Growing from the Unconventional Angle

Forget most everything you've read about bodybuilding. It's 90% bullshit, and if you follow it then you're going to look like 90% of guys in the gym…average. If you want to set yourself apart from the rest then you need to open up your mind a little and venture outside of the box.

Let's put it all out there in the open for a minute and really talk about what works. I want you to think of the average guy in the gym and what he does. His rep range is probably 6-8, MAYBE 10-12, I guarantee he works his chest on Monday, does alternate dumbbell curls instead of both dumbbells at the same time (probably goes 20-30 lbs heavier than he should), ooh ooh, and if he REALLY knows his stuff he does the classic 80-100 grams dextrose and his protein shake post workout! He has it all down pat doesn't he? Meals every 2-3 hours on the clock, his gallon jug of water he carries around everywhere like some fucking idiot, his meals all stored in Tupperware and proportioned just right.

There is just one problem with all of the conventional wisdom he has. THE BODY DOESN'T OPERATE THAT WAY!

Do you honestly think your body was made to eat on the fucking clock every 2-3 hours? Or consume 400 grams a day of protein? Or only operate in the 6-12 rep range? What has been driven into our heads is such bullshit and couldn't be any more wrong. If you took a guy with hardly any muscle and made him row a boat every day for a month, don't you think his back would be better developed?

But wait a second, wouldn't that be the same thing as hundreds of reps? So you see, there is truth to what I'm saying! Go look at a mechanic's forearms, or better yet a factory worker or someone in the tree service. They have large forearms, and it's not from doing sets of 6-12 reps with perfect form and fancy equipment.

As for eating, yes you need to eat to grow in the beginning, but there will come a point where packing your body full of more and more food does nothing but slow you down and pack on body fat. I look at this like building a hot rod. In the beginning you are actually building the car, once its complete and you start racing it then it's just tiny adjustments and fine tuning. Pounding the food is like building the car.

I'm at the point where I'm just making adjustments and the answer is not always MORE FOOD. It becomes QUALITY OVER QUANTITY.

Often I eat instinctively. Honestly there are days I only hit 3 meals, and others I hit 7 meals. I may eat mostly organic for 3-4 days straight and then on the next day I'm eating pancakes for breakfast, a meatball sub for lunch, and tacos for dinner. I may eat perfectly clean for 2 weeks straight, I may cut carbs for 3 days, I may load carbs for 3 days. It's solely based on how I feel, but the only time it's ever a set amount and a daily routine is when I'm getting ready to compete. Having body fat levels of sub 7% at 220 lbs is NOT NORMAL. I have to force it to happen.

Cortisol

Let's talk about cortisol levels for a minute. Dieting too long will fuck you. I repeat. DIETING TOO LONG WILL FUCK YOU.

I've seen this happen over and over again, especially with bodybuilding competitors. The first 8-12 weeks of the diet they look great. Then the last part of it, something just goes wrong. They become flat, look emaciated, and unhealthy. That, my friends, is cortisol kicking their ass! Cortisol is a nasty toxin that gets built up from stress on the body, and it acts as a catabolic agent trying to destroy everything you've worked hard for.

Cortisol levels can also creep up when you're using steroids for prolonged periods of time. So the guy who is on a ton of juice all the time is really doing himself an injustice. For starters he is pissing away his money, his body is becoming a toxic waste dump, and his chemistry becomes so imbalanced that he doesn't even know how he is supposed to feel anymore, nor remembers what feeling healthy is like. As a matter of fact, the natural trainer may be getting better results than the guy running steroids at this point.

So my method of dieting is to avoid shit like this while still staying lean and continuing to stay conditioned. I will eat something high calorie and not healthy every so often. And sometimes this 1 cheat meal a week shit just needs to go. 1 a week huh? EXACTLY 1 every week? I say that's bullshit, there are times you're growing good and you need 1 a day! There are times you're dieting hard and you'd benefit from 1 every 2 weeks. You need to know your body, period, and this can only be done through personal experience. It just takes time.

I'm going to give you a rundown of the past 4 days in my life, this is EXACTLY what I did, no B.S. We don't B.S. at John Doe Bodybuilding. When you're growing like a weed you can thank this site for giving you everything straight, not Flex magazine! This is exactly what I did from 3 days ago to tonight.

