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how to get to pro bodybuilder level ?
- Thread starter Nikoli
- Start date
Texas Monster
New member
For most no.....
For some yes.....
Depends on how well you react to everything and how well you can hold onto your gains from cycling. Not to mention the patience......
For some yes.....
Depends on how well you react to everything and how well you can hold onto your gains from cycling. Not to mention the patience......
C-Lo34
New member
Well said! It's not easy if it were everyone that picked up weights could go pro. It's dedication, genetics and a good amount of gear. Goodluck if you compete locally, it's a great experience and you don't respect the sport until you put in that time and effort and step on stage. Just my 2cents
i guess you i just have to do my best in workout and diet and dedicate to it and be patient
thank you
This was a response by a pro coach to a post that I made about how I wasn't gaining like my first cycle. Might answer the OP's questions.
The reason you're not gaining like your 1st cycle is because this is not your 1st cycle. You will never make those kind of gains again...and on your 3rd cycle you will gain less than you did on your 2nd...and then less on your 4th...then 5th..etc....until eventually, you will be lucky to gain a couple new pounds of muscle with each cycle. After that, you will begin losing every pound of muscle you gain from every cycle as soon as you go off. The ONLY way to overcome that and continue gaining more muscle is to take less time off and spend more time on. At some point, even that won't be sufficient anymore...and you will be forced to stay on all year round....and if you want to continue gaining muscle beyond that, you will be forced to use drugs all year long in fairly large amounts just to gain a few pounds of muscle each year.
By cycling 50% of the time on/50% of the time off...you will never approach the size of a pro BB'r. In fact, for most guys who follow that format, their gains will stall after just a couple of years, to the point where they will only be gaining a couple new pounds of muscle each year...and soon after that their gains will stop. Just to give you an idea, by the time you get to around your 6th or 7th cycle (roughly), you will only be gaining about 4-5 oounds of new muscle per cycle...and it will continue to quickly decrease from there as time goes by.
For guys who continue cycling 50% ON/50% OFF...they will always gain a decent amount of weight each time they go back on (a good portion of it will be intramuscular water retention), but as I said earlier, once you reach a certain point in your development, "all" of that weight will be lost when you go off. Your natural hormonal environment can only support so much muscle tissue, regardless of ho good your PCT is...so once you reach the point where your natural T production can no longer support the amount of muscle tissue you built on cycle, you will continue to lose "all" the muscle you gained beyond that point every time you stop using AAS. You will never be able to maintain ANY amount of muscle beyond what your natural hormonal environment can support...period. Unfortunately, the natural hormonal environment of the average man cannot spuport very much muscle tissue at all...not anywhere close to a pro BB'r. Some men are more blessed than others in this regard, but no one will ever get "huge" cycling 50% On/50% off. The BB'r simply spends too much time with an inferior hormonal environment.
As many guys here have already stated, one of the key pitfalls of most BB'rs trying to add size is that they do not eat enough. If a BB'r wants to maximize the amount of muscle he can gain...and does not want to stagnate prematurely...he MUST come to realize that for every new pound of muscle he gains, he MUST increase his caloric intake "forever", if he wants to maintain that new muscle. He will never again be able to eat what he did when he was lighter...and the bigger he gets, the more he must eat simply to maintain that new muscle, let alone gain more. In reality, most BB'rs stop making gains not because they aren't using enough AAS, but because they get to a point where they stop increasing their calories. They think to themselves..."I am already eating so much food...I can't eat anymore"...and then their gains stop. It might not sound fair or fun, but the body doesn't care how full you feel, it ONLY cares if it has enough calories to keep building more muscle tissue. The average 250-300 lb off-season BB'r will require between 4,000-6,000 calories per day to maintain ther muscle tissue. 4K is hard enough for some guys, while other guys have a much easier time with it, BUT...almost everyone thinks it is a total bitch to eat 6K cals per day...and many guys just can do it. Hell, many guys cant even eat 4K cals per day on a regular basis. I have spoken with so many BB'rs over the years who think they eat "sooo much food", but they don't eat shit! When they actually add ther calories up, they find they're eating around 3-3.5 K cals per day. Diet is by far the most difficult part of maximizing one's BB'ing potential. Without a enough of the right food at the right times, the BB'rs is sure to fail in his quest of maximizing his physical potential.
The reason you're not gaining like your 1st cycle is because this is not your 1st cycle. You will never make those kind of gains again...and on your 3rd cycle you will gain less than you did on your 2nd...and then less on your 4th...then 5th..etc....until eventually, you will be lucky to gain a couple new pounds of muscle with each cycle. After that, you will begin losing every pound of muscle you gain from every cycle as soon as you go off. The ONLY way to overcome that and continue gaining more muscle is to take less time off and spend more time on. At some point, even that won't be sufficient anymore...and you will be forced to stay on all year round....and if you want to continue gaining muscle beyond that, you will be forced to use drugs all year long in fairly large amounts just to gain a few pounds of muscle each year.
By cycling 50% of the time on/50% of the time off...you will never approach the size of a pro BB'r. In fact, for most guys who follow that format, their gains will stall after just a couple of years, to the point where they will only be gaining a couple new pounds of muscle each year...and soon after that their gains will stop. Just to give you an idea, by the time you get to around your 6th or 7th cycle (roughly), you will only be gaining about 4-5 oounds of new muscle per cycle...and it will continue to quickly decrease from there as time goes by.
