Gary Gibson – Part 2

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I didn’t have time to write tonight, so this is Gary Gibson’s update on his situation. Also, it is PR Friday, so talk about any PR’s you had this week in the comments: weight gained, lifted, or consumed. Giddyup.

Justin and A.C. are on Iron Radio today today at 2 pm eastern time. Listen here

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Did Nature Mean to Make Us So Skinny And Useless?

This week I am officially a big step closer to manhood. I’ve been weighing in consistently between 183 and 188 lbs. That’s about a 25-lb increase in the past 30 days. Squat and Milk. Granted I hit a high of 176 a month prior to the start of this latest cycle, so half of that weight is reclaimed ground, not new territory. Still, the way my weight and my lifts are going, I’m going to get to 200 lbs (and a triple bodyweight squat i hope) a lot sooner than I would have believed just a few months ago.

An adult male of average height should weigh at least 200 lbs…at least he should if he wants to be strong. If all he wants to do is run away from danger or difficult situations at low speeds, then he’s much better off jogging a lot and “watching what he eats” so he stays at 150.

But those 200 lbs of useful man assume both a reasonable bodyfat percentage and strength level. Reasonably fat is under 20%, but not the “about 10%” that gets tossed about so casually. Reasonably strong is a 1.5x bodyweight squat. (Athletes in strength and power sports may want to shoot for over double bodyweight and those in the barbell sports should aim for triple.)

Those guidelines are all well and good. But I got to wondering just why it is that so many adult males of average height are about 150 lbs with the low strength levels to match. And an awful lot of the adult males who are over 200 don’t train properly and are “skinny-fat weak” and wish they were just plain skinny weak 150-pounders. What gives? How did this happen? We didn’t evolve with barbells, and there’s no way in hell I could get to 200 without using a barbell for heavy back squatting. No amount of physical activity I would have been likely to do in the ancestral environment would have gotten me close.

Ultimately I don’t care all that much what nature had in store for my body sans barbell training. I’m happier, healthier and a hell of a lot stronger and less painful to look at thanks to my journey to over 200 lbs. Moreover the speed at which this metamorphosis is taking place tells me that it was meant to be.

121 thoughts on “Gary Gibson – Part 2”

  1. agreed. millions of years of evolution didnt occur so that we would end up sitting on our asses all day long nor did it happen so that we would be thinking about our next yoga class and leafy salad with low-fat dressing. ugh.

  2. Great work, Gary!

    PRs
    a few benchmarks this week.

    Bench 3x5x100kg
    Press 3x5x70kg
    Dead 1x5x170kg

    Also:

    Squat 3x5x137.5kg (reset this after deciding I had been squatting high)

    Still working on PC. Hoping for a new PR next week.

    BW sitting at around 103-104kg.

  3. Great, well I officially almost qualify as a useful adult male. Weight 92kg,squat 135kg, come Saturday I should be all grown up (maybe I should start working on a hardcore beard to go with my new found adulthood)

  4. If I understand correctly, Gary”s answer to the question in bold is “yes” and I agree. We are skinny creatures which evolved in the tropics living off of fresh food w/lots of walking thrown in, i.e. nomads.

    That said, I was 155 lbs 2.5 months ago and now I”m at 185. I didn”t train for a couple weeks though, and the only change I”ve made to my diet is adding GOMAD.

  5. Nicely said, Gary.

    PRs for the week:
    BW: 78kg, up from 76.5. Hoping to pick up the pace and get to 84ish within a few weeks.
    BS – 3×5×102.5kg
    DL – 1×5x115kg, need to improve on my form though.
    PC – 5×3x45kg, REALLY need to improve on my form.
    Press – 3×5x50kg. I stalled today, so would”ve been more if I hadn”t.

  6. DL 120Kg x 5
    Bench 3x5x70kg
    PC 5x3x50kg

    I weigh nearly 210lb.
    Hell I started around 90kg
    I was borderline skinny guy.
    I”m nothing like big. I think there is too much talk of “what is big?”, “Am I 70”s big yet” and “200lb adult male”.

    There should be an “if you have to ask” rule.

  9. Under %20 bodyfat is reasonable? So at a BW of 200, carrying around close to 40lbs of useless tissue is a good thing? C””mon. It””s one thing to be big and strong, another to be a fat guy who can ONLY lift heavy things. I””m not a hater and I””m eating like a champ, but carrying 40lbs of fat to the bottom of a squat seems pretty stupid.

    Nobody I coach has exuberant amounts of fat, and 40 pounds of fat is a relative thing.

    –Justin

  12. @ Boris
    40# of useless tissue isn”t a correct assumption, unless 0% BF is your goal. Consider ~5% of that is essential fat, 10# for our 200#er. And unless you want to be 5% BF, you”ll have a little bit more fat on you. That reduces the weight of what you call useless tissue dramatically.

  13. I made a “Lithuanian Man Maker Cheesecake” yesterday. Normal cheesecake recipe except all egg whites and 60 grams of chocolate protein powder and half the normal sugar with raisans and walnuts added before baking. Ate whole thing for breakfast= good feeling.

