The Biggest Guy at the gym

Summary: A little backstory, and then things I’d like to share about becoming the biggest guy at the gym

Body In the US Public school system there was a push to be physically fit and there was (and may still be) an annual physical fitness test. This consisted of the V-Sit, Mile run, Pull ups and Curl ups. At certain ages you were supposed to hit certain reps, times and distances. Unexpectedly one year, in the 8th grade, I made a name for myself on this test. I went from doing zero pull ups to 8. Now at this time I wasn’t too much into girls or anything Red Pill, but I did enjoy the accomplishment. So I went home and started training for next year. It wasn’t long before I set the highschool record (which may still stand?). This, along with seeing my dad work on the soloflex as a child is what really started my fitness journey.

Establish a routine Every week day at 8 PM I was downstairs in my house lifting weights. This changed when I was at college, and every day then at a set time I was in the gym going at it. When I moved back home I had outgrown what my home gym could do for me, even after upgrading. The next logical step was to join a gym. So then as a career man, every day at 9PM I was in the gym going hard. Changed careers and moved, so now it’s every week day at 7:30ish AM till 9 AM. The value and discipline of a routine is a vital tool in getting big. Trying to fit it in randomly was a strategy I toyed with, but I was not as consistent. When you condition your body to do the same thing at the same time of the day, it adjusts. After you have made it habit, you feel out of place or like you missed something when you break routine.

Get some help Starting out, I did the same work out every night, 4 – 5 nights a week. The routine was something I just came up with in my head and mainly focused on arms. As a result of this I got some big ass arms. The side effect of an unbalanced routine is that I was completely out of proportion and could have been injured. I excelled at what I did, and did a hell of a lot of pull ups, but anyone who knew what they were doing would see me and know I needed some changes. It was just me and the mirror at that time. The value of a mentor, another perspective, feedback on technique, feedback on routine, feedback on progress, taking a class, reading books, means I would have focused on the lifts that matter, and developed the strength that matters. Not to mention having a spotter. Instead I only worked half of the mirror muscles and am still trying to make everything in proportion years later. Don’t get me wrong, doing something is better than doing nothing. I spent most of my high school years being called “The Rock” and flexing my right bicep (The nickname was given to me before Dwayne Johnson was popular, and no I am not Samoan, I am a white). Thinking back it was weird, in that the guys seemed to appreciate it more than the girls. Bottom line, if I had someone to influence me, the rest of my body would have gotten the same recognition as my arms.

Know where you fit in Realizing where you are in the grand scheme of things helps keep you realistic. Once you see where you are, you can plan to get to where you want to be. This could be physical size, strength, speed, flexibility, endurance or anything else. See where you are compared to everyone else or your goal, and formulate a plan. My original plan was never to be the biggest guy at the gym, but to improve every day. I knew Wednesday would be legs, and my lower abs would fatigue first when I was squatting, so I needed to work my lower abs to squat some heavier ass weight. I fit this in on my other days. Rather than zoning out on that chicks ass, I would recommend sizing everyone up between sets. This will help you see technique (good and bad), strength and new exercises. Always be a student and continually self-evaluate. This way, you know what you can do and make risk based assessments before busting through that personal record, or changing your routine to include a stabilization exercise to prevent an injury, or who knows what else. You will eventually learn which people to focus on the most, and possibly approach for advice or to lift with.

Supplementation I personally believe you don’t need to use supplements to get where you want to go, in most cases. I say this because there was a period of about 6 months where I did use supplements and I see how these help. I was on weight gainer, HMB, Creatine, and Andro(now illegal – Sammy Sosa and Mark McGuire were using this during their 70 homerun seasons). The first work out when I started my supplementation, I smashed all my personal records, and this continued into the first half of that summer. I could have obtained this progress all naturally, however I was experimenting. That cost me roughly $180? at the time. Expensive shit for a <$10 hour lifeguard. But.. the bottom line, it works but it is not necessary. If you are interested in this stuff, do your homework and you should be lifting regularly for at least a year before starting a plan, in my opinion.

Eating right This one I still struggle with today. But… What did work for me is that when I was trying to bulk, I challenged my food capacity and had a no left over rule. That served me well, and helped me put on the 50lbs I was looking for. I have gained even more than that today. Throughout this time, anytime I was in a gym I was always top 3, with the exception of a Gold’s Gym in my area. I ended up making this my gym, until it was bought out. There, I was just an average guy, and kept pushing. What bit me in the ass is that going years without leaving left overs at the dinner table and then meeting my goal, I should have started leaving leftovers. Well….. that was a hard change to manage, and is part of the reason why I struggle with it. Learning to cook tasty shit is a must. Learning how to store it so it stays tasty is a must. All of this is truly a daily battle for me, and I win some and I lose some. It is now a big focus area for me. I do want to be the biggest guy at the gym, but not because I am fat.

Establishing a sense of community There are varying stances on socializing at the gym with TRP. I personally think it’s ok to chat a bit between sets, as long as it doesn’t take away time from what you are trying to accomplish. This establishes a rapport with others and, to me, does enhance the gym experience. I looked forward to seeing some of these people every day. I was surprised when I picked up some tips the older folks. One of the younger guys had a hell of a drive (From his C4 and who knows what else lol) and so we started lifting together. I learned a lot from him just by the amount of effort he put into things. When I thought I was pushing myself, I looked at him and saw what he was giving. I don’t know where he went mentally, but I tried to find that deep, dark place and get those extra reps, or push to that higher weight. Another guy who joined us put me on to CT Fletcher. It was never the same after that. I didn’t want to let these people down by missing a day at the gym. They needed me to bust their balls just as much as I needed them to bust mine. They were brothers in iron. The down side of being approachable is that you get the old guys who say they used to bench 500lbs when they were younger and have to bring it up every day. Shit is fucking annoying, and once you walk far enough away from bullshit, you just can’t smell it anymore.

Find the right community for you Above I talked about how I was just an average guy at Gold’s Gym. When joining that gym, this forced me to push myself harder. And that’s a lot easier to do when you look around and see the culture that leads and self-improvement. Sometimes its seeing that little spinner on the treadmill at max speed that makes me think to myself… Look at her… you gonna let that 100lbs out work you today? Some of those little girls work harder than a lot of dudes. To me… it flew under the radar because I looked at the weight and not the work. But I woke up and started noticing effort. These are the people you want to surround yourself with. Some of you will lift at the apartment complex gym. One day you will outgrow that, and then it’s time to move. You just need to pick an environment that fits your goals. For me it was always improving. Going from a place of being the Alpha to a regular guy was the bump I needed. If you’re the best and not surrounded with people pushing you - even though you think you are working hard - you may not be reaching your highest potential. Exercise can be as much psychological as physical.

Enjoy the process Getting satisfaction by doing the work, not by the results of the work. I like to evaluate a lot of my reps, making sure I am doing them perfect, or figuring out why this rep was better than that rep. I developed a shoulder problem which still lingers to a point, but rep evaluation assisted with determining that my curls were affecting my shoulder. So, I started adjusting the technique, going stricter and deliberate, ensuring only the bicep was contracting. I had been putting too much shoulder into it, and this was too much for my tendons combined with benching and other exercises I was doing. I also like the fact that when I set down to my desk at work, I know I already accomplished something that day. The day was meaningful before I even started my job. I like getting up and feeling the soreness in different body parts throughout the week. It means I know I worked it hard. I used to be scared of getting sore downstairs in my basement, but I have come to learn it’s a good thing and a reminder I worked hard

TLDR – Some basics to help make the gym a part of your life, and eventually be the biggest guy there