Messages

16

Testosterone, Hormones and General Men's Health / Re: How old were you when you got first greys/whites in beard?

« on: October 23, 2014, 05:35:14 pm »

I have a goatee/mustache combo (kept short) and about 50% of my goatee and about 5% of my mustache is white (can't really say that it's "grey").  I currently dye them both.  I am 37 and I think I started to see the greys in the beard around 32.  Not looking forward to the day that my eyebrows start showing white hair....hope I'm at least  50+ before that happens. 

17

Testosterone, Hormones and General Men's Health / Re: Niacin (B3)

« on: September 13, 2014, 04:35:14 pm »

I take a two 100mg tablets 3 times per day now.  I had to work up to that amount (took 4 months) and can't see how I could go any higher.  When I first started, 100mgs would make me extremely uncomfortable.  200mgs can still make me flush and itch very bad if I don't have decent sized meal before I dose it.  Before I searched for and bought the 100mg tabs, I took a 500mg capsule and thought I was going to die...lol.   I guess some are more sensitive than others as my father takes 500mg doses just fine.

18

Testosterone, Hormones and General Men's Health / Re: Frank Zane - The Last Non-Freaky Bodybuilder

« on: August 17, 2014, 08:07:04 pm »

He talked about it on Bodybuilding.com forums, but didn't give specifics.  He only said that everyone could read about it in his book.  The 400-page autobiography was called "Seventy Years Young"  but he fell ill before he could sell it.  He never recovered, his website was taken down and his book was never released as far as I can tell.  I tried to find it as I wanted to buy it, but it's sadly not available....

19

Testosterone, Hormones and General Men's Health / Re: Frank Zane - The Last Non-Freaky Bodybuilder

« on: August 17, 2014, 06:34:05 pm »

Nice post!

By the way, Arnold in the latest Muscle and Fitness I believe basically posted that in his day everyone was eating much more safe - in my opinion of course - levels of fat.  It should like fat levels that one would get if you were to eat if you avoided most industrial meats and didn't tank up on oils and other modern inventions.  Just a side note.  I'm not saying that to aggravate anyone, but I'm agreeing that the they seemed to be much more concerned with health and fitness.

These guys didn't eat 10 times per day either.  Serge ate once or twice per day...large meals.  He "ate when his body told him to".  That is why he was called the Black Panther as panthers eat rarely, but they eat big when they do.  He also ate a lot of horse meat in the 70's.   Metabolic Syndrome could never happen to them due to their work ethic in the gym.   They didn't go through the extreme "bulk" and "cut phases....they looked good all year around.  Serge also did some carb/fat cycling, which I thought was interesting.  Basically, he was doing Leangains Intermittent Fasting with macro cycling (protein kept high) before it was given a name and recognition. 

These guys also seemed to emphasize working the muscle to the max and muscle pump over lifting really heavy weights.  They could lift very heavy weights, but they didn't do that in their training.  Serge gave advice to workout with a weight that you could rep 20 times and then do something like 6 sets of 12 reps with that weight.  His day usually consisted of 2000 situps in the morning and then 3-4 hours of weight training later....6 days per week.  On the 7th day he just relaxed and laid around in order to recover for the next week.  He said he never needed any "cardio" besides his ab routine in the morning.  I don't think he took very long breaks between his exercises for the 3 hour workout either.

Wow!  That is all so similar to Jack LaLanne.  He did tons of sit ups.  I remember his wife commenting that they'd be talking or something and he would knock out a bunch of situps during the day.  He also ate two meals per day and exercised for 2 hours per day rain or shine, 1.5 of which was weights.  And, of course, a lot of it similar to Frank Zane as well.

Wiki has an interesting article on him.  They said he was always artistic when he was younger and saw bodybuilding as an extension of that.  He even wrote a book on mysticism.

And-  man! - I saw a couple of photos and he looks more massive than Arnold even.

So what happened to him by the way?  He just slipped into a coma?  Does anyone know why he died?