  14. Don”t know if nature made us skinny and useless. But we could say that nature gives us the potential to transform not to be skinny and useless. Not trying to do that is therefore not natural. (if that makes any sense)

    PR: ripped my jeans, need to get new ones, the others are too small.

  16. Boris would be really surprised at the bodyfat levels of the strongest people in the world. And calling blubber useless in the squat betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of the movement.

    PRs this week?
    Squatted 345 x6x6 (about 157 kg to most of you) a few days ago. 365x5x5 scheduled for tomorrow.
    Deadlifted doubles up to 465 last night, sumo style in preparation for USAPL Floriday States next month. Hope to work up to 495×2 in the next couple of weeks.
    Weighing around 185, but plan to compete in the 82.5 kilo class.

  20. Nickname PR: Visited my folks this weekend and my mother re-christened me “DoubleDouble” formerly known as Marik1138.

    Bodyweight PR: 223.4 lbs, heaviest ever.

    Working Starr Rehab Protocol for back strain, weight PRs again in a few weeks.

  21. Why is it that people can”t understand the concept here? You eat and gain weight at first. Once you reach the size you feel is appropriate cut it back. You will begin to fill out with muscle. If you stop making gains in your lifts start eating again. Repeat as needed.

    PRs this week:
    BP 190 5×3
    PC 140 3×5

    More to come tomorrow.

  22. – Press 3×5 140#
    – Squat 3×5 335#
    – Dealift 1×3 (grip stalled), 1×2 355#

    LOST 3 pounds since last week. 2 PB sandwiches and a quart of milk for breakfast today will get me back on the right track.

  25. Military Press: 180X5
    Box Squat: 385X12

    Gary”s expectations about 1.5X squat to be considered “not a bitch,” 2X for strength sports, and 3X for barbell sports is dead on and realistic.

    Not too sure about the 20% thing. I think it”s acceptable to carry around a high bodyfat if you”re competing in the 308s or the super-heavies, but beyond that I don”t think you can expect to be competitive in your weight class at a bodyfat % of 20 if you”re competing in lighter weight classes because you simply won”t have enough muscle to be competitive.

    I can think of plenty of good lifters in the 308s and Super-Heavies who have above 20% bodyfat, but when you get to the 275 class and below, those ranks are dominated by guys considerably leaner than 20%.

  26. Had a good training week. Steady progression.

    OHP 162.5X3X5
    Bench 242.5X3X5
    Dead 385X1X4 (got number 5 but had to wait about 40 seconds for forearms to catch up.Grip is an issue.But have chalk coming!)

    Squat 275X3X5 Finally able to add the quarters. Felt good!

    Also a clothes PR size 40 jeans fit now (Down from size 50)!

    Between 70”s Big and Starting Strength I have learned a lot about how to actually eat and train for my goals.

    Oh yeah I also ate 10 eggs yesterday!

  27. weighed in at 183 another 5lb gain ina week!
    SquatPR 305 3×5 (315 this afternoon!)
    PClean 235 5×3
    Deadlift 1×5 375

    also cleaned 280lbs on wed. I def got in trouble for yelling and dropping the weight afterward.

    Great job gary very motivational.

  28. Only PR for this week was on Deadlifts: 465X5…and a story.

    When I was a young teen my parents always told me how thin they were at my age and that was how I was going to be too. I refused to accept that and when I was 16 I convinced my dad to get us a gym membership. Of course back then, I was into the muscle and fiction mags and tried to be like Kevin Levrone. I didn”t grow (well maybe a little but not much). I graduated high school at 177lbs 6”1″. When I went to college, I played on the lacrosse team and thus trained with them as well. Their training plan was marginally better than what I had followed in the muscle and fiction mag….BUT the really important difference between high school and college was that I could eat as much and whenever I wanted. By the end of my freshman year I was 205 lbs. Actually on par with the rest of the defensemen on the team. I was stronger than in the beginning of that year but still I was not strong. College passed and then I became a bodybuilder for a few years. Then in the last year or so, I found strengthmill now starting strength and 70sbig. I am way stronger than ever and plan to keep getting stronger. At an all time high bodyweight of 250…and not looking skinny anymore. I have a presence now where I work and live. You get a different level of respect when you aren”t skinny and when people recognize that you are a hard worker.

    To the skinny guys out there, you do not have to accept your “genetics”. Eat and train hard. Get stronger. Everything will fall into place.

  30. this sites badass…

    i started gomad about a month ago, struggled on and off becuase of school and work, but im becoming alot more relentless. and that gallon gets emptied by the end of each day.

    i started at around 140 but started training/eating more and now im up to roughly 177.. i know i got ways to go, but i plan on hitting 200 within the parameters of a couple good hard eating months. just got a belt after reading the suggestions on the site, and i love it.

    with that being said my boxers ripped the other day ago during squat. thats gotta be a PR.