For guys who continue cycling 50% ON/50% OFF...they will always gain a decent amount of weight each time they go back on (a good portion of it will be intramuscular water retention), but as I said earlier, once you reach a certain point in your development, "all" of that weight will be lost when you go off. Your natural hormonal environment can only support so much muscle tissue, regardless of ho good your PCT is...so once you reach the point where your natural T production can no longer support the amount of muscle tissue you built on cycle, you will continue to lose "all" the muscle you gained beyond that point every time you stop using AAS. You will never be able to maintain ANY amount of muscle beyond what your natural hormonal environment can support...period. Unfortunately, the natural hormonal environment of the average man cannot spuport very much muscle tissue at all...not anywhere close to a pro BB'r. Some men are more blessed than others in this regard, but no one will ever get "huge" cycling 50% On/50% off. The BB'r simply spends too much time with an inferior hormonal environment.
As many guys here have already stated, one of the key pitfalls of most BB'rs trying to add size is that they do not eat enough. If a BB'r wants to maximize the amount of muscle he can gain...and does not want to stagnate prematurely...he MUST come to realize that for every new pound of muscle he gains, he MUST increase his caloric intake "forever", if he wants to maintain that new muscle. He will never again be able to eat what he did when he was lighter...and the bigger he gets, the more he must eat simply to maintain that new muscle, let alone gain more. In reality, most BB'rs stop making gains not because they aren't using enough AAS, but because they get to a point where they stop increasing their calories. They think to themselves..."I am already eating so much food...I can't eat anymore"...and then their gains stop. It might not sound fair or fun, but the body doesn't care how full you feel, it ONLY cares if it has enough calories to keep building more muscle tissue. The average 250-300 lb off-season BB'r will require between 4,000-6,000 calories per day to maintain ther muscle tissue. 4K is hard enough for some guys, while other guys have a much easier time with it, BUT...almost everyone thinks it is a total bitch to eat 6K cals per day...and many guys just can do it. Hell, many guys cant even eat 4K cals per day on a regular basis. I have spoken with so many BB'rs over the years who think they eat "sooo much food", but they don't eat shit! When they actually add ther calories up, they find they're eating around 3-3.5 K cals per day. Diet is by far the most difficult part of maximizing one's BB'ing potential. Without a enough of the right food at the right times, the BB'rs is sure to fail in his quest of maximizing his physical potential.
^^^ interesting read but i think that coach puts way too much stock in the power of steroids. they aren't THAT powerful where you can stay on and continue to gain a pound per month of muscle mass like that. if that was true we all would be 300 pounds of muscle.
its like the 'cow technique' .. the story of the guy in Scotland who would lift a baby cow everyday.. the cow would slowly gain weight and the guy lifting it would lift more and more weight until the cow weighed 1000 pounds and he still was able to lift it.. its just not the way our bodies work because we aren't robots.
the key problem: INJURIES.
there isn't a single bodybuilder/lifter on here who hasn't had to deal with them. and they aren't injuries that are understood.. they are usually nagging types of injuries or soft tissue types of injuries that really won't go away without a lot of rest or worse are permanent things we will have to deal with forever.
another problem: LIPIDS
you stay on steroids at moderate or high dosages for long periods of times and your organs will suffer. your body just won't be able to handle it.
its like the 'cow technique' .. the story of the guy in Scotland who would lift a baby cow everyday.. the cow would slowly gain weight and the guy lifting it would lift more and more weight until the cow weighed 1000 pounds and he still was able to lift it.. its just not the way our bodies work because we aren't robots.
the key problem: INJURIES.
there isn't a single bodybuilder/lifter on here who hasn't had to deal with them. and they aren't injuries that are understood.. they are usually nagging types of injuries or soft tissue types of injuries that really won't go away without a lot of rest or worse are permanent things we will have to deal with forever.
another problem: LIPIDS
you stay on steroids at moderate or high dosages for long periods of times and your organs will suffer. your body just won't be able to handle it.
Once you reach your genetic potential, gaining muscle beyond that is impossible without gear, and maintaining any muscle gained beyond your genetic limit requires staying on. Coming off you would slowly go back to your genetic limit over time. This is why you see so many huge guys blasting and cruising, without ever coming off
C-Lo34
New member
Like Rick said, without gear it's impossible. In saying that without proper nutrition and training you will never reach your genetic potential in the first place. Eat like a beast, and train even harder. The gear makes up a big part of adding pro size muscle but you need a solid base to begin from.
adsinaction
New member
Being an older Competitor and having so many close friends who were insane for BB back in their late teens, 20's I can tell you almost all of them dont even train anymore in their 40's . I think the pro coach laid out the harsher reallity of this game. It is IMPOSSIBLE to get to an NPC National level w/ out gear. Take it one step further, It is even more impossible to get to an IFBB level without gear. I dont care what your genetics are, how much food you eat, how hard you train..IT will NEVER happen. As someone else mentioned..getting a Frank Zane type of physique would even be a far stretch without gear. I would bet the chances of getting on the Olympia stage are no different than the odds of becoming a pro Basketball, Baseball or Football player. I was there when I was younger, I wanted it so bad but luckily I was exposed to the pro bodybuilding scene when I was young and got the wake up call when I realized what exactly was involved. The more sinister side of this is the politics involved..as you climb the ranks it gets harder and harder if you dont play the game just right. Lastly One thing to remember. No matter how well you look now, how strong you are at some point father time will ALWAYS win out. When I trained with Frank Zane I asked him what his biggest regret was. He said getting old. Its very hard when you were once on top of the world.This coming from a guy who was 200lb when he won the olympia..So remember the bigger you get the harder your gonna have to fight every year to keep that muscle on. Wow..I think I may have just sabatoged my own workout later. Totally depressed 
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