It's a mystery.  He was posting regularly and helping guys on the Bodybuilding.com forums up until the day he fell ill all of a sudden. He was also in great shape and looked GREAT at 70 years old.   Rumor is that he was poisoned and then kept ill until he died.  None of this is confirmed and likely never will be unfortunately.  Serge had some powerful enemies in the bodybuilding world and the book he was selling before he fell ill was exposing them.  I wouldn't doubt that someone paid money to have him silenced.  There is a reason why there is not more information on how and why he died other than "natural causes" IMO.    It's really sad as Serge was really kept down during much of his career.   The fact that so few, except for bodybuilding enthusiasts, know who he was is testament to it.   It's easy to see that he was one of the greatest, if not the greatest.  Many see him as the bodybuilder with the most Aesthetic physique in history....I have to agree. 

20

Testosterone, Hormones and General Men's Health / Re: Arm Size Calculations

« on: August 17, 2014, 06:19:34 pm »

I was 119 lbs at 72.75 inches tall at 19 years of age.  I am now around 190 lbs at the same height at around 11% body fat.  My wrists are 6.75" and my ankles are 9".  At 5% body fat, my max weight is 202 natural according to the calculator.  This seems reasonable to me, especially since I am on TRT.  My goal is to attain this within 5 years.  According to the other two calculators, I am very close to my max LBM potential right now.  For someone with big bones and big frame, they would be well past those numbers....

Wow.  Well, I have some work to do I guess...

40lbs of muscle is a lot to gain.  Most people don't realize that the weight they gain while lifting isn't even close to being all muscle.  .5 to 1lb of lean muscle mass gain per MONTH is about all one can expect until they get close to their potential (more earlier on and less later on).  I was 220 lbs just less than a year ago at around 20% body fat.  To convert that into 202 lbs at 5% body fat will probably take all of 5 years to do and that is only if I stay completely focused on it.  I've been lifting for 16 years consistently so my lean gains will come slower than average.  In 5 years, I'll know which calculator is more accurate...hopefully the Casey Butt method:)

21

Testosterone, Hormones and General Men's Health / Re: Frank Zane - The Last Non-Freaky Bodybuilder

« on: August 17, 2014, 05:55:53 pm »

Nice post!

By the way, Arnold in the latest Muscle and Fitness I believe basically posted that in his day everyone was eating much more safe - in my opinion of course - levels of fat.  It should like fat levels that one would get if you were to eat if you avoided most industrial meats and didn't tank up on oils and other modern inventions.  Just a side note.  I'm not saying that to aggravate anyone, but I'm agreeing that the they seemed to be much more concerned with health and fitness.

These guys didn't eat 10 times per day either.  Serge ate once or twice per day...large meals.  He "ate when his body told him to".  That is why he was called the Black Panther as panthers eat rarely, but they eat big when they do.  He also ate a lot of horse meat in the 70's.   Metabolic Syndrome could never happen to them due to their work ethic in the gym.   They didn't go through the extreme "bulk" and "cut phases....they looked good all year around.  Serge also did some carb/fat cycling, which I thought was interesting.  Basically, he was doing Leangains Intermittent Fasting with macro cycling (protein kept high) before it was given a name and recognition. 

These guys also seemed to emphasize working the muscle to the max and muscle pump over lifting really heavy weights.  They could lift very heavy weights, but they didn't do that in their training.  Serge gave advice to workout with a weight that you could rep 20 times and then do something like 6 sets of 12 reps with that weight.  His day usually consisted of 2000 situps in the morning and then 3-4 hours of weight training later....6 days per week.  On the 7th day he just relaxed and laid around in order to recover for the next week.  He said he never needed any "cardio" besides his ab routine in the morning.  I don't think he took very long breaks between his exercises for the 3 hour workout either. 

