all this arm size bullshit! lose some fucking weight you fat slob!