3 days in a row, organic diet

Meal 1 – 4 whole farm fresh brown eggs scrambled, 2 servings rolled oats cooked on stove, 1 banana

Meal 2 – 1 cup brown rice with lentil beans and red curry sauce, large plate full of steamed Kale in olive oil

Meal 3 – 35 gram protein shake from Raw meal organic protein powder, piece of fruit

Meal 4 – same as meal 2

Meal 5 – same as meal 3, minus the fruit, add 2 spoons of natural peanut butter

Day 4 (today)

Medium coffee with 4 creams and 2 Splendas from McDonalds 7:00am (I fell off my no caffeine wagon, will pick up tomorrow)

Meal 1 – 4 whole eggs scrambled with 1 cup rolled oats, banana, large glass of water with 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar in it 9:00am

Meal 2 – 3 pancakes with sugar free syrup, 3 slices of bacon, Western omelette, another 2 cups coffee with heavy cream/Splenda

Meal 3 – large meatball sub, bag of kettle cooked BBQ chips, diet Mountain Dew, 1 protein cookie

Train shoulders at 7:00pm, kickass workout, strong as hell!

Meal 4 (PWO meal) – hit 10 iu Nolvalog insulin followed by: 3 bowls of honey nut cheerios, chocolate protein shake with natty peanut butter and banana

I doubt I'll eat again, gonna get some ass from wife, then sleep in tomorrow as long as I can, probably until 10am, since I'm off tomorrow.

Tomorrow I will go back to clean eating, probably a low calorie day at that. I'm not forcing myself to eat more, I'll let the food I ate today do its job and make believe it never happened. I'll have benefited from good sleep, a piece of ass, and low stress levels. 5,000 cals? 3,000? 1 gallon water? 1/2 gallon? Who knows, I don't give a shit. I'm getting stronger and I'm getting larger lately.

My unconventional methods work, go figure!

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6 thoughts on “Growing from the Unconventional Angle”

  1. Nice post and very timely. With the new year almost here, many folks – including myself- are looking to get in shape and attain a lean body. What diet and exercise advice would you give to someone looking to make a complete body transformation in 2014?

    Thanks in advance,

    Eric

    Reply
    • whatever routine and diet you can stick to, that is my advice. If you can go 3 days in a row eating clean with a cheat meal every 4th day, do it. If you need a cheat meal everyday then throw it right behind your workout. WHATEVER gets you results and you can stick to. You’ll become more disciplined and knowledgable as time goes on, in the beginning anything different than what you’ve been doing will yield results. Skim through the site, plenty of good advice here to help get the ball rolling

      Reply
  2. Hey John,

    First of all, I want to say awesome website! Went through a bunch of articles and you my friend are very good at presenting information in a clear and concise way. Great job!

    Really like the hot rod analogy :) My question is how do you know that you’re done with building the car and that it’s time to fine tune it? Is reaching certain strength goals your signal (e.g. squatting 2x your own body weight)?

    Stay awesome,

    Dejan

    Reply
    • Dejan, the first thing is how long you’ve been training consistently. After 5 years of consistent training in the gym I’d say 90% of your overall growth has been accomplished. I think squatting twice your bodyweight would be a good indicator, yes. For example, my arms are about 1″ larger than they were 14 years ago. Thats 14 years of ball busting training, eating, and performance enhancement to boot. Difference is, now they are 1″ bigger, but so much leaner and harder the illusion is that they’re way bigger. But the tape doesn’t lie. The first 5 years of training should be geared towards strength and size, from this point on you can further benefit from a volumization/pump style of training. My belief is that this is the best way to make the most of your potential and look the most impressive. If I were to put numbers on it, I’d say for 5′-5’6, 185 lbs is your peak, 5’7-5’10 about 210 lbs, 5’11-6’2 220-230 lbs, 6’3-6’6, 250 lbs. Now keep in mind, this is lean weight around 8-12% bodyfat. Anything more than this in most cases, you need drugs my friend

      Reply
  3. Hey john. Nice post.

    Just found your site, well actually saw it over at boldanddetermind. I like your message. I’m a believer in a chaotic principle to living. I don’t think we evolved to be machine like. Sounds like you’ve got an 80/20 rule working right for you.

    Looking forward to your future posts my man,

    Reply

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