    3×5 Squat: 260 (PR)
    3×5 Press: 120
    1×5 Deadlift: 275

    note to self stop being a little bitch with the deadlift.

    i got waaays to go but as long as im on the right track im good

  31. can”t wait to hear the iron radio show! i”ve been listening to the Rip where he talks about 70s big on my ipod. good stuff.

    no PRs on this most suckish of weeks.

  32. Pr”s this week (BW 180):
    Squat 315x5x5 and 365x5x1.

    If anyone is interested, here is a link to the live feed for the Raw Unity Meet on Sunday: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/raw-unity-meet

    My friend, Jeremy Hamilton, is competing (any Canucks on here should be rooting for him as I think he”s the only Canadian competing.) He told me he weighed 160 before he started seriously training. He”s a lot bigger now (around 220) and can move a fair bit of weight. You can check out some of his lifts on his youtube channel here:
    http://www.youtube.com/user/blaster018

  34. Gym PR: 495×1 Squat (PR by 20lbs). Pretty stoked to finally stack on 5 plates and nail it. Now that I”ve done it once, I feel like I could do it repeatedly. Hoping for a DL PR later today. Also 2 notches tighter on my PL belt than from my last meet…one more to go by the end of the month.

  36. AC, Others planning on attending USAPL event “Battle on the Border.”

    I””m on the verge of signing up for this one. Am I reading it right that it””””s 50 bucks to enter and 50 bucks for a USAPL memebership?

    I am going to that.

    — A.C.

  37. @ Jacob : Im interested in how you changed things to cut weight. Did you alter your diet and training? Or just one of the two? If you dont mind sharing that would be great. You seem to have been able to increase strength and reduce BF which is awesome.

    Im just curious because I get fat easily so I know eventually I”m going to need to cut. Not any time soon however as my lifts have a ways to go…

    PR”s
    Squat: 260x5x3
    Press: 140x5x3
    Bench: 200x5x3

  38. i just ate a 1/2 (~0.6) lb brisket, 1/2 lb smoked turkey, and a chop beef sandwich from Rudy”s for lunch. will prob set a BW PR of 243+ tonight.

    planned workout:
    SQ 400x3x5
    BP 255x3x5
    DL 405x1x5

    i”ve managed 400 on squats for sets once, but was stymied by 405 so i”m dropping back to make another run at it. really need to get my diet lined out and improve my strength to BW ratio.

  39. Weight up to 173# (Pre-morning #2)

    PRs:
    BS 3×5: 215#
    PC 3×5: 135# (I mistakenly wrote 135 last week, should have been 130)
    SP 3×5: 110# (Failed on final rep. Rested, came back, and did 2 more.)
    BP 3×5: 145# (Failed on final rep. Rested, came back, and did 2 more.)
    DL 1×5: 275# Grip failed on 5th rep when I was almost there so I switched to hook and got through one more. Ordering a CoC today.

  42. Squat – 230 lbs 3×5
    Deadlift – 280 lbs 3×5

    I think nature does intend for us to be skinny…after all, we didn”t evolve with grocery stores either. But useless? No. We did that to ourselves. Our ancestors had to be able to sprint really fast and move heavy shit in order to survive, whereas now our society thinks that running at a slow pace for hours is the epitome of fitness. Go figure.

  44. BloodAndOi – stick with the training program appropriate to your skill level and schedule. I”m following a version of Wendler”s 5/3/1 since I”m an intermediate looking for pretty slow gains right now (and focusing on a few weaknesses).
    To reduce bodyfat while still maintaining/slowly increasing strength, as these guys have said, reduce carbs (sugar/starch, keep fruits and veggies IMO), keep protein/fats, profit. I also find that I have to basically eliminate milk if I want to lose weight, unfortunately. So, when I”m eating “correctly,” it”s damn near Paleo, just in real big portions. I will admit to taking a PWO shake with sugar/protein in it that doesn”t seem to hurt.
    Keep in mind that I”m also still over 20% BF, so losing lbs at this point isn”t very tough. When you get leaner, it gets a little more intricate, but not much.
    Hope that helps; feel free to email me if you have any more questions.

  45. Hello fellow strength enthusiasts!

    Was turned onto this site via a friend of mine about 2 weeks ago. The vast wealth of knowledge between this and the starting strength site is fantastic to see.

    Justin, A.C as well as the rest of 70sBig site crew have a contagious enthusiam to lift big. I am now even more focused and amped to lift, and I hope one day to get onto the Canadian pro strongman circuit, with the ultimate goal of entering in the WSM circuit.

    It”s also refreshing to see the postive atmosphere and lack of ego”s that a common on other lifting sites.

    Right now I dont have much to add in terms of PR”s. Taking a couple weeks off to heal before ramping up into a heavy training cycle.

    Keep up the good work everyone!

  46. Height PR: I had a physical (cough) yesterday. Apparently I”m 6”3″. I thought I was 6”2″, maybe 6”1″. They said I was 6”3″. So, new height PR.

    Squat PR: did 315x3x5, will do 320x3x5 tonight, insh”allah.

    Belt PR: got my belt in the mail.

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