22

Testosterone, Hormones and General Men's Health / Re: Arm Size Calculations

« on: August 17, 2014, 05:30:13 pm »

I was 119 lbs at 72.75 inches tall at 19 years of age.  I am now around 190 lbs at the same height at around 11% body fat.  My wrists are 6.75" and my ankles are 9".  At 5% body fat, my max weight is 202 natural according to the calculator.  This seems reasonable to me, especially since I am on TRT.  My goal is to attain this within 5 years.  According to the other two calculators, I am very close to my max LBM potential right now.  For someone with big bones and big frame, they would be well past those numbers....

23

Testosterone, Hormones and General Men's Health / Re: Frank Zane - The Last Non-Freaky Bodybuilder

« on: August 16, 2014, 09:21:02 pm »

The old school bodybuilders had more aesthetic physiques...no question.  I wouldn't want to look like the bodybuilders of today even if I could.  My absolute favorite bodybuilder of all time is Serge Nubret (aka the Black Panther).  If there wasn't corruption/cheating in the bodybuilding federations, I think he would have beaten Arnold in the Mr Olympia in 1975 (Pumping Iron year).  At his best, he was 212 pounds at 6' with a 28" waist.   They had banned him from competing in 1975 Olympia, but then allowed him to compete at the last minute.  Unfortunately, he had quit training due to being banned so he only came in at 200lbs.  Still....he looked great even at 200lbs IMO.  He quit the IFBB after that and never competed in the Olympia again.  Instead, he started his own federation shortly after the 1975 Olympia disappointment.  It is rumored that Weider tried to get him to come back by telling him that he'd help make sure he won the Olympia.  Nubret told him that if it could be given away like that, he didn't want it....

Here is a picture of him before the 1975 Olympia BEFORE he quit training due to being banned:

http://images.t-nation.com/forum_images/8/a/8a553-3009c-serge_nubret.jpg

I have never heard of the guy - interesting stories.  You're right super impressive.

I asked my wife if Frank Zane was probably more the ideal of most women and she said 'yes'.  She gets absolutely grossed out at the modern bodybuilders physiques. 

Btw, I'm sure you guys all know this, but Pumping Iron is on Netflix.  I watched most of it the other night - classic...

Okay, I have a question for you guys:

1.  Arnold, based on his movies, was pretty athletic.  And Frank Zane looks like he could go out and swing a golf club or hold his own in a volleyball game.  But, am I wrong, the modern guys are so muscle bound, they couldn't play a decent game of basketball, right?  Do they have any kind of a vertical leap, etc?  Just wondering if I'm biased here or it actually hurts their sports/athletic performance?

You will see Serge Nubret toward the end of "Pumping Iron" on stage, but he's at 200lbs instead of the 212lbs he should have been at as mentioned.  He still looks impressive even at 200lbs...best abs by far.   

The old school bodybuilders (Arnold, Frank, Franco, Serge, etc) were very athletic and worked out for hours every single day.  They probably used about 1/10th or less of hormones and drugs todays bodybuilders use and relied more heavily on healthy ways to achieve their goals.  They didn't take supplements or protein powders like they do today either...they used FOOD. 

I agree that old school bodybuilders have physiques to aspire to which is not something I'd say about today's bodybuilders.  Today's bodybuilding is corrupted and all about money.  It was that way before obviously, but it's even worse today.  You had bodybuilders in the past that did it for the passion of the sport and not so much for money, which I think is very rare today...

24

Testosterone, Hormones and General Men's Health / Re: Frank Zane - The Last Non-Freaky Bodybuilder

« on: August 16, 2014, 06:33:50 pm »

The old school bodybuilders had more aesthetic physiques...no question.  I wouldn't want to look like the bodybuilders of today even if I could.  My absolute favorite bodybuilder of all time is Serge Nubret (aka the Black Panther).  If there wasn't corruption/cheating in the bodybuilding federations, I think he would have beaten Arnold in the Mr Olympia in 1975 (Pumping Iron year).  At his best, he was 212 pounds at 6' with a 28" waist.   They had banned him from competing in 1975 Olympia, but then allowed him to compete at the last minute.  Unfortunately, he had quit training due to being banned so he only came in at 200lbs.  Still....he looked great even at 200lbs IMO.  He quit the IFBB after that and never competed in the Olympia again.  Instead, he started his own federation shortly after the 1975 Olympia disappointment.  It is rumored that Weider tried to get him to come back by telling him that he'd help make sure he won the Olympia.  Nubret told him that if it could be given away like that, he didn't want it....

Here is a picture of him before the 1975 Olympia BEFORE he quit training due to being banned:

http://images.t-nation.com/forum_images/8/a/8a553-3009c-serge_nubret.jpg

25

Testosterone, Hormones and General Men's Health / Re: POLL: Weigh In On Your Dietary Regimen

« on: August 05, 2014, 11:17:55 pm »

I'm currently doing a Lean Gains IF (Intermittent Fast) type diet.  Before that I was Primal and before that I was Paleo.  With Lean Gains, I don't neglect carbs as much as I did with Primal.  I eat a lot of carbs and very little fat on days that I work out (4 days per week).  On days I don't work out (3 days per week), I eat high fat and low carb.  I eat more protein now than I did with Paleo or Primal, but not overboard.  My blood work looks better and better every month.  6 months ago I was 220 lbs and I am now 186 lbs at no more than 11% body fat.  I have been absent from the board for a bit due to a move.  I actually almost lost my right foot in the move (crushed by a moving truck), so I haven't been able to workout as intensely as before (had to cut all high impact cardio).  Miraculously (literally), no bones were broken....mostly surface damage and deep bruising.  I literally had the metal ramp of a 26' truck back up it's ramp, pinning my lower leg (right above my foot) between that metal ramp and concrete steps.  If that truck had backed up even 1" further...I wouldn't have a foot right now.  I'm also lucky that the ramp weldings broke (they actually broke instead of my leg!).  Anyway...back on topic.  Despite that, I'm STILL making improvements

26

Testosterone, Hormones and General Men's Health / Re: Importance of Healthy Blood Sugar levels

« on: June 15, 2014, 04:11:11 pm »

My Insulin and Proinsulin levels have been declining consistently while my SHBG is slowly rising consistently.  Estrogen is controlled with Arimidex, so it's harder to track.

I wish I knew exactly what was making the SHBG rise, what would halt the rise so I can avoid it and how I could make it rise faster.... 

27

Testosterone, Hormones and General Men's Health / Re: FDA List of Fish with Least Mercury

« on: June 15, 2014, 02:29:15 am »

Hmmm, looks like you posted the Hot dog and Salami article instead?

28

Testosterone, Hormones and General Men's Health / Re: Dessicated Thyroid Lowered My TSH, Free T3 and T4?

« on: June 12, 2014, 09:43:39 pm »

Doctor approved 1/2 grain increase to 1.5grains total this morning.  I am hoping that increase will help me hit optimal levels of Free T3 and Free T4 over the next 6 weeks.  I'll purchase a blood test in 6 weeks  to make sure...

29

Testosterone, Hormones and General Men's Health / Re: Hugh Jackman and Intermittent Fasting (Wolverine)

« on: June 12, 2014, 09:39:31 pm »

"The Rock" Dwayne Johnson told Hugh Jackman about this diet as he's been doing it for awhile now too. 

I've decided to give the Lean Gains Intermittent Fasting diet plan a shot starting in July.  I have been doing Intermittent Fasting for about a week now, but I plan to do the Lean Gains protocol with some Carb back loading starting in July.  I'm not going to try to bulk up so much as tighten up while gaining a few pounds of muscle at the same time....should be interesting.

30

Testosterone, Hormones and General Men's Health / Re: Berberine

« on: June 12, 2014, 09:24:27 pm »

I'm now taking a supplement that contains Berberine with my nightly fruit intake

What's your reasoning?

I still have slight insulin resistance.  I take the Berberine supplement before fruit to help prevent the rise in blood glucose.   The rest of my day is pretty low-carb so I figured it would be best